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07-09-2016, 11:12 AM | #1 |
YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Florida
Posts: 1
| Five Year Old Yorkie Aggression Issues Hello YorkieTalk! I've browsed your forums for advice before, and I could really use some insight on my situation. I have a five year old Yorkie named Tidus. He is very smart and intelligent, but also spiteful. We are having issues with aggression when strangers come into or near the house. Tidus doesn't bite people, but he will bark at them and lunge like he is going to attack. Yelling at him does not work, it actually eggs him on. I've tried to explain this to my in-laws, but they're not convinced. In my opinion, he has multiple issues with aggression going on. Issue 1 - Protective Aggression: He's not as bad when I walk him. I just tell him "quiet" and I stop walking. He grumbles, but doesn't continue barking, and then we keep walking after a moment. In public, he is an angel. I can take him to the mall or out to eat, and he just sits in his carrier quietly. However, if anyone comes in the house or is right outside of the house, he barks up a storm and may lunge at them. 9/10 times, he warms up quickly and will be fine. I either pick him up and remove him from the situation, or I put him on a leash and say "quiet" when he start growling. He calms down after a while and I can let him off the leash without any issues. Sometimes he may bark if someone moves too fast, but I say quiet and he redirects. Issue 2 - "Spiteful Aggression": I call this spiteful aggression because I swear he is goading you for a response. For example, my sister-in-law had friends over. The friends walked in and Tidus did not bark. He sniffed them, wagged his tail, and then walked beside them as they walked into the house with my sister-in-law. I turned my back for a minute to answer a question from someone and all of a sudden I hear him bark and snap. My sister-in-law screamed at him, stomped her feet, and waved her hands angrily. He walked away wagging his tail and he looked happy. I picked him up and removed him. I've noticed the more you scream and carry on at him, the more he will bark. When he lived with my dad, he would run around the house when I got home and he would corner my dad's dogs and bark in their faces. As he would bark, he would look over at me and wag his tail, like he wanted me to yell at him. I tried to correct this by ignoring him until he calmed down. I've tried to explain to them that you cannot yell at him like you would a normal dog because he will either become goaded on or he will become scared of you and both make things worse. They don't believe me. Issue 3 - Fear Aggression: This is another reason why I don't like them yelling at him. If you yell at him too much and upset him, he will become scared of you and then everyday for months, he will bark every time you move. We went through this with my father-in-law. He scared him very badly one night because he barked when he got home, and for months afterwards he would bark and carry on as soon as he got home, when he moved too fast, etc. My game plan is to train him with positive reinforcement. My mother-in-law is a huge Cesar Millan fan. She swears he's magic. While I have seen his methods work with some dogs, I personally don't feel like the dominance/alpha method alone is going to have a good effect on my dog. I worry it's going to make him either more fearful or spiteful and then we will have more problems. I've been watching a lot of Zak George on YouTube and I feel like his methods may be the way to go. This is my detailed game plan: 1. Train to Tidus bark & quiet down on command. Train him stay, come, and down. Utilize this at home and on walks. (He is already pretty good about stay, but he only comes when he wants to.) 2. Properly train Tidus to walk on a leash. Work on quieting down and redirecting with my guidance. 3. Train him on how to properly act when people walk in using above methods. I want to bring friends inside with him on a leash and train him not to jump, bark, or lunge. Eventually moving to off leash. My dog's behavior is causing a lot of friction in my house and I need to start working to correct them ASAP. I'm hoping some kind souls can give me some feedback or tips for this journey. Does it sound like my evaluation of his behavior is accurate? Has anyone else had "spiteful aggression" with their Yorkies? Has anyone had good results using Cesar Millan's methods with a Yorkie? Does anyone have any feedback on Zak George? Do you have any tips for training a Yorkie? How do I explain this plan to my in-laws in a way they can understand without thinking I'm crazy and doing the wrong thing? |
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07-12-2016, 11:07 AM | #2 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Canada
Posts: 1,903
| Yes, you should never yell at your dogs. Others shouldn't either. I don't think there is such a thing as spiteful aggression. 'Stay', 'come', and 'down' are essentials. 'Come' needs to be reinforced at every chance you get and just know that some dogs never have 100% recall. Walking politely on a leash is a must if you go for daily walks. If you can train 'bark' and 'quiet', those are great commands. I'd start with those first and forget about house guests for now. If you have guests, keep him contained in a separate space. Or if you feel he won't bark aggressively, keep him on a leash but tethered to you at all times. My thoughts on Cesar Milan is that his techniques may be useful for rehabilitative works. I doubt your dog is at that stage. I do however believe that as a dog owner, I am the leader of the pack. Dogs are mentally more happy and stable when they know they need to look to you for direction. I've watched Zak George videos and he seems to have a better approach. My favourite is Kikopup's videos - she gets to the point much faster. With your family and in-laws. Well...focus on training your dog first. Worry about them later. You don't really need to worry about what they think of your training tactics. It can be a pointless battle. Once you have your dog nice and trained up, they won't care how you did it.
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