It sounds like he's being possessive/ territorial with his pen. If one of my girls did this I would probably start going into the pen regularly when they were sleeping and try keeping a strong/confident/assertive emotion until they stopped then leave & repeat... rewarding when I go in and there was no reaction and ignoring when they reacted negatively. If they wouldn't stop the growling I would probably give a light correction with my two fingers & say "no" then again ignore any bad behavior. I haven't had this particular problem but have found that my dogs, especially my Yorkies, are very in-tune with my emotions and I've been able to get them to do pretty much anything I want by being confident & assertive (not aggressive)... sometimes it's hard to control but these little ones are so smart & seem to just "get it" when I actually feel like I'm in control of the situation... they just sit back & enjoy the ride! Haha.
I love Cesear Millan and watch him regularly... I've gotten a lot of helpful tips from him! Best of luck! |