# Aggression?



## Bugsfire (Dec 11, 2007)

my golden recently has some issues. 

1. if he is chewing on his toy/ bone/ food, no other dogs can come near. he will snap. he is perfectly fine with humans. 

2. just 2 days ago, we were at a party and he was laying there.. and the other dogs he was familiar with came around and he just started to snap. he did it twice. very embarrassing. 

3. if new dogs came around and sniff. he would sniff and walk off. you can see he is a little defensive like "please dont come near to me" upon walking off. 

4. he keep getting into fights at the pool because the dogs either try to hump him or just want to try to snatch his toys. 

5. my friend brought her dog over to our place. my dog just dint want to go near.. if he had to pass by the dog who was leashed.. you can see he went as closely to the wall as possible to avoid. 

he turned 3 in august. 

any advice?


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## Katie and Paddy's Mum (Mar 31, 2010)

Is this a new behaviour or something he recently started doing?


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## Bugsfire (Dec 11, 2007)

its been a couple of months. it used to be just he dint like other dogs humping him and he would usually try to avoid them.. and if they continue he will growl.. and if they still continue, he will snap.

as for the food agression with other dogs, its always been like that. so i usually dont trust him around other dogs when there are food.


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## Katie and Paddy's Mum (Mar 31, 2010)

Yea food aggression is usually a separate thing and even dogs that are normally docile can be food aggressive.

Have you had his thyroid checked? It is one of the first things that is recommended when a dog begins to be more aggressive and act out of character.

If you google "dog aggression and thyroid" many scholarly as well as anecdotal articles will come up. 

It is definitely worth considering. Have your vet run the full panel test. It is a little more expensive, but it more reliable than the test they run "in-house" which only checks T4.

If he is low-normal, then that is in fact very low for a Golden and they require supplementation.

I would start there, I would also rule out any other symptoms of pain. Often dogs in pain react like this. I know Katie once snapped at one of her friends and we saw she had torn her toenail later that day. 

Barring nothing going on physiologically, I would consider a veterinary behaviourist to work with you guys.

I hope that helps  As I know how frustrating that can be!!

Kim


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Is your dog still intact or is he neutered? If he is still intact, it could be the testosterone contributing to the attitude. If this is something new, like Kim said above, I would try to get him in to get his thyroid checked. Health problems are often the cause of sudden behaviour changes.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I think what you're seeing with the food guarding is very common. You'll get good advice here how to manage that. 

Regarding the humping ... I have the same issue with my golden. She has no tolerance for that behavior from other dogs and she can get very snippy. I let her. It's not an out-and-out fight, just a very firm communication from her to the offending dog that she's not putting up with it. I don't correct her for that, I believe she's well within her rights


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

My old border collie was as anti-social as they came. He wasn't aggressive in the least but he had NO interest in playing with other dogs. If a dog came up to him too quickly and got in his "space", he'd either try to leave or get to his person, or give them a warning snap or growl to get them to back off. A warning growl or snap isn't _usually _aggression - it's doggie language saying, "I don't appreciate this behaviour". 

Now, if your dog didn't give the warning growl or snap, and just lunged at the dogs and started fights, then I'd say you might have aggression on your hands. But snapping without contact is usually one dog telling another to back off. Like i said, my border collie Jake would snap at other dogs who came up and tried to play with him too hard and when they'd ignore his appeasement behaviours because he never had any interest in playing. If they sniffed noses and were calm, then he was fine. 

Of course, when Jake met Ranger, there was a lot of snapping at Ranger since Ranger thought proper dog greetings meant lunging at another dog's face to say hi and Ranger wouldn't take "no" for an answer when it came to playing. I always backed Jake up and when he snapped at Ranger, Ranger got taken away to calm down before I'd let him go near Jake again. Eventually he learned how to approach Jake properly and Jake stopped telling him off. 

As for the growling/bone issues with other dogs around, I think that's relatively normal. No dog wants another one to take his item, especially if it's a strange dog. You can work on teaching him to share, but if he's not doing it to people it doesn't strike me as aggression. Ranger will share his toys with other (strange) dogs, but not necessarily his bones. Sometimes when Blue (his friend) comes up when Ranger has a nylabone, Ranger will give him a warning growl. He's telling Blue he doesn't want to share at this time. Blue's smart enough to back off and not push the issue - Blue is submissive to Ranger. If Blue DID try to push the issue, then Ranger would snap at him but not make contact. It's just my opinion, but I don't think that's aggression.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I agree with Ranger on the high-value treats, including bones. I make it a point to give my golden these things when there are no other dogs to contend with ... I feel like I'm asking for trouble otherwise.


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## celizabethj89 (Dec 13, 2010)

Hi!
My family and I recently purchased an 8 week old golden retriever puppy from Purebred Breeders - America's Top Dog Breeders on PurebredBreeders.com. He is now 9 weeks old and in the past two days has started showing signs of what we think as aggression. Most of the time he is the absolute sweetest boy, he doesn't get angry with food, we can put our hands and face around his bowl when he is eating without a problem. The only time we are seeing this aggression is when we are correcting him for doing something wrong such as chewing on something he shouldn't or if he is playing and we pick him up. He is growling, showing teeth and snapping. We are currently grabbing the top of his snout and closing his mouth and giving a firm "NO" and if he doesn't stop we put him in his pen. I am hoping he is just playing and this isn't aggression. Someone please give me advice and help! We love him and really don't want to have to give him back.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

grabbing his nose and yelling often serve to convince them that what they have is worth protecting and that they were right to protect it.

Yes a puppy needs to be able to have stuff taken from them....but at this young age I would work like *crazy* to use distraction versus force - 

Work to try to get the puppy to actually bring the object to you and surrender it....to convince him that bringing stuff to you is MUCH better then hoarding it...that your hands can be trusted... 

If you search the site for resource guarding your gonna find tons of threads...





celizabethj89 said:


> Hi!
> My family and I recently purchased an 8 week old golden retriever puppy from Purebred Breeders - America's Top Dog Breeders on PurebredBreeders.com. He is now 9 weeks old and in the past two days has started showing signs of what we think as aggression. Most of the time he is the absolute sweetest boy, he doesn't get angry with food, we can put our hands and face around his bowl when he is eating without a problem. The only time we are seeing this aggression is when we are correcting him for doing something wrong such as chewing on something he shouldn't or if he is playing and we pick him up. He is growling, showing teeth and snapping. We are currently grabbing the top of his snout and closing his mouth and giving a firm "NO" and if he doesn't stop we put him in his pen. I am hoping he is just playing and this isn't aggression. Someone please give me advice and help! We love him and really don't want to have to give him back.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

To Bugsfire, some dogs are not really crazy about other dogs. I would not worry if your dog is growling at a dog who is humping yours or trying to steal his dog. The other dog is being VERY impolite. If your dog has been corrected for growling at rude dogs, he will not want to associate with other dogs because he will feel like he has no way to communicate his feelings to the other dogs.

You may be able to desensitize him to other dogs being near him, but he may always be a dog who prefers to be left alone.

I hope someone can communicate what I am trying to write more clearly. The cold must be getting to my brain.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Please read through this thread, and also go to the Puppy Under One section of the board and read through several of the threads there about "aggressive puppy", or biting nipping puppies. You will find that it is normal behavior for puppies, and is not aggressive. It's the way they play and needs gentle positive correction. Holding his nose will only make him try harder. But you will find lots of great advice just by reading through the numerous threads already posted on the board about this problem.


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## Bugsfire (Dec 11, 2007)

Hapi is 3 years old and he is neutered. I think neutering just make him so timid. He used to be such a confident puppy. 

Well, the problem is the dogs in our class are so well-mannered. They do not snap when other dogs come around when they are eating.. Neither do they snap if other dogs sniff them a little too much. During obedience training, he is perfectly fine with other dogs scampering around. He just want to have a rather large personal space when he is resting. 

Taking Hapi to the pool can be very stressful for us. He starts to fight when he is swimming and with his toys in the mouth, he cant stand it when other dogs are near him, and yes, he just want to be the lonely kid and he is pretty happy that way. And of course, if other dogs start to hump, it gets only worse. 

Hapi was such a friendly dog when he was a puppy. I am really not sure whats wrong with him. He starts to be afraid of thunder, any weird noises would startle him. Then now he starts to act up around other dogs, i feel so embarrassed bringing him around other dogs. 

He will be due for a vaccination in another month. I will get him checked on his thyroid as recommended.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Please don't be embarrassed, it just sounds like you have a fearful dog. Are the other dogs in his class much younger than he is?

I doubt that the neutering turned him into a timid dog although I suppose that the removal of testosterone from his system may have made him seem more timid. However, if you hadn't neutered him, the combination of fear and testosterone would be dangerous.

At this point, I would avoid putting in situations where there are lots of uncontrolled dogs, such as the pool situation you described, where he feels the need to protect himself. Start on a program of desensitization with him. 

But I will add some advice that my friend Camille who is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist that counsels members of our dog park who have issues uses. She asks if they are putting their dogs in a situation with a lot of dogs for their dog or for themselves. Sometimes we enjoy the socialization with the other dogs and their people and think our dogs should too, but if we really pay attention, we discover that our dogs are not happy about the occasion and are getting very stressed. If the dog is getting stressed, then it is really not fair to put him in these situations.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Selle-Belle, that's very interesting about dogs not really enjoying socializing with other dogs. I have one of those. She was great as a puppy and young dog, she spent her first 3 years enjoying dog daycare. 

That all changed as she matured, and she did eventually get kicked out of daycare LOL :curtain: She snapped at another dog -- no one could tell me exactly what the circumstances were but I imagine she was being pestered and she didn't like it. The owner of the daycare explained to me that she grew up, she no longer had tolerance for puppy antics. 

She's much more of a people dog now than a dog's dog. She's friendly with most dogs but she's just not a player anymore. We've adjusted our lifestyle, we don't seek out other dogs for play and I'm very careful how other dogs interact with her. I let her stay in her comfort zone and we're happy with that. 

Sometimes we need to adjust ourselves more than we need to adjust our dogs


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## Bugsfire (Dec 11, 2007)

thank you. i feel so much more comforted now. yeah, he is rather timid as he grow older. i also think he is just very happy being alone and he rather have the pool and us playing with him than other dogs. i just feel so sad that he has to miss out swimming because this is something he really enjoy alot. 

actually this also disturb me because he will be taking a 24hr flight in another year and I am really worried about how he will get through the ride with all these foreign noises. can you imagine even noise from the computer such as alerts from facebook make him all edgy? he start to pace up and down and not sure where the noise is coming from. he tore up my bedsheet once in frustration because there were weird noises coming from my lights. he starts to bark when my nephew starts to shout and talk loudly.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

You need to discuss this flight with your vet. Maybe you can start working on things now to make this a more comfortable experience for your dog. I'm thinking something like rescue remedy, or maybe others here have success stories with other medications, herbal remedies, etc.

What is the 24 hour flight for? That seems like a long time ... will there be breaks inbetween? What about going to the bathroom and eating?


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Bugsfire said:


> thank you. i feel so much more comforted now. yeah, he is rather timid as he grow older. i also think he is just very happy being alone and he rather have the pool and us playing with him than other dogs. i just feel so sad that he has to miss out swimming because this is something he really enjoy alot.
> 
> actually this also disturb me because he will be taking a 24hr flight in another year and I am really worried about how he will get through the ride with all these foreign noises. can you imagine even noise from the computer such as alerts from facebook make him all edgy? he start to pace up and down and not sure where the noise is coming from. he tore up my bedsheet once in frustration because there were weird noises coming from my lights. he starts to bark when my nephew starts to shout and talk loudly.


 
Like Jo Ellen said, you NEED to start working on this NOW (not in 5 months from now, not a few days before your flight). 24 hours is an awfully long flight, can very dangerous/scary and is definitely stressful for a dog, and please consider if it is necessary for him to go along with you. (Are you moving or just visiting?)

You need to be preparing for this for several months ahead of time.


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## Bugsfire (Dec 11, 2007)

yes, I am moving away for a year and I would like to take him along with me. I would think the US is a much better place for him. 

once i ve a written confirmation, I will start to buy the necessary crate and have the necessary preparations.


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