Human Aggression advice please

Looking for a little advice here. i've mentioned before that my staffy Boomer can be quite human agrresive, I was his last chance at the rescue and after a few nips and one biting incident quite early on he's come on leaps and bounds. Last night however he woke me up at about 1am wanting to go out. I let him out and told him to go back upstairs, but he jumped on the sofa to lay down instead. When he sat on the sofa I moved towards him to get him up, something that he wouldn't noramlly be bothered by, I was very calm etc, everything was normal. Boomer responded by growling at me and pulling his muzzle up.

I grabbed him quickly and held him down on the sofa in a submissive postion on his back until he relaxed. Its seemed to work and he stopped growling straight away. i also wanted to show i was the dominant person in the house by holding him down. He's been fine since and I was fine with him as soon as it was over. I just want to be sure I'm doing the right thing, he's such a powerful dog that i don't want to risk getting bitten again and i need to show i'm in command. Any advice guys?

Lots of advice----first being don't do it again.Next time he will be ready for you and you'll really have a problem.

Don't confront him, put a trail lead on in the house and move him without any eye contact.

I'd think about a vet check as well if he has never done it before

rune

A growl doesn't neccessarily mean a bite. It is a first warning. He knew you were going to turf him off the sofa, and if you leant over him, he could construe that as an aggressive move. The growl was a 'Hey, leave me alone', my 2 sometimes do it when I try and get them to go to bed.

However - do not ever, ever grab and hold down your dog in this manner please!

You don't need to try and emulate what dogs do to each other to let Boomer know what you mean. Holding him down hasn't taught him you are dominant, it's just let him know that something nasty will happen if he growls. Next time, he might not decide to warn you!

(and besides, the whole 'dominance' thing is over-rated!)

As Rune says, for the future, try a soft 'house' collar and line, so you can move him without grabbing him.

Also, in terms of his training etc, start to teach him 'off'. In our house, 'Off' can mean several different things:

Off the sofa
Off the bed
Off me/OH
Off the worktops (e.g. standing up at them)

We don't use the 'down' command, as that means physically lie down.

If you move Boomer using the house collar and line, say the word 'off'. Make sure you are consistent in its' use, e.g. don't say down! Eventually, you'll be able to get him off the sofa by telling him 'off'.

Ollie will sometimes do this too, we never pin him down for fear it will make him worse, so we tend to ask nicely and tempt him off with a treat. It works very well and Ollie does not see himself as the dominant one in the house.

Nor do we see ourselves as being dominant we are top of the pack if you like but we treat him with respect as you would do a human and have an understanding of how things work. We very rarely have confrontations now we have behaved this way with him since a pup and he now knows if asked to do something he should do it and if he has a rebellious streak on the odd occasion we like I said before tempt him with a treat and praise.

Thanks for the the responses guys.

I must admit, I was a bit taken aback for Boomers growl, it was more than a little threatening and he has bitten without warning before so I probably reacted a bit quickly. I've just had a text from my housemate saying that boomer is shaking alot today and won't stop following him while i'm at work so i'll take him to the vet tonight to see if there is anything underlying there. He's normally 100% when it comes to getting off sofas and beds, a quick "no" or "off" and he'll go and sit somewhere else. Maybe theres something going on that needs to be checked out.

I agree with what you've said, I'd much rather have a warning next time so i'll be careful. I come from the old fashion school of dog training, if my dog when i was a child misbeahaved it was hit and put outside. I don't condone this of course and its not what I do with my dogs but i am aware that i need to stop myself making mistakes like last night on instinct. I know I can always get sensible advice here!

Mike

Personally I would never pin a dog down. I have battled a long problem with a dog suffering 'fear agression' towards humans. If you dog is suffring this type of agression pinning him down could make him worse.
DT

Mike you have come such a long way with Boomer, I would hate to see your relationship take a step back.
Maybe worth getting getting Boomer checked to make sure he isn't in any pain anywhere (ears/teeth anal glands etc)
I would avoid situations which might lead to confrontation in future, in other words don't allow Boomer on the sofa at any time.

The reasoning behind avoiding confrontation is this. Dogs learn to associate events/actions with those they have encountered previously. By pinning or forcing Boomer off the sofa, if a similar situation arises where he has taken possession of the sofa and he sees you approach him he may anticipate a similar reaction on your part and react accordingly by snarling, if the person approaching him is someone else and/or he is fearful the behaviour could escalate and he may bite.

You have already had some suggestions, in a similar situation I would go out of the room and call him too you in a happy voice and praise/treat him for coming to you. This will turn a negative situation into a positive one.

Well done Mike for having an open mind

I find if a dog's behaviour changes, give him the benefit of the doubt and try to work out why

My first thought when I read your post was that he seemed to want to be left alone and in comfort, so perhaps he was unwell, deffo get that vet check.

Best wishes
Wys
x

No more advice really, just wanted to say I've made mistakes with my dogs and I feel as long as I can admit it and move on (and not do it again) then I've learned something and become a stronger person.

HTH

We all make mistakes, I think the most we can hope for is not to make the same one twice