Agression Problem
 

Hi Everyone,

My Bindi is two years old and is not well socialized. I got her at 8 weeks (which i learned was too early) and I use to take her frequently to dog parks but she'd never play there. just want me to pick her up. I soon started working and the dog park trips stopped.

I take her daily to the neighborhood park for her walks and she has some "friends," labs and gsds mostly, larger dogs. She doesnt play with them but will walk with them and sniff them (I am convinced she doesnt know how to play with other dogs).

Yesterday we had a picnic at a local park that also has a dog park. I took her along and she was mean and growly to all the dogs there. I had to leave. At some point a young boy came up asking if he could pet her and she growled at him. :-O

I had never seen her get mean to children but she has becoming increasingly annoyed with then. Children from the picnic were taunting her and she was getting growly with them too so I left.

She has never bitten anyone before but I dont want to take any chances.

How can I rid her of this behaviour? We wanted to bring in a sister for her but I think she will be mean to her :( We would like to have children soon and I dont want her to show aggression to the baby.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

oh ya, also, if im holding her people come up to take her. she gets mad.

Thanks,
V

I'd start with some basic obedience classes or work with a private trainer.

Ours charges $20 for a one-hour private session.

If you decide to get a playmate for her - she might do better with the opposite sex. At least that's what everyone told me. That if you have any issues at all . . better go with opposite sex dogs for a better change of them getting along.

I have a dog aggressive Westie - who gets along fine with other (small) females but definitely will pick a fight with another male. Now we have Lucy and he gets along with her.

I agree, check out some classes as the ASPCA or get a trainer. It's a lot of work to socialize a dog properly, and it sounds like your dog needs socialization with both dogs AND people.

Also, a note on kids - a lot of kids do not understand how small and fragile yorkies are, so you have to be really careful around them. If kids are teasing her, definitely take her out of that situation asap so she doesn't feel that she needs to defend herself.

I would definitely not get another dog until you have a better handle on the behavior, UNLESS you can introduce the dogs beforehand and make sure they get along. I agree a male is probably better. Is she spayed?

Do you take her out with you? You can try having strangers give her treats.

protection
 

I had an issue with Castor Pollux aggression-- when he was little he was afraid of other dogs, around 4 months he started to growl at other dogs, fear became aggression. Once he got some balls (literally) he would try to actually bite and fight other dogs. I had someone come over to help. She explained that he's a dog, and that "aggression" is just him protecting me. If I went outside and it was just castor Pollux and the other dog, he was fine, when I came inside he was mean to the other dogs. The trainer explained that anything that could "compromise" our relationship was a threat to me... not a threat to Castor Pollux. Castor Pollux just loves me and feels that he is keeping me safe because i keep him safe. So the solution? don't let anything approach you-- if you approach the child or other person or other dogs your dog will see that you don't need protecting from it.
IF this is the same issue my dog had. thats just what the trainer took 100 to tell me, for free! lol
good luck