# Alternatives to alpha roll?



## GoldenPiper1 (Jun 13, 2017)

My 4 month old puppy has been having episodes where she lunges, growls,and bites me in the arms and face. She seems like she is really trying to hurt me, and will not stop when she is in one of these moods. This happens particularly when I don't let her have something. For example, I made her walk away from my other dog and she became angry with me and started to lunge and bite me. She also attacks one member of my family in this manner every time they go to see her. I know that alpha rolling is not a good method to use because it can be dangerous and can make her even more aggressive, What are some techniques to have her stop attacking in the middle of these episodes when she is extremely hard to control?


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

GoldenPiper1 said:


> My 4 month old puppy has been having episodes where she lunges, growls,and bites me in the arms and face. She seems like she is really trying to hurt me, and will not stop when she is in one of these moods. This happens particularly when I don't let her have something. For example, I made her walk away from my other dog and she became angry with me and started to lunge and bite me. She also attacks one member of my family in this manner every time they go to see her. I know that alpha rolling is not a good method to use because it can be dangerous and can make her even more aggressive, What are some techniques to have her stop attacking in the middle of these episodes when she is extremely hard to control?


You should take her to an in-person trainer to determine what she is doing exactly and why. It's often hard to tell what is going on without seeing it. Also, you'll need to determine if this is aggression or not. My gut says it's not, but one-on-one help is the way to go!


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## kellyguy (Mar 5, 2014)

I'm not sure if it's the best way, but I have had good success with what I call "puppy pushups". My Duffy became an expert at sit, down and wait repeated over and over with a yummy treat if he performed correctly or starting over if he didn't. By the time he was 16 weeks old he would wait for permission to take the treat that was placed on his paw. 
What this allowed was give me an almost magical way to snap him out of almost any undesired behavior and he would be laser focused on our little routine and of course the treat.
It might not work in the middle of the full fledged zoomies, but those only last a couple of minutes and he's never attacked anything other than his slightly deflated soccer ball that he kicks and chases like a Tasmanian devil.
The other thing I do a lot of is initiate a rousing game of tug o war with him with a rope toy or get him chasing a flirt pole or stick. 
We had our share of having to shove a toy in his mouth to divert him from nipping in the beginning, but he quickly learned what was acceptable.
It takes patience and consistency and we had almost night and day improvement when we made it through the teething process.
By the time he was 10 months old we had a pup that would carry water balloons and toss them and catch them without breaking them.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

My take on this: Sounds like rough puppy play that you have not addressed properly. Your puppy may mature into the alpha in your household. Take a look at the book THE TOOLBOX FOR REMODELING YOUR PROBLEM DOG by Terry Ryan. She talks about how to ALPHAbetize yourself. I recommended this book to my puppy people.


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## pchivvy (Nov 27, 2015)

I haven't encountered this yet with my 5 month old, but when my older Goldie was about 6 months or so, he would have tantrums and we had to one of two things:
- either snap him into train mode by asking him to sit and then down rewarding as we went- a few of those and he was suddenly in good humour again
or
- we would put him in a time out in his crate just for a few minutes- we would invariably find that he would settle down and go to sleep almost immediately- we would put those moments down to overtired toddler moments

either way, they do grow out of them!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

GoldenPiper1 said:


> My 4 month old puppy has been having episodes where she lunges, growls,and bites me in the arms and face. She seems like she is really trying to hurt me, and will not stop when she is in one of these moods. This happens particularly when I don't let her have something.


My old trainer called this Sassing. 

Which puts it all in a different context than looking at what your dog is doing and calling it aggression and anger. 

You can take your pup by the collar in such a way that she can't bite your hands (grip collar beneath jaw). Look her in the face. Be calm, firm, and tell her to knock it off in low, calm, steady voice. 

You can hold her in your lab, and give her calm, firm, steadying strokes on the head or under the ears - to get her to calm down and relax.

As soon as she stops mouthing and writhing, she gets released immediately and you take her outside - just you and her and do something like throwing a tennis ball or stick to get her to work off energy. 

A lot of people react to their dogs acting up with shrillness, anger, upset, and so on...

But what is really going on is their dogs are over-stimulated and trying to play or they are sassing their owners who are trying to get them away from the other dog, etc. 

Because she's 4 months and still doing this stuff... it's going to take you becoming the "leader" in the house. This does not mean "punishing" your dog or becoming aggressive and turfy yourself. It simply means you taking the leader role and being the person who isn't just stepping in to break up play when it is crossing the line, but you are the one who this dog looks to and follows around. You get there by dedicated training, taking the dog out to play/train/work separate from other family members and other dogs. 

You are not going to be throwing your dog around or shaking her or hitting her or anything like that. Over-reaction and over-correction scares the dogs and causes fear aggression. 

Firm, calm, steady, FAIR corrections are never going to result in aggression. This even includes the alpha roll as I described above. Anyone should be able to take a hold of their dog and hold them still until they settle down. Stroking, talking calmly, etc... helps calm them down. And then they can be released and taken to something else. 

If you really put the work into all of this - by 7-12 months, you'll have forgotten your dog was really this bad. They do calm down with maturity - but you have to guide them with appropriate training and handling.


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