Aggressive Puppy

Desparately need everybodies help here.

I have been asked to take back one of our puppies from last year, which is not a problem but he is very nervous of people and growls at them and started to bare his teeth as well. The owners have now e mailed me (couldn't be bothered to phone) and said he has "gone for" a friend of their son. I have had problems with these owners from day one because they never socialised him when young and never took him to any form of training.

I have always said I would never keep a dog that had a temperament like this as it is a dangerous situation to be in, but he is one of ours and all the other pups are fine.

I don't know what to do with him to try and retrain him and eventually rehome him.

Please any ideas.

Oh dear DD

I'm no expert but I personally would assess the situation to see exactly how 'aggressive' the pup is. Maybe a little time away from the owners will start to show a completely different animal.

I'm sure someone else will be along soon to offer another suggestion. Sorry I can't really be of any help

I agree with Staffy on the point made that it might be a totally different pup once you have it, i've never been in the situation that you are in but if it was me i would try and go back to basics with the dog, maybe its not actually an agressive dog, maybe its scared of its owners and feels threatened in the home where it is. maybe it just needs to be tought whats correct and what not?
Hope everything goes well. Sorry i cant be much more help.

I agree too, for all you know the people were mean to the poor puppy Maybe he will be okay once you get him back and do some training and socializing.

I think training and socialising will help too, It will hard work but worth it.. Also you may have to be honest about his background to the new owners so they are aware. Just interested.. (tell me if Im being nosey!) will u be giving these people a refund? I've often found that alot of breeders say they will forward whatever money they can get for the pup/dog (because obviously this sometimes less than what a puppy costs). Not sure if that's needed in a contract tho?

Hi DD You don't say how old the puppy is? If I was you I would not put too much store by what the present owners say..it sounds as if the puppy is scared..what was the son's friend doing prior to the incident? It would be interesting to know but I doubt you will learn the truth. The puppy was barring its teeth...saying in effect ' back off I am scared' (the puppy gave a warning it did not just bite) if this warning was ignored and a nervous puppy was challenged or scared even more it may have 'gone for someone' in defence of itself. After a short time back with you I am sure you it will be possible to make your own assesment as to the temperament. Having not seen the puppy it is difficult to say for sure, but in most cases If I was in that situation I would have the puppy in my kitchen in a bed and pay it little direct attention for a couple of days . I would make few demands giving it time to gain a little confidence and to realise it was in a safe place. I would try not to approach it but would encourage it to come to me by crouching and talking to it softly and offering a special tipbit and give lots of praise if it came to me. After a couple of 'confidence building days' I would start training again from scratch It will probably be a lot of hard work but worth it in the end. Good luck DD I hope to read some happier news about this puppy soon.

Sorry Azz being slow at typing you got this in before me and I had not read it before posting .. If DD sold these people a puppy with a sound temperament as I am sure she did and they by their actions and lack of knowledge have managed to scare the poor thing and make it nervous, I don't think they deserve a refund. It could take a lot of time and effort to get this pup back on track . Also when it comes to rehoming this will be much more difficult than with a small puppy. I would tell the present owners I would contact them after assessing the situation, and if what I suspect proves to be true I would tell them just that politely but in no uncertain terms

If this is the only puppy from the litter to display temperament issues then it would seem to be clear that mishandling by the owners is to blame. As Mini said, you don't know, and will probably never know, how this puppy was treated, apart from the obvious lack of socialisation & training. As for him 'going for' someone you don't know if this is the truth or simply an excuse made to get rid of him. If true, it could have been the result of teasing, being hurt, being frightened, etc.

As he is still young it should be possible to help him regain his confidence in people and to unlearn unacceptable behaviours. If there really is a problem it sounds as though it is fear-based aggression but, without seeing the dog and how he interacts with people, it is very difficult to give an opinion or advise on re-training. In your position I would take him back and either assess him yourself or have him professionally assessed.

I can understand your concern about having a possibly aggressive dog in the house. He may surprise you pleasantly when he is in a 'normal' environment, but you will need to be very careful & vigilant. If you feel that you cannot cope or cannot take the chance that he might do damage would one of the breed rescues help with assessment & rehabilitation?

I would very much doubt that there would be a case for giving a refund in this situation. Assessment, retraining, & re-homing, will be expensive & time-consuming. However, if it comes to the crunch, DD may prefer to offer a partial refund rather than knowing that the dog may be sold on with his problems unaddressed.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

This is the puppy I have posted about before but can't find the message. He is 14 months old and I have had problems with the owners from day one. Because he was nervous of strangers they would shut him out of the way when people came round (found that out from them yesterday) and the children were playing quitely in the other room when the dog flew at the babygate, he has also started growling at the woman and has gone for the other dog.

I think they are going to bring him today and I will put in the the first kennel so he can see everyone walking past but I will tell them all to ignore him and not to try and touch him. I can't have him indoors with Treacle and Oliver until I am sure of his temperament with other dogs. I am going to phone a very good behaviourist I know who also does Bach flowers in fact I recommened the owners contact her but instead they had his nuts off.

Azz I will not be offering any refund now as I have continuously offered to take him back but they have refused and as I do not resell my puppies that have to be rehomed, I don't see why they should get anything for screwing up my little boy, all the others are fine.

I agree with u there DD. I saw what was happening to my little Buster when he was 8 weeks old. I was offering to take him back as I could see he was not happy. They eventually called me to come and get him when he was 11 weeks old and I refused to give them a full refund as they were the ones damaging him. We had him for just under 24hrs as we had a 'reserve' home all lined up for him and in that time he was basically back to where he was before we let him go to his first home.

I really, really hope everything works out for u and the pup DD