Busderpuddle Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Our Jesse is 4 months old now and she has recently decided to growl at anyone she see's, the rain, the wind, the bear in our campground last night (yep-a bit scary). She will then let out a small bark. We are hoping to not have a little yappy dog, and am wondering what we should do to prevent that from happening. Should we try to get her to stop the low growl and the bark ? Let her growl as a warning ? She is not going after anything, as she is scared to death if a dog barks back, or a person comes her way. If we are holding her, she loves all people, but not when she is down and wandering. I am new to puppies, and Ruby only growls when Jesse is bugging her. Ideas ? Quote Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeylasMom Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) And this is what you get when you don't do socialization during the critical period up through 12 weeks. If you leave it as is, you are likely to get a reactive dog with defensive aggression who uses barking, lunging, growling, etc. to increase distance. You need to start doing that for her - immediately get her distance from whatever she perceives as a threat until she is far enough away that she can notice it without being uncomfortable - and then start pairing the appearance of scary things with *high value* food. High value as in chicken, cheese, meatball, steak bits, things she doens't get at other times because we are looking to use it to change her feelings about things. Something low value isn't going to be sufficient to do that. And definitely do not do anything to "try to get her to stop" the growling. All you'll succeed in doing is punishing the warning signs or adding more stress to the situation for her (scary things appears and mom or dad gets scary - all the more reason to worry the next time I see that thing). You need to start getting her out regularly and introducing her to more things in a way that doesn't push her to the point of being frightened and pair everything with food. She's young enough that you may yet make a difference and not end up with an extremely anxious dog. Edited October 17, 2017 by NeylasMom Quote Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart "The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busderpuddle Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Thank you NeylasMom. we have been taking her everywhere with us, allowing everyone to pet her and her to explore things. She has been on our vacation with us and has been to every store, RV park play area, etc.... I have not been doing the treats though. Can you explain a bit more about when I give the treats ? I understand moving her away from the situation, but not when to treat to make her to be OK with things. She has been going to the worst training class in the world, but will be going to some other ones as soon as we get home. I took her to Petco, and the training is non existant. There are only 2 other dogs in the class, and the teacher is uneducated. The manager is refunding our money to us. I plan on taking her to the Humane Society one and another ran by a private facility that also does day care. Jesse is super friendly to other dogs and people if she is close to them, but not when they are approaching or walking by, I want to get her growling turned around as soon as I can. We have been telling her "shush" and slightly yanking on her halter a bit, but not enough to make us scary. Quote Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeylasMom Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 When did you start taking her out? You said in your earlier posts that you were following your vet's advice and waiting until her vaccinations were completed. As far as when to feed, you want the "scary things" to predict the good stuff so ideally as soon as she notices anything that might elicit fear you start feeding and feed until the thing is gone. For a noise it may be until she can no longer hear it, a person until she can no longer see them, etc. The main thing is the food has to happen immediately after she notices it. If you're already feeding her, that's not a horrible thing, we're still pairing good stuff with being out and about, but ideally the scary stuff *predicts* the food happening. I would be careful about overwhelming her as well. Socialization is critical, but has to be done in a way that isn't too much for the dog. So go to quiet places where she might only encounter one scary things at a time, do this for 10 minutes and then pack up and go home. Even if she's kept under threshold and gets good stuff, this is stressful so you only want to do short bits at a time. Quote Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart "The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busderpuddle Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 We started taking her out amongst people at age 9 weeks, as soon as we got her. We did not let her down on the ground except in our backyard. She went to Lowes, Home Depot, the park where kids would pet her, etc.....As soon as she had the last set of shots, we started taking her for walks, to the park, neighborhood, to the farm stands, etc..... now she goes everywhere with us. We have a rabies and distemper issue where we live, and both vets, and the lady we got her from said to not let her down until those shots were finished. I know that some people here did not agree, but when my vet says he doesn't let his dogs down, I wanted to follow that advice. She now barks at anyone new that comes into our home, and I am OK with that. As soon as we introduce her to the stranger, she stops and is friendly. I have my bag of treats ready today, so will start giving them as soon as I see something that might trigger her. Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it. I will be vigilant and see if we can get this to stop. Quote Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeylasMom Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Ah, okay, I don't think you ever mentioned that you were still taking her places and just not putting her down, or I don't remember, which is likely with my brain these days. Huh, so I've not heard that specific advice given. I wonder if that isn't part of her issue now. When puppies are very young, they tend to cower, freeze, tuck their tail, back away, etc. when scared. It's only when they get closer to adolescence that you start to see the defensive aggression as a way to get space. If you were always holding her, it may have been hard to see those more subtle signs, and she was learning she had no option to get away. Or could have nothing to do with that at all. Could be she has a genetic predisposition for fear. Could be she's going through a fear period, though it would be a slightly unusual time for that. Could be one thing really scared her at some point and she's generalized. Who knows. Doesn't really matter. You have what you have and you have a plan to address it. Good luck! Quote Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart "The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busderpuddle Posted October 20, 2017 Author Share Posted October 20, 2017 Today when out she growled at a store clerk, then the clerk came to pet her and she was happy. 3 other people came over to her and she was happy to see them all. I wonder if her growling is more of a "talking" instead of aggression ? She is always happy to be petted and fussed over. Quote Karen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.