Amber

Question
QUESTION: Hi Delores, I'm back again! We have followed your great advice on dealing with Amber and have come on a long way - however, she is still very possessive of 'her things' and is continuing the growling and snarling - we are staring at her and saying No firmly but I'm not sure what to do next! She carries this on for ages and I feel that by me walking away, she is back in control! Once I have managed to retrieve the item, she can still be angry and this can last some hours even though there is nothing to protect! What would you recommend I do next so that I can bring her out of the aggression and then hopefully she will start to learn that this behaviour cannot continue. The other night, I couldn't walk past her to get to the kitchen without her getting quite nasty!! She is fine with her food but once she gets hold of an object, all hell breaks loose! She is fine when we are out with her so it seems it's just when she's in doors.  Any advice would be gratefully received!!! Thank you. Julie

ANSWER: Possession-aggression IS difficult :)

Will she finally give it up after the NO and the staring?  If she does - this is very good news.
I know only too well how tedious this gets :) but you are dead right that if you give up and walk away - she just won the battle.

My question would be "What do you do when she is "still angry" and what does she do while in this mood?"

And what are the items that cause the most trouble?  And when you say you couldn't walk past her without her getting nasty - what precisely does she do?

Actually Julie, you've come a long way in a short time.  Even though she's being stubborn - if she's "eventually" giving it up, you ARE winning.

I think we need a tactic to deal with "being nasty" and I have one :)
So answer my above questions and we'll move on.
Delores

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Wow, quick reply, thank you so much. Ok, she does eventually give up the item :) but when she's still in her 'angry' mood, I just have to leave her - I have learnt a big lesson myself in that I gave her a biscuit bone which was quite big, she turned nasty after a few minutes with it in her mouth and it got so bad at one point when she was coming towards me after I'm doing my best Clint Eastwood impression, I had to leave the room! I was just so taken aback and went into panic mode. I couldn't get near her, but as it was quite late, I kept her downstairs, # she has been sleeping in our room# and left her to calm down - next morning, she was over the moon to see me and back to her lovely self and the biscuits went straight in the bin!!So, since then, I have been much more patient and keeping myself calm but honestly, she could go on for hours! When I say she is nasty, she has her eyes pinned on me,she's very still, growling and snarling and is standing up ready to come at me if I go a step closer - very intimidating.
I don't leave many items around the house purely because of this but she is partial to my shells which I have on the coffee table!!! I know that we are doing really well but I don't want to be the one that backs off but I just can't seem to bring the situation to a conclusion! I swear she knows exactly what she's doing!!! Is it a case of just keeping going with the No's - she has never given up the item when I'm doing that, only when I've been able to distract her. I refuse to let her get the better of me!!!! Thank you for your continued support and help, have a great evening, Julie

Answer
Julie, does she know a command for "drop it"? (Can be OUT - Drop it - Give it..whatever).

If not, use something she's not possessive about to teach her and have her on leash while you're teaching.  Give her the object - walk a bit - command "drop it" (take it out of her mouth initially) and instantly reward her.  Give it back (saying "okay") - do it again..and again.

Reward every single time.  When she's got this down cold, use something she's mildly possessive about.  Always, always do this with her on leash.  The leash is a powerful tool.  During the lesson the ONLY words she should hear is "drop it" - good girl (reward) - and okay.  No chatting :)

After she's learned Drop It - teach her "Leave it" and walk on and leave the object when she goes to pick it up.

Now..when using NO and the Stare - sit/squat on her level about 3 ft from her.  Be very still and calm.  Calm authority is what you're after.

Before I go into how to deal with the angry aftermath - here are a few rules.
1.  She does not sleep in your room.
2.  She never goes out a door in front of you (so boring to teach :)
3.  She is not EVER allowed on furniture (Teach her the OFF command)
4.  She doesn't get her food bowl until she sits.  Count to five - then put it down.

All the above says to a dog "This is mine" and it's basic & simple.

Now the growling aftermath - get half a dozen empty pop/beer cans - put 12 to 15 pennies
in each one and duct tape the top shut.  Have them close at hand - this correction depends on you acting swiftly.

Okay - so when she's pissed and growling - stop dead - Stare at her - Say NO firmly and raise the can in the air and bring it down very hard ONCE right at her. Like you're throwing a baseball at the ground as hard as you can (without letting go, of course). Then walk away.  No scolding, no chat.

A dog's hearing is 50 times more sensitive than ours so this is an enormous thunderbolt of noise and I warn you, it will scare the wits out of her.  Pay no attention and ignore her.  The message is simple - you do THAT and THIS happens.

I want you to get that you've done amazingly well getting her this far in a couple of weeks.
I can tell you from personal experience with a dog FAR worse than Amber that I'm impressed.

As my favorite trainer says about dogs like this "Every day in every way you announce YOU are the pack leader".  With mine it took several months to get where you are now AND she's acting aggressively BUT she's never bitten or even tried.  Mine would have taken your hand off.
This sweet, very affectionate dog could turn into Cujo in a split second.  Now, he's a happy, good boy but it was a ton of work.  I got him from a Rescue at 7 months and he'd been dumped because of this so I knew I was his last chance.

The situation doesn't "suddenly conclude" - it's a slow process.  So remove as many triggers as you can - start teaching her the new commands.  Another fantastic "exercise" with her would be what's called the Umbilical cord exercise.  You just attach her short, soft leash to your belt loop (or whatever works) and where you go, she goes.  Again - no chat.  Powerful message to a dog.  And oddly works on both anxious dogs and aggressive dogs because the leash itself says "Pack leader is in control".  Anxious dogs calm down and aggressive dogs give it up.

And there's nothing wrong with distracting with a treat, etc. but some dogs just get into a conflict rage - they want both and just go bonkers. (Like mine -it enraged him).  Others will happily give up a treasure for food - and cockers are very food driven.

Dogs that behave like this - like tantrum throwing toddlers - are not happy or stable.

And Julie, I'm happy to talk daily for a bit to get this down and it's far quicker to write me directly at DeeBeck7765@aol.com   The more input/details I get, the more help I can be.  It's all in the details :)
Delores