Dominant puppy...showing signs of aggression?

Well - I feel really bad writing this because I feel like I've somehow done something.

Takara is only 4 months old and is very dominant and showing signs of aggression. It is aggression not play.

As far as dominance goes, she pulls on lead (I know - this just needs training and we're getting places), she jumps on furniture and refuses to budge, if you try to move her off the furniture she puts her back against the back of the chair so you can't get her collar, growls, snarls (lip curled) and bites if you go near her she has always been great with food and even lets other dogs have it even if she wants it, but the other day mum went to pick up a bit of chicken she dropped and Takara growled and snarled, and she got a jumbone she wasn't supposed to have (she's too young, it was bought for another dog) and as I went to take it off her she growled and snarled.

Now, I know food is valuable to them, but she's never done this before...

She isn't overly aggressive and she's not been aggressive over food since, but she is always the same if you try and stop her getting on/try to get her off the furniture.
Also, if she falls asleep in the living room at night I have to move her to the kitchen to go in her crate, now she loves her crate so its not that she doesn't want to go in it, but i'll wake her up and see if she'll move herself but she won't so I try to move her and she snaps and snarls.

I don't really know how to react in a way that won't make her worse - so what should I do?

I know there are dogs like this, my friend's dog was the same as a puppy and is fine now, but I just feel it's my fault somehow...
Oh, she's not overly dominant - she will do as she's told (unless it's furniture/heel) and seems to know her place (more or less) in the 'pack'.

This sounds similar to Hannah (the pup I have here at the moment).
She has been allowed to do whatever she likes, and has never been taught any manners.
Under no circumstances is she allowed on furniture. If she attempts to jump up, I stop her with my arm/leg.
She's not allowed in the room on her own - so can't get on when i'm not there.

She has to sit before I give her ANYTHING.

She got hold of one of Teagans bones, and growled when I went to get it off her. I don't give her anything now that she would have reason to growl from.

To be honest - I personally don't think 'heel' is anything to do with being donimant. It's to do with if they have been taught to heel or not - which believe me - can take a long time!

yeah - heel wasn't something I was too worried about...

It's the other things - we've never been really soft with her - in fact I remember a lot of people thought I was being too strict from a young age...

shes getting better with jumping up but there are a lot of people she sees regularly who don't mind her jumping up and even though I say 'please don't fuss her until she's on the floor' they say 'oh it's ok!' and fuss her anyway...

so am I ok to do what I've been doing and just continue to get her off the sofa, ignore her growling etc. as if I haven't noticed and be forceful? I don't want anything I do make her worse...

hey.

with the furniture senario, firstly decide if u want takara on the furniture or not. You need to set ground rules. If you are ok with her on the furniture, then you cannot expect her to know when its not ok. It seems takara is acting a bit like a spoilt child and is also protecting a resource (ie a comfy place to sit). Try to teach her to get off the sofa on command, you will probably need to start with the lure and reward method rather than physically pulling her off as this will cause her to resist. Lure her off, reward her and introduce a command word such as 'off'. Practise this many times through the day and hopefully you will eventually get a strong command so you can command her off the sofa without having to lure. This will teach her that good things happen when she gets off the sofa.

The same with sending her to bed senario, i had this trouble with indie when she was about the same age, and shes still a little madam even now sometimes, i soon remember not to grab her by the collar. Use a reward based method of teaching her rather than grabbing her collar.

with the food, teach her how to swap. So when she has a bone, teach her to give the bone to you in return for a tasty treat for example. Dont just take away her bone as this may increase her urge to guard it. You wouldnt like it if someone gave u a brand new flat screen tv for your birthday and then took it away ok bad example, but basically, if u dont want her to have bones, dont give them to her. I know the one she had she got by mistake.
The NILIF scheme is also a good idea


sorry, its really late and im knackered from a double shift! so ive probably only covered half of wot i prob wanted to say. im sure someone will add to that, but hope its helped a little bit

A general observation:

I would not use a lure for a recalcitrant dog. In the situation described by the OP (refusing to get off furniture), I would attach a house line. This must be done only when supervision is possible to obviate the chance of entanglement. When the dog gets on furniture with the line attached and refuses to get off then take the line (not the collar) and firmly pull the dog off. As soon as the dog is off with all four feet on the floor give the command 'off', then, and only then, praise and reward 'good off'.

Kind, firm, consistent handling, so that the dog learns that a command is a command and not an option or something to think about, will get the message across. Pair the command with the behaviour, and remember that dogs will always repeat what they find rewarding.

Lottie re the highlighted sentence.... also may I just add a little to the good advice given by the other members ...
As you still seem to be experiencing a few problems with Lotties training, I think you should explain to people this is part of Takaras training and would they please help by doing as you ask. Failing this put her on a lead when people arrived and only allow her to be spoken to when she is sitting. I would not say put her in another room because she really needs to learn good behaviour now so you can take her anywhere. You have to be consistent or Takara will never learn and you will end up with a fully grown pushy dog jumping up at people.

It is also very important Takar does not get mixed messages as I have said before, everyone in the house should be firm and consistent.
Are you still keeping up the NILF training http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm so that Takara learns her place in the household and is not allowed to become pushy and dominant...training dogs does take a lot of time and work I know but it is all worth it when you finally achieve a happy well behaved dog you can take with you anywhere.

Thanks all

Okay - phew - some questions to answer!

She's not allowed on furniture (someone's going to pick out the photo of her on the sofa - I can see it now) and as soon as she looks at getting up I try to stop her so that she learns she doesn't get up in the first place! If anyone wants to fuss her on the knee for instance, we all sit on the floor with her rather than on the sofa with her on our knee (she'll be way too big soon!)

She knows she's not allowed on the furniture because as soon as she gets on she looks at me as if to say 'ha! what you gonna do?!'

Thanks for the advice, will try to avoid her collar in future!

As far as praising her - I've bought a clicker (and to be honest, in the last week we've seen such a turn around in her behaviour!) and I click during her moving off the furniture, then click again and treat when she's on the floor. (The book said always click during not on completion)

She is starting to understand 'manners' means all 4 feet on the ground in all scenarios - such as jumping up at people, the table, the worktop - but not quite got the furniture yet - too much temptation there!

As far as jumping up goes, in the last few days however excited she's been to see me (unless I'm getting my 'dog walking coat' on) she hasn't jumped up at me at all. And she's doing it much less with the rest of the family too.

She doesn't jump up at people coming to the house which is a great thing! She jumps up when we go to training, or if we see someone who wants to fuss her on one of our walks... But I will be more assertive and tell people 'no I don't want her jumping up' (What kind of PAT dog jumps up?!)

The NILIF programme, well - I'm not sure how far I'm taking it, she doesn't get anything for free. She works for play, she works for food and she enjoys doing that. She obeys commands really well, knows lots of tricks and also ringcraft work but she doesn't learn not to do the bad behaviour.

In light of this, I've decided to take an alternative route, teaching her an alternative to bad behaviour instead of just not to do it.
Ie. Make her think that keeping all 4 feet on the ground is a trick: 'manners' has helped because she doesn't jump up at the table as much. Rather than just telling her to get down and then her thinking 'where's the fun in this?'

Thankfully the rest of the family are taking on board what I'm saying - dad has stopped playing rough unless he play tug o' war which is ok because there's a toy involved and it's not dog on person (or vica versa!)
Becky has started taking an active part in training her - she still doesn't listen to Becky but Becky's trying and if I go out of the room and leave the two together Becky gets the clicker (she says she's going to buy herself one!) so she can be ready to reward T for good behaviour.

Thanks very much for all the info - it's great that it's stored here because I'd never remember it all.

Mini - I agree, training dogs is a chore but you get really great things from it!

And I have to say - Clicker training is awesome! I can't believe I'm such a stubborn cow and refused to use them before believing they were just a money making gimic!
Takara now returns to me in the park even if there's another dog there!
She is learning to walk on a loose lead better, her general manners are better and she knows lots of obedience as well as ringcraft now!

Very impressed - not that I'm advertising of course!