Aggressive puppy?

18 16:49:15

Question

Abby and Lucy Hi there!
I have a year and a half old beagle. She has the most wonderful personality, very gentle and loves other dogs. She absolutely loves playing with other dogs so I decided to get a second beagle pup to be her playmate.
We got our second beagle, Lucy, from the same breeder. She is five months old now and we have had her for a little over a month. She is very friendly and playful, we have not seen any problems until recently. With my first beagle I was very hands on in making sure she knew I was the dominant one. I have been teaching Lucy the basic puppy things and we were in a play session and I gave her a treat for laying down and I went to take it away, and she went frantic, trying to grab the treat, biting me in the process. So then I wanted to see what she would do if I truly tried to take the food away from her.

I tried to pull the treat away from her and she again lunged at me. I continued to try to show her not to grab the food.... well she then started to snarl and growl at me. I immediately flipped her over on her back and she momentarily continued to show her teeth and growl. Then she calmed down. When I let her up she jumped up came over and licked me. I was so shocked, my other pup had never down this! I not sure if I just frustrated her so much that she lost her temper? Or is this a sign of true aggression?

There was another instance when I took my two dogs out to go to the bathroom, as the little one copied whatever the older one does. My older pup was getting a little over the top and was pushing the younger one around too roughly, the young pup was getting scared. I quickly picked her up and pulled her close to my face and snarled and growled and bit my face. Again I was completely shocked! She is only 5 months old! I don't believe that she was intentionally being aggressive towards me, I believe she was just frightened and reacted how she knew how. However I wanted to give you all the information I have available.

I would appreciate any advice you have to offer! Is this a sign of true aggression? Is she young enough that this can be fixed?

Thanks so very much! Happy Holidays!

Answer
Regardless of whether this is fear related or not, a growl/snarl/snap is active aggression.

You made a huge error bringing another female from the same breeder into your home, simply because this behavior you are seeing is a demonstration that the breeder is not managing her "run along" puppies and most likely not keeping clean lines. Translation: a "run along" puppy is one from a former litter that is held over by a breeder for show purposes, field purposes, potential breeding, or simply because no one purchased her. This puppy's reactions to you tells me that she was not properly managed (feeding time especially, protected from adult dogs and/or mismanaged in her litter because she did not get adequate nutrition.) Normally, a puppy this young that demonstrates food aggression (or trophying food articles such as treats) has not gotten adequate nutrition at the teat and was not supplemented by the breeder (who was not paying attention.) Because this is apparently the case, that tells me the breeder most likely does not care about his/her "lines" and may very well have given you another female puppy from the same dam (mother) and sire (father), just from another litter. This may produce problems between your two females as the puppy gets older. Meanwhile, you have an actively aggressive VERY YOUNG dog.

Rolling a dog over on its back is NOT the way to establish 'dominance', as that sort of submission must be VOLUNTARY. In "packs", the subdominant dog will VOLUNTARILY roll over to show submission; it is NOT forced to do so. "Leadership" is acquiescent (cooperation, not coercion). A dog (or dogs) will 'fall in line' behind you because you are clearly in control without physicality; it's a psychological thing. When you force a dog onto its back you are inviting an escalated aggressive response and more than likely conditioning a fear response. The dog has NO idea what you're doing. This "method" was most likely invented by person(s) who were attempting to model wolf behavior without understanding it. The domestic dog is NOT a wolf.

The first thing you must do is establish clear rank between the two dogs at the present time of the puppy's development. THIS MAY CHANGE as she gets older; to assess that, you will have to read a great deal about dog communication and psychology. Your puppy is NOT demonstrating dominance aggression; this is a quite rare phenomenon in the domestic dog. She is demonstrating a (most likely) highly inappropriate management by her breeder and fear. The Beagle can be extremely fearfully aggressive; this is poor breeding, inherited and horribly mismanaged by the breeder to this point in time. Do NOT purchase any more dogs from that breeder. Beagles are ubiquitous; there are many very, very bad breeders in that breed. For future reference, find a breeder who has multiple field titles and obedience titles in her breeding stock; make certain the dam isn't being bred more than once every three years; find out how many puppies this breeder produces -- more than two litters a year is TOO MUCH. And ask for veterinary reference and owner references.

Back to puppy: you must begin to heavily socialize this puppy very, very cautiously. Read Turid Rugaas' book, "Calming Signals" to learn how to determine what the dog is communicating to you with its body language. Socializing her will depend upon her reaction. Taking her into large groups may produce a heightened fear response and you don't want to do that. You will also need to implement positive reinforcement training ASAP. Read Patricia McConnell Ph.D.'s book on topic and Karen Pryor's "Dont' Shoot the Dog" (and go to her web site.) Teach this dog one solid behavior at a time and then ask her to WORK for everything: being petted, going in/out, being fed, any and all interaction with you. Treat your older dog as higher ranking (although this may change as puppy matures.) Let the older dog in/out first, feed her first, give her treats first, GREET her first, etc. Her being rough with the puppy may be a sign that you are giving far too much "comfort" to the puppy and she may be doing what comes naturally: establishing rank. DO NOT CORRECT HER and DO NOT PICK THE PUPPY UP if you see this again. Touch is a primary reinforcer and this puppy is UNACCUSTOMED to being handled; what you may have seen is redirected aggression. Once you begin to treat the older dog as "top dog", you will see a reduction in her exasperation with the puppy; until then, if she behaves in a manner you deem inappropriate, get her attention and engage her in a trained behavior WITHOUT showing any attention to the puppy.

You need to find a positive reinforcement group training experience for Puppy. BE CERTAIN the trainer uses ONLY positive reinforcement! Sit in on a session and CAREFULLY OBSERVE. There should be NO COERCION, no yelling, no choker collars; ALL DOGS should be working happily for clicker and/or treats with BUCKLE AROUND collars only. If you have to travel to a few training places to find the right trainer, DO IT. Meanwhile, teach your puppy one simple behavior (as explained above) and put her on a Nothing In Life Is Free regimen (as explained above.) In regard to food and treats: NEVER provoke any dog by removing food or treats in order to "test" its "rank" response to you; One rules dogs live by: If You Have It, It's Yours. The highest ranking dog in any multiple dog household will never interfere with any lower ranking dog's possession of food/treats once there is a clear understanding between them. By removing food from her mouth, you are effectively speaking a language she does not understand.

If you find that, after three to five weeks of your educated training and interaction with her, puppy is still offering aggression, you need to find a certified applied animal behaviorist. NEVER CONFRONT aggression and NEVER PROVOKE it deliberately to make a point or test a dog. Every time a dog uses aggression, it learns more about how to use it; it will ONLY GET WORSE. Living with a dog in a way that psychologically promotes YOU, giving the dog tools and behaviors to please you by positive reinforcement training, and working carefully to reduce inherited or acquired fear behaviors is the only way to manage this problem.

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