A Dog Case Study: Aggressive Puppy

Elena wrote to me about her new Poodle puppy, Wilson. Wilson’s just 10 weeks old but since the age of seven weeks, he’s done a lot of time at the vet’s and taken a lot of antibiotics–he’s had intestinal problems and bronchitis, and his tail has been healing slowly after being “docked,” that is, amputated for cosmetic purposes.

A Dog Case Study: Aggressive Puppy

And now his behavior is worrying Elena, too. For instance, he growls when she reaches to pick him up. Elena’s been using some techniques she read about online; can you hear me saying “Uh-oh” under my breath? This week, I’ll discuss what I think might be up with Wilson and offer some suggestions about how to respond.

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What to Do About an Aggressive Puppy

Back to Wilson. Elena’s housetraining him by bringing him outside–so far so good–though he seems to prefer playing to going potty, and a few times now he’s growled at Elena when she tries to pick him up to bring him back in. Wilson also chews and nips hard while playing, and rather than lick Elena’s face, he bites at it. Elena points out that she had to both force-feed Wilson and force-medicate him. So far she’s dealt with his growling by pushing him down and staring at him, by growling into his face, and by withdrawing from him. She found these tips online, and they don’t seem to be working.

The Puppy Has Learned That Human Handling Is Unpleasant

Sadly, unless you’re an expert yourself, it’s hard to tell which Internet advice comes from people who know what they’re talking about, and which comes from blithering idiots.

Unfortunately, Elena happened across the idiots. Wilson is a baby, who’s been having a pretty rotten time–what with the botched tail amputation, the wonky gut, and the bronchitis. And, because he needed his meds and his food, he’s also had more than his share of forceful, even coercive handling in his tiny little life. Through no fault of his guardian, in Wilson’s world, reaching hands mean bad things. Wilson needs to learn that hands are good, and he needs to learn it ASAP, before his newish tactic of growling at people settles in permanently.

Alpha Rolls Are Dangerous and Damaging

Alpha rolls have no scientific basis and may scare your dog enough to make him bite.

So, first of all, no more of that push-down, stare-down treatment known as the alpha roll. Everybody, get out your notebooks and write this down: The alpha roll is dangerous. It’s a good way to make your dog scared of you, even scared enough to bite your face. The alpha roll has no scientific basis–it was supposedly drawn from wolf behavior, but hey! Wolves have never been seen to do it. And even if wolves did do alpha rolls, who the hell cares? Dogs are not wolves, and people are neither wolves nor dogs. If we followed the logic of “Do what dogs do,” we’d have to sniff butt and roll in dead things. Next!

Lure Your Puppy Inside Instead of Grabbing Him

Obviously, Elena needs to get Wilson back inside after his toilet break.

I suggest taking him out on leash, and bringing a few small pieces of very tasty food. Normally I’d encourage a guardian to play with her puppy after he toilets, but Elena herself has been unwell and can’t play as much as she would like. So, instead, she can Hansel-and-Gretel Wilson, leading him toward the house by tossing tiny pieces of chicken in the direction she wants him to move. Chasing the food qualifies as play for Wilson, too.

How to Teach a Puppy to Feel Comfortable with Handling

What about the way Wilson growls when picked up? Elena needs to change his mind about that, so Wilson doesn’t grow up to snap or bite whenever a person reaches for him. For now, I wouldn’t pick him up at all. Instead, I’d have a lot of floor time with Wilson, where I just sat there and encouraged him to approach me and get in my lap on his own. I’d spend a couple of days just letting him get comfortable being close to me and touching me. I might even feed him in my lap. That’s especially important for Wilson since Elena has had to force-feed and force-medicate him.

If Elena still needs to medicate Wilson, she should try mixing pills or liquid meds with stinky cheese or mashing them with a bit of sardine. If he got medicine in a dropper, she could use one to offer him a liquidy mix of yogurt and canned dog food – droppers are yum! Well, we’d hope Wilson thought so.

Once Wilson is happily climbing into her lap and spending time close to her, Elena can experiment with touching him gently as she feeds him a meal. She can also teach Wilson to bump her hand with his nose in exchange for a treat. That can help a hand-shy dog feel at ease with human touch.

If You Have Trouble, Get Expert In-Person Help

Now, I can’t promise these ideas will work. Because Wilson is so young, his behavior is more plastic, more changeable, than an adult dog’s behavior; even a few days of soothing, pleasant contact, without any grabbing or force, might just turn him right around. On the other hand, he’s already had repeated lessons that human handling is no fun, and those lessons have been taking place for a large percentage of his very short life. If Wilson continues to growl when Elena handles him or tries to pick him up, she’ll need a careful, individualized behavior modification plan, and that means hiring a competent behavior specialist to work with her. The sooner, the better.

Normal Puppy Nipping and Chewing

Wilson also nips and bites in what seem to be normal puppy ways, appropriate in such a young dog. My articles on nipping and chewing explain in detail how to teach puppies not to use their teeth on us. The short version is that we need to provide appealing, “legal” chews, such as food-dispensing toys, and to manage the situation so that our puppies use those for their jaw-and-tooth workouts. Supervised play sessions with other pups can also help. If Wilson does nip or chew Elena, she can give him a brief social freeze-out, where she folds her arms and looks away from him for a few seconds. If need be, she can leave the room.

You might remember that Elena was using social withdrawal to deal with Wilson’s growling, and that it didn’t work. Here’s why. Dogs and puppies growl when they feel threatened; they want the threat to go away. So withdrawing is actually a reward. (It’s still the correct response in the moment, though–the last thing you want to teach a growling dog is that the low-level warning she’s just given you won’t do the job and she needs to escalate. Later, you can work on teaching the dog that there’s no need to feel threatened in the first place.)

On the other hand, a puppy who’s nipping in play is, well, playing! He doesn’t want you to go away; he wants to keep on playing with you. In that context, a brief social freeze-out, just a few seconds long, punishes the nipping. With an especially excitable pup or one who’s already had a lot of practice chewing on people, you may need to do such time-outs over and over. But as long as the nipping and chewing are social behaviors, social punishment eventually works.

Start Reward-Based Training Right Away!

Wilson should begin a basic puppy class as soon as he’s healthy and has had one or at most two rounds of vaccinations. Meanwhile, Elena can certainly begin reward-based training right away, at home. Poodles are super smart, active dogs, and Wilson needs the mental exercise. But, just as important, he and Elena need to rebuild the bond of trust. That’s what makes reward-based training so brilliant – your dog or puppy learns that attending to you and your cues is the route to all good things in life. As for us humans, we learn to draw out our dogs’ best selves.

The Dog Trainer is on Facebook; you can also follow me as Dogalini on Twitter, and write to me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com. I may use your comments and questions in future episodes.

Resources

Sophia Yin, DVM, “Experts Say Dominance-Based Dog Training Techniques Made Popular by Television Shows Can Contribute to Dog Bites,” Huffington Post, May 18, 2009. Dr. Yin is a board-certified veterinary behaviorist.

In this series of stills, you can see that one wolf defers to the other by lying on the ground and presenting its belly and groin voluntarily. This is the behavior sequence that gave rise to the myth of the alpha roll. As for “alpha wolves,” a free-living wolf pack is generally a family consisting of the parents, their adolescent offspring, and the current crop of pups. To make a long story short, “alpha” = “parent.” Check out this video and this article by the eminent wolf researcher David Mech.  

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