so he lost it for a bit. we all can and do sometimes.

give it a rest now

he should be made to feel welcome

NOT berated for an opinion

and emotions.

Hey Dee,

It sounds a lot like your puppy needs vital socialising skills if even you get a bit scared of him, I suggest you get a muzzle for him before these puppy classes, just to be on the safe side.

I advise all new dog owners upon getting a puppy to be involved with everything. Take them over to parks where they can meet other dogs, not so much bringing other dogs to your house, in case he is of a dominent nature, as he won't take to them coming in uninvited by him. Also take him down your local pub to meet people as well, the more situations a puppy is exposed to, the less likely the puppy will grow into a dog that is unsure of everything, including other people and dogs.

If you taught him bite inhibition, he should be pretty comfortable with your hand in his mouth. Has he ever displayed anything at all similar previously with what he did recently?

The tendon may have even been sore for him, in which case he growled after associating you with the pain or discomfort.

I would advise that you take 10 mins time out every day to groom him, it'll get him used to you running your hands over him, obviously give him a treat whilst grooming him so he can get the idea that grooming is a good thing. He'll learn to trust you and it's also quite an empowering role for you to letting him know that you'll take good care of him/let him know that you are boss by taking the alpha dog grooming role, whichever theory you believe, they are both essentially the same one thing.

With regards to taking his bowl away, this can be dangerous and it's become synonomous with how to teach your dog that you're boss by general media, unfortunately they don't take into account that an overly dominent and aggressive dog will get very offended by this and could cause you some damage. Dogs love their food, it's like taking away cake from Vanessa Feltz, it'll only piss her off.

I would also advise that you never smack your dog on the nose, even I was taught this one as a child and sadly enough, employed it as a kid when I knew no better. It's probably the equivelent of kicking some guy in his family jewels, it's harmful for the dog and with experience, the dog will only learn to resent you for doing so, growling back is also not a good idea. A firm "no!" is better, but only if the dog knows better.

Use the power of reinforcement, give him a treat whilst he is doing a behaviour that you want to encourage, such as sticking your hands in his mouth. Scoop his food up or feed him a treat by placing it on his tongue inside his mouth after letting him have a sniff, let him eat food from your hands. Basically, everytime your hands go anywhere near him, he needs to think "Oh my, I like these hands, they give me food. Good hands", if you continue smacking him on the nose and keep taking his bowl away, he is associating negative things with hands, its possible that everytime he sees your hands he thinks "those hands cause me pain and they take my food away, I don't like those hands. Bad hands"

Give grooming a go, its a great bond between you and your dog, he gets comfortable with you touching him all over and he'll also have a much nicer coat because of it. If you believe in the pack mentality, the alpha dog grooms his pack with the thinking that he is the boss of them and he is allowed to touch them. Grooming puts you in that alpha dog role.

Try and get him to associate your hands as things of goodness, they play toys with him, they throw balls for him, they feed him, they groom him, they stroke him; not things of badness such as them hitting him and them trying to take his food away.

I'm sure many others have different opinions on the matter, so listen to other's posts and do whatever you feel comfortable with and what seems right.

true, there are members who sometimes 'lose it'. It is usually because they are passionate about dogs and although I very often don't agree with people I respect their view because I know it is all about doing the best for dogs.

The OP's outbursts on all threads come across as being 'all about me'.



that was my first post for 3 months.



he was.



he was questioned about his opinions. Different thing.



yes, the emotions were a problem because they were defensive-aggressive.

When our dogs show these emotions we spend a lot of time coaxing, managing, soothing etc. When a human shows these emotions, we may be prepared to do the same to some extent on a forum.

However when a person has in effect separated himself from the general population of newbies by almost immediately starting 'how to' threads, (and expressed a desire to help those unfortunates who have previously been floundering amid 'know alls' without a canine guide, and who don't know any better), we don't expect to spend a lot of time soothing ruffled feathers. We expect them to snap out of it quickly - otherwise they lose credibility.

Many forums are knee-deep in professional behaviourists. They give their advice and time freely and generously. Somtimes there are different opinions expressed. I can honestly say this is the first time I've seen someone come on so strong initially, and been so huffy when their ideas are challenged. So, whilst I'd agree with you that newbies should be given some latitude, they don't all jump in with the 'hey, I'm a behaviourist' posts straight away.

Sometimes the only clue to a person's RL occupation is a comment such as "in my behavioural work I often see ...". There are scores of people like that quietly and modestly giving advice on forums.

Hey Dee,

It sounds a lot like your puppy needs vital socialising skills if even you get a bit scared of him, I suggest you get a muzzle for him before these puppy classes, just to be on the safe side.
:

Hi Dee I won't answer your question, it wasn't requesting suggestions from members in general but may I make one observation?

You say.. someone suggested.. I have to say something here, not to be picky but I really would not use a muzzle on this puppy, you say he is shy of humans, muzzling him can make him worse .

Oh...by the way...I'm more than happy to have ANY and ALL advice from ALL and ANY experienced doggy owners! Sorry if I gave the wrong idea, just that it looked like behaviour problems were the hot topic at the time! And just for the record, my pup and his littermates had "personality profiles" done on them at 7 weeks old (in Holland they do that apparently) and he was considered to be submissive and shy and kind!...

Thanks Young Stevie. I needed your reassurance. We all love him to bits and will do everything we can to make sure he turns out a happy well balanced dog.