Aggression

[MaxTheYorkie21]

My 1 year old yorkie is generally a really sweet dog but for the past month or two, he's been biting and growling out of the blue. One moment he'll be super happy and playful, the next he's not so nice. Whenever we approach him, he'll bare his teeth at us and eventually, jump and bite. We just got him neutered, hoping his aggressiveness would stop. He has barely changed! Help!

[SusieQ36305]

This is strange for one so young. Is he hurting or sick in some way? We have a 16 year old yorkie and he has been doing this kind of thing for a number of years now. When he got old, he got really cranky. But for one so young, I think I would have him checked out. Sounds like he might be in pain to me.

[littlesev]

Other than health related issue... Did he have his items/toys/food with him when you approached? One reason is he's trying to protect something. Dog growling is a warning method and if you keep on approaching after the warning, it would escalate to snapping and biting. I'd say keep notes of whenever he growls at you so you could determine the reason he's reacting that way. Get a trainer if you can afford one. Please keep us updated.

[MaxTheYorkie21]

He's usually most aggressive around his bed time and when he's in his cage. The only thing in there is his food, water, and bed. But sometimes he'll be laying on the carpet with nothing with him and he'll still be "angry". Do you know how we could get him to stop being so aggressive?

[MaxTheYorkie21]

Originally Posted by littlesev

Other than health related issue... Did he have his items/toys/food with him when you approached? One reason is he's trying to protect something. Dog growling is a warning method and if you keep on approaching after the warning, it would escalate to snapping and biting. I'd say keep notes of whenever he growls at you so you could determine the reason he's reacting that way. Get a trainer if you can afford one. Please keep us updated.

He's usually most aggressive around his bed time and when he's in his cage. The only thing in there is his food, water, and bed. But sometimes he'll be laying on the carpet with nothing with him and he'll still be "angry". Do you know how we could get him to stop being so aggressive?

[littlesev]

I can't say for sure about your situation but my dog gets cranky if I disturb or try to carry him when he's sleeping / lying around on the carpet. On the other hand, he's always happy to be carried when in his playpen because he knows he's getting out for some play time

Perhaps what you could try is if he's food/toy motivated, you could bring a small treat/toy every time you approach him. If you do it consistently, hopefully he would not see you approaching as a sign of disturbance but as something rewarding to him.

[yorkietalkjilly]

I would start him on the Nothing In Life Is Free Program and a good obedience program. There is nothing to turn a dog around like this combination of protocols for dealing with this program. The LILIF program is free on the internet. Google the term and just read from the various sites what to do. It is so simple but teaches your dog to see you with entirely different eyes. His aggression is because he feel like the pack leader and these tips will change that relationship so that he's the follower and you the leader and he'll love it!

His resource guarding is something you can handle secondarily in conjunction with the two other programs but you'll make more headway after he's had about two months on both NILIF and obedience. By then, he will see you as his pack leader and know that obeying you gets him wonderful rewards and give him a sense of confidence - something he probably lacks a bit right now - and will have taught him to respect your authority.

Obedience training a dog is so simple and once you have them under control and performing their tricks expertly, it is just amazing how they begin to settle down and lose a lot of bad habits along the way! It is one of the best things any owner can do for a dog - teach him tricks on command and in the process his learns to look to you for leadership and direction and praise and rewards. He learns that keeping you happy makes him happy in the long run and that will keep him from so many future problem behaviors. I have had Tibbe for almost 4 years and we go through his obedience training usually once or twice a day for about 5 minutes. He adores it and will bark to get me to train him!

After each training session, play with him good and hard for a good 5 minutes and then outside to work off any tensions he built up in the training process. Some dogs get so excited doing their tricks they need these things to help them come down off their "high" afterward. I have taught Tibbe to sit, lie down, roll over, sit up and beg, roll on his back and stay, shake, high-five, jump over sticks and things, relax and lie quiet on command, play dead, bark on command, growl on command, stop barking and stay quiet on command and to jump up or down from things on command. He will stay, stop and "Leave it" and "drop it" on command. In the process of working together and getting my praise and treat rewards, he learned he likes to please me and do what I say and that that makes me very happy, which he loves to do most. It is a win-win situation. Along the way of our working together to teach him these things - he dropped a ton of bad habits.

As far as his resource guarding over his bowl and his quarters when you approach, start to walk past his crate and drop a treat in it every time you pass. Make it juicy warm boiled chicken. Before long he will want to see you coming. In time he will wag his tail as you do. Next, move his crate and change his bowls, bedding to change things up and start anew. Sit on the floor beside the crate and drop a treat one at a time into one of the new bowls and allow him to come up and get it from the bowl which is between your legs or right beside you. Praise when he does. Then, gently shoo him away or toss a ball to back him off a bit and drop another treat, allow him to come and get it from the bowl. Praise and back him off, drop another treat and allow him to get it.

Repeat things like this that show you are in control of his bowl and he's going to love that set up - it means treats. In time, start to mix some of his food in with the treat and allow him to eat it too from "your" bowl. Move the bowl to the couch and invite him up there to get his treat or kibble from it. Praise him when he does and keep repeating in short little 5 or 6 time training episodes and that's enough for the time. Wait an hour or two and repeat. You can use his treats as part of his meal so he doesn't get fat.

Put your hand in front of the crate and toss a treat in and when he tries to get in, say "OK, go in" and allow him to pass into the crate. Praise him when he does and lure him back out again with a toy or treat. Repeat the first step with your hand blocking entry and allowing him in for his treat. In time, he will associate in his mind that you have control of his crate and what happens in there.

Read all that you can on Google about Resource Guarding and find other tips on ways to train that might fit you better.

Along with the NILIF program, good obedience and some Resource Guarding re-training, he should shape up in time. Always stay upbeat, happy and train using a matter-of-fact manner and do not get upset when he forgets or messes up. Stay in "teaching" mode and patient, loving and reinforce all his good learning with praise and treats.

[yorkietalkjilly]

I forgot to add after mentioning feeding you dog in the new bowl with the one treat in it on the couch, that you need to take the bowl throughout the house and sit down on the floor holding that bowl and dropping the treat in it and allowing him to eat out of it in many different places. Over time this shows him that that place in his crate where his bowl sat and he guarded it are all over and now the bowl is yours and when you take it around to various places and control it, he's allowed to approach and eat a juicy chicken treat. He'll come to love you owning and controlling his bowl. Then, you can in time put his bowl anywhere and approach it without rancor on his part because he will have come to understand it is no longer his to guard and besides, you give better things than he guarded anyway.

Moving his crate about and tossing in treats and toys for him to go get when you allow will show him that the crate is also yours and if he wants in to get the food or toy, you have to allow it, in time changing his mindset about needing to guard things in it or people around it. Move the crate to other rooms and toss the treats in it. Just getting the old bowls out of the crate he guarded in the old place and starting a new way of his seeing the whole set up will snap his mind out of his recurrent guarding notions and unsettle him so you can rebuild his attitude toward it, things in it and your relationship to it. And moving the crate about from one room to another will keep him off-balance and from getting into OCD guarding while you are training him about who owns it.

In time, by NILIF and obedience and discomfiting him regarding uprooting his crate/things in it and retraining, he will start to see things in the right way - with you as his pack leader and one who is taking over how things run but there is a lot in it for him - juicy treats and lots of praise. And a happy mommy. And you are good enough to allow him to take treats from your bowl and even enter your crate to get them. You'll be tops in his eyes and he'll want to please you. And he'll learn to love to see you coming toward his crate - like Pavlov's dog, he'll be conditioned in time to react happily to seeing you approach it.