Agreesive yorkie
 

Need help. I have a 2 ½ year old female yorkie. When she was a puppy we went through basic dog training. As of lately (last 6 months or so) she has become somewhat aggressive. She growls at people when she has a bone or toy in her mouth. Sometimes she is playing but I am not too sure. Her tail wags etc. But lately every time my daughter walks in the room (she is 20 yrs old) my dog growls at her for no reason. When she tries to pet her she tries to bite her. We use a spray bottle but that doesn’t always work. Not sure what to do any suggestions?

My dog always growls with toys/bones in her mouth, in her case, it's playing not aggression. But trying to bite your daughter is definitely concerning behavior.

How much socialization has your dog had with other people/pets?

This has started over 6 months? Has anything changed in your household?

Is she spayed, and has she had a recent wellness check with the vet?

With the bones and toys, teach her to "drop it." Also teach her to trade for a small treat.

With Maximo, I can tell the difference between playing and aggression by the look in his eye, his ear position, and the tone of his growl. There is only one thing that he displays aggression over and that is a Texas Toothpick chew bone. They are like a drug to him. He will put his ears down and get a wild look in his eye if I want to take it away. I pick him up and ask him to drop it and trade for a kibble. Sometimes it takes a little coaxing. Exercise caution doing this with your dog.

Does your daughter live with you and the dog? Have your daughter engage the dog in her favorite activities and training exercises. Does she like to go for walks? Have your daughter give your dog commands like sit, and give the dog a really special treat. Once the dog associates your daughter with yummy treats, the growling should stop.

Hope some of this helps.

I don't like spray bottles-how would you react to it? Muzzles suck but she sounds just defensive of you, perhaps or just getting territorial, she's an adult now at sexual maturity fixed or not, she's at the right age to adjust her place in the pecking order-Yorkies can be like that as much as any dog but especially they are one of the most aggressive small dog breeds actually...a soft muzzle may be necessicary to get her used to physical attention (petting) from your daughter teaching her she can't bite-only for 10 minute periods once a day...try Dogswell Mellow Mut, use removal-if she's bad she gets removed for like 2 minutes, or/and working with a behaviorist (like reading or watching Ceasar Millan and Victoria Stilwell if not a local one). She's peaked her sexual maturity and you may just be seeing that but it is important to positively punish and nip the behavior before it is a pattern...shock collars, physical punishment (yes like a spray bottle) well it induces fear and aggression even more-doggy time outs work but dogs are at the same level of a toddler at best more than two minutes and whatever happened before is gone...it takes repeat behavior, practice and persaveriance.

You've been giving good advice, and asked some great questions that would be helpful of you to answer.

First off, if she is getting sprayed with water every time your daughter walks in the room, she's associating your daughter with that spray. So now in her mind, it's "daughter walks in the room, I get sprayed, I'm going to growl". I am not against using a spray bottle for unnecessary barking, etc, but for making positive associations with a particular person, it's definitely not going to work.

Wagging tail does not equal playfulness, or happiness, by the way.

She is resource guarding, which is a VERY serious issue and can quickly escalate into more. I don't exactly correct when a dog does it to another dog, because they're speaking in their language, and sometimes it's okay to let them work it out, but for a dog to growl or bite at the human who FEEDS them... is a HUGE no-no in my book.

You need to take things slow. Every time the daughter comes in the room, have her throw treats on the ground. No need to try to pet the dog, or reach down, don't even make eye contact... just every time your daughter comes in the room, she casually drops her favorite treats on the ground, and that's that. You can eventually work up to petting VERY slowly. If possible, have the daughter feed the dog breakfast or dinner, take her for walks, play with toys, fun things, etc.

I don't think a muzzle is entirely necessary because you don't want to use it as a crutch. You want her to learn to behave and don't want to have a dog accustomed to being muzzled while your daughter, your own family, is over. I also don't necessarily believe in 'time outs' for dogs because dogs mind don't really comprehend it. They're not like kids that go into a room and think about what they've done wrong... they just know they're in there, they don't know why.

But I would suggest hiring a professional pet behaviorist to work on this issue.

Thanks, and ooooowwwwwahh I like the dropping of treats method way better than the muzzle idea! That was step two for us. It's so awesome that despite any learning we do-we can always learn a better way! I actually reluctantly used the muzzle (on the advice and under the advice of a local behaviorists) as my dog got nippy with the kids for a period and it couldn't be risked at all-I read daughter and just went into protective mom mode-with an adult or older child yeah totally using positive associations like treats with that person is way better (and you can risk a bite that may or may not occur). Sometimes I go into emergency reactive mode rather than a better one-but then again I have small children around and it changes the game quite a bit...ignore me and go with Britster :) :thumbup: