# Aggressive behavior



## edgard409 (Jul 12, 2012)

Personally I would think he is just protesting because you are not letting him do whatever he wants. About the shoe puppies like to growl sometimes when they play or chew on something, mine takes her blanket and growls while throwing it around. If he get something hes not suppose to have take it away from him immediately so he doesn't associate it as a chew toy, but don't pull it away from him because then you are fighting for it, hold the object firmly while it is in his mouth until he lets go.


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## SeaMonster (Jul 4, 2011)

uhhh I feel for you. Gracie did this so badly I wanted to give her away. Once some guy thought I was being attacked and asked me if I wanted him to call someone. 

She stopped completely around 10 months so good luck . I don't think this is aggression. Its just young puppy fighting authority although you could actually get hurt in the process.....
I would not run his belly....you might be rewarding him for craziness. Just hang in there....


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Thanks for the info, and I'm hoping its protesting haha. Which seems to fit what happened tonight. I will wait and see


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

SeaMonster said:


> uhhh I feel for you. Gracie did this so badly I wanted to give her away.
> 
> She stopped completely around 10 months so good luck


Oh thanks for sharing your exp. Funny, when Rusty does this, I feel the same way too "Did I make a mistake getting a male puppy" So looks like I will be waiting a while then. I'm glad everything worked out with Gracie


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

He is NOT aggressive. All of this is absolutely 100% totally normal puppy behavior. He is trying to initiate play with you the same way he would with another puppy. And there is no such thing as a puppy trying to be boss. The only thing is his little puppy head is playing.

Please check in the Puppy section of the forum and search for "puppy aggressive" and you will find hundreds of threads exactly like yours, with really good advice for redirecting puppy play into proper avenues. 

Again, he is NOT AGGRESSIVE


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

...and growling does not necessarily mean aggression. Especially in puppies it is a way to communicate they are having fun. You don't ever want to discipline a dog for growling, it is communication for them.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

SeaMonster said:


> uhhh I feel for you. Gracie did this so badly I wanted to give her away. Once some guy thought I was being attacked and asked me if I wanted him to call someone.
> 
> She stopped completely around 10 months so good luck . I don't think this is aggression. Its just young puppy fighting authority although you could actually get hurt in the process.....
> I would not run his belly....you might be rewarding him for craziness. Just hang in there....


I did not think about that, rubbing his belly might be "rewarding" the behavior! Thanks again for your feedback  

Going forward I will take a water bottle and use that in case this happens again. He needs to know it's not allowed


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

mylissyk said:


> He is NOT aggressive. All of this is absolutely 100% totally normal puppy behavior. He is trying to initiate play with you the same way he would with another puppy. And there is no such thing as a puppy trying to be boss. The only thing is his little puppy head is playing.
> 
> Please check in the Puppy section of the forum and search for "puppy aggressive" and you will find hundreds of threads exactly like yours, with really good advice for redirecting puppy play into proper avenues.
> 
> Again, he is NOT AGGRESSIVE


Thanks and I will check out the forum as you informed me. The last puppy I had was nothing like Rusty, so I am learning a lot with the little guy


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## SeaMonster (Jul 4, 2011)

Another thing I tried was a chain leash since Gracie's main thing was attacking the leash. I do not think Gracie was initiating play, she wanted me to let go of the leash so she could roam free. This never happened while she was not on leash.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Sounds like pretty normal puppy behavior. As others said, search the forum for information and ideas. Squirt bottle helped us when Max was younger. Four months is very young. Be patient. He will get better.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Thanks again for the info everyone. Puppies are a challenge indeed haha.


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## Charmie (May 30, 2012)

Sounds super duper normal. Not aggressive at all!  Looks like puppers just wants to play. 

I actually think play growling is the cutest thing on Earth. Nana growls at people when she hasn't seen them in a while. My mom met Nana (Nana adores my mom) and when she saw my mom in the morning after sleeping a night in my room, she growled and immediately looked for cuddles (which she got plenty of!) 
She does the same thing when my roommates wake up. She immediately growls when she walks up to them and won't leave them alone until they pet her. It's really funny, because their bathroom is across from their room but Nana gets in between them and the sink every morning until they give her a pat on the head.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Charmie said:


> Sounds super duper normal. Not aggressive at all!  Looks like puppers just wants to play.
> 
> I actually think play growling is the cutest thing on Earth. Nana growls at people when she hasn't seen them in a while. My mom met Nana (Nana adores my mom) and when she saw my mom in the morning after sleeping a night in my room, she growled and immediately looked for cuddles (which she got plenty of!)
> She does the same thing when my roommates wake up. She immediately growls when she walks up to them and won't leave them alone until they pet her. It's really funny, because their bathroom is across from their room but Nana gets in between them and the sink every morning until they give her a pat on the head.


That's pretty cool


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

My dog does this exact same thing, but he is 14 months old! In his case, it's excitement gone wrong. First we started by training him to sit when people went by. He would sit nicely, then spring up the second they were out of range and he realized he wasn't going to get petted. So we kept him sitting until we could tell he wasn't excited anymore. Then we released him and went on walking. We also take him to places like the post office, library, and outdoor mall and just have him sit next to us while people walk by. So he's really pretty good about not trying to break away and get to people, or take it out on us if we don't let him (well, it feels that way). We are still working on the training of after he meets people. He's good and doesn't jump on them, but as soon as we walk away from people, then he's all excited again and jumping and mouthing us. So we are working on that part now. (I'm working on the general idea of what he should do when excited - not jumping.) He loves, loves, loves being petted, but it gets him so wound up! We had him neutered just five weeks ago. I haven't noticed any changes in this particular behavior. Other behaviors, yes, like he doesn't pee on everything anymore.


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## Vinnie's Mom (Jun 9, 2012)

Vinnie is 5 1/2 months old and he's my first Golden. Just like you, I chose a Golden for their gentle nature and until I got on this forum I thought I got a monster one  he was growling, barking and biting me a lot. Just in the past week it stopped. Be persistent with training and patient. He will grow out of it. You have a very normal Golden boy!


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Charmie said:


> Sounds super duper normal. Not aggressive at all!  Looks like puppers just wants to play.
> 
> I actually think play growling is the cutest thing on Earth. Nana growls at people when she hasn't seen them in a while. My mom met Nana (Nana adores my mom) and when she saw my mom in the morning after sleeping a night in my room, she growled and immediately looked for cuddles (which she got plenty of!)
> She does the same thing when my roommates wake up. She immediately growls when she walks up to them and won't leave them alone until they pet her. It's really funny, because their bathroom is across from their room but Nana gets in between them and the sink every morning until they give her a pat on the head.


This makes me chuckle. She is really "talking" and telling them how exciting it is to see them again, because it's just been sooooooo long!


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

The biting the shoe part made me laugh. We call that the "feet game." Max still does that at five years old, and it makes me laugh every time.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

SeaMonster said:


> Another thing I tried was a chain leash since Gracie's main thing was attacking the leash. I do not think Gracie was initiating play, she wanted me to let go of the leash so she could roam free. This never happened while she was not on leash.


UHHH, if she wasn't on leash why would she be chewing on it?


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

I encourage tugging, with the leash, with my sleeve, with toys. I train a release (and Duge at 13 weeks knows to release), but go for it big time when it is time to play. 

When he gets all riled up and is acting out, we train, train, train, I ask for simple behaviors and get his focus back on me and reward him big time. Oh and then we tug!


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Last night Rusty did great on his walk and with his behavior. I am taking treats with me going forward, and I had him sit and stay when people were walking by. Rusty was more focused on getting his favorite treats, than the people around him haha. 

I'm thinking this will be a good way to train the little puppy on walks


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## mickeychick (Jul 19, 2012)

Melfice said:


> Last night Rusty did great on his walk and with his behavior. I am taking treats with me going forward, and I had him sit and stay when people were walking by. Rusty was more focused on getting his favorite treats, than the people around him haha.
> 
> I'm thinking this will be a good way to train the little puppy on walks


You could further that training by getting a clicker and each time he does the right behaviour, you click the clicker as you treat him. He will begin to realize that the click means he is doing the right thing.


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