11 week old Mastiff growling and snapping

Question
QUESTION: I have an 11 week old puppy and been house breaking him for the past week. It's been going fairly well.  I was just outside with my pup playing ball when all of a sudden his temperament changed. He became aggressive with the ball, forceful grip, as I tried to take it away gently he bit my finger, growled and snapped at me when I finally took it away. It scared me because this hasn't been his temper for the last week.  He's been wanting to go outside allot more and play, eat grass, acorns, and just get into things. I'm trying to teach him "leave it" when he eats something. I'm a bit concerned he will do it again.  I pull up on his leash to say leave it, or heal, or something to get him to stop but he won't. I really don't want him to be an aggressive puppy. The breeder I got him at said that he was the Alfa male of the litter.  To be honest, the past couple of days, he just seems bored and not happy??  But I can't take him out to parks or meet other dogs because he hasn't had all his shots yet. What do I do?

ANSWER: At 11 weeks, the dog has had enough scheduled vaccinations to meet other dogs. I happen to be training an 11 wk old Mastif with its owner right now. When we first started the dog would rebel and grab the leash and try to chew it. Sign of an Alpha dog. When I took it out of his mouth I got a coule of tooth scrapes on my hand. He is 80 pounds now and will likely get to 200 pounds as an adult. It will take additional work to get the dog to change from alpha to beta. The owner on lesson 2 was able to heel the dog with little resistance from the dog but the dog would not work as well with me, usually its the other way around. So the dog has bonded with its owner and has begun its resistance to strangers.

This breed is very intelligent, and learns quickly how to intimidate others. it does get bored easily. It needs a lot of mental and physical activity. It is not unusual for the Mastif to want 2-3 hours of play time per day. If not already begun, you need to start obedience training and socialization. Also the nothing for free program. Basically the dog wants to work for its providers (us) so we tall it to sit, shake, whatever command, in order to get anything, food, water, toy, treat. Go easy on treats. Be the Casino slot machine. You make the payoff intermittantly and not in a pattern. Its the anticipation of reward that keeps  the dog (and our) attention to wanting to continue to play.

Get a second person to help and play "keep away" with a slight change. Toss the toy, ball, whatevert between two people a couple times, than ask the dog if it wants the toy. Tell it Sit, then hand the toy to the dog. After 15-20 seconds, tellthe dog to GIVE or DROP and take the toy away. We use, "MY TOY" on each toss and the dog lears that it has to wait for the toy to be theirs.

Let me know how this works out for you in a few weeks after you have begun training.

Regards,
Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC



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

QUESTION: Thanks for the advice.  I figure I have a lot of work cut out for me. I was told by my vet he can't go out and socialize because he needs his 3rd set of shots before he meets other dogs and people? I just think this is too long for I'm eager to get him out and figure out how the other dogs work. Do you think he is testing me? Figuring out his boundaries?

Answer
I disagree with your vet, Breeders have any number of dogs that live together from day one, but thats another issue.

Dogs are like two year olds. THey constantly want to know where you give in and where you don't. Mommy Mommy Mommy, I want ....  Dogs until they are obedience trained do the same, they assume the role of leader until they learn they are not. Large breeds and giant breeds mature faster because of their shorter life span, 6-9 years vs 16-20 for smaller dogs. Their brain development is faster, and need brain exercise and physical exercise early. Dogs "get into trouble" when their brain is bored and they need to do something, just as we get bored if there is nothing going on. If the dog is the only one in the household, they fail to get socialization skills that they would get from other dogs, alilamental learning - monkey see monkey do.

Regards,
Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC