very aggressive yorkie
 

I have gotten a 3 year old yorkie from a Kennel he was the stud dog. Well I know he loves me and is my dog but when he is on my lap he can wake up very upset and get aggressive. Last night bit me twice from this. When I swat him and put him in timeout he acts like he has no idea what happened. What can we do to fix this.

welcome to yt. how long have you had him? and he may not understand why you are correcting him especially depending on his previous life and what he endured as a stud dog.

First and foremost you should not be "swatting" him to correct the unwanted behaviors.
If he's been used as a stud dog and kennel end for years you should expect many unwZnted behaviors. Since you know that he bites when on your lap then you need to stop allowing him the privilege.

Here's a great sticky that talks about rehabbing. I just checked the link within the post and it's no longer working but all the information is copied into the threads of the sticky

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...nt-advice.html

I didnt even see the swatting part.. yes please dont do that it will only add to his aggression.

Oh wow thought you are supposed to seat. Well that will change. We have had him 3 weeks now. He usually is wonderful just the bits of meanness every once in a while. I can say in 3 weeks it's been 8-10 Times..and never bit til last night.

Thank you for the article. Really helped explain things..he is a very funny dog. Runs around on 3 legs and tries to attack his leash. Love him

I think once he knows he can trust you and bonds with you things will get a lot better. thank you for rescuing him.

Kyra absolutely hates being disturbed from a sound sleep and will growl at me if I do. She has never bitten but I can tell she has thought about it lol. It could be he has that type of temperment about being disturbed.

I'm glad the article was helpful. :)

My yorkie sleeps with me and she likes to go under the covers. When it's time to wake up and I'm trying to wake her, she sometimes (rarely) will growl at me. I usually will just say a stern no with no physical contact and then just let her be. She usually afterwards will soon bring herself out of bed. :P Hope this maybe helps

First of all, striking any dog, let alone a relatively new dog, will only teach him to mistrust you and make him more defensive toward you than ever. Likely he'll bite first and ask questions later if you keep hitting him and his biting will escalate. Just give him a rehabilitation program and make yourself a new pet - one that has learned over time how to behave as you want.

I'd start him on one of the free Nothing In Life Is Free programs available on the internet and get him to understand that you are his pack leader and that he gets nothing in his life that he doesn't perform a command you give in order to get. Shortly, it will become absolutely clear to him that you are his loving leader, that you give him commands in an upbeat and not militant, off-putting tone of voice and that you make it fun for him to do what you ask and then he gets his meal, to go out to potty, gets his toy or his chewie or gets to go for his walk or gets to jump up on the couch with you - but none of it comes his way until he's done what you requested. Then and only then do you allow him to get what he needs, thus teaching him he needs to obtain your favor in order to get his needs met - the same lesson dogs in the wild soon learn from the alpha dog when they join a new pack. But be upbeat and make the commands something he'll want to do because you are enthusiastic and baiting him with your attitude and tone of voice, body language. He'll happily join in and love this NILIF program quickly. Most dogs love performing and getting their reward and your pleased "gooooood boy" praise and smile. Lots of rewards in it for them and they learn to respect and trust you above all.

You'll need to spend time re-training him not to bite in fear or reaction when he awakens. Don't allow him to sleep on your lap or nearby as long as he is habitually biting you. As soon as he drifts off to sleep or you notice him sleeping on or near you, awaken him and make him relocate and don't permit him to go to sleep near you for a few weeks until he is retrained. And when he does awaken, first thing you do is offer him a luscious, diverting treat or toss a squeaky toy or ball across the room to divert his attention from you and get his mind moving in a different direction from that of hostile biting. As soon as he takes the treat or goes for the ball, praise him and act excited that he's performed this wonderful feat - a far better way to go than waiting for a bite and hitting him. If he tries to approach you shortly after awakening, before you get to a treat or a toy, get up and stop him and re-direct his attention by clapping your hands or snapping your fingers until you've gotten to his treat/toy to provide to him, thus starting to re-direct his bad habit.

Next, you will need to actually obedience train your dog and teach him impulse control and to learn to obey your spoken word by starting him out with short 5 min. sessions x2 or 3 times a day, always giving the commands in an upbeat voice and treating him as soon as he gets his trick right with lots of praise to follow. Teach him all the usual obedience tricks and over time he'll learn that obeying what you say gets him lots of positive reinforcement and reward - far more than disobeying you.

An obedience-trained dog who works regularly with you learning new things and getting lots of positive reinforcement will not want/need to bite you and in fact, will over time totally reshape his behavior in the training and bonding process to that of a happy, loving pet as long as he's happy, healthy and has his needs met.

:thumbup::thumbup:

All great advice. Use it in addition to the article I posted. :)

I had this problem with Peek A Boo. Whenever I woke him up he would go after me. I learned this was just his response, and he didn't realize what he was doing. I learned to wake him gently using my voice, and never touch him until he was fully awake. I wasn't able to untrain this reaction, so I adjusted my approach instead. I could tell it was unintentional on his part, so any discipline made no difference.

Your dog may have started biting because of your 'swatting' him. I would suggest using a pillow to block him, if he falls asleep near you again. And when he does wake up, try using a calm, reassuring voice while he gets his wits about him.

Ok. Now my husband has swatted him also and when he is on his lap he has never done this to him. I may add that he is with me all day everyday. Sleeps in his kennel on my side of th bed at night. Why does he react that way to me the one he is closest to and not my husband

Good question. Basically, we know nothing about this dog, or very little, so not much history to build off of. I have found that dogs either develop a gender preference in humans early on, or, as an older dog, he is choosing what HE is most familiar/comfortable with.

My Tink does the same thing. We adopted her from the shelter when she was 2 1/2 years old, a throwaway. To be honest, I'm happy that she found someone she can love, even if it's not me. I do the feeding and grooming, training and walks, but I swear she sees me as a sibling, she will always try to defy me or have the last word (she is a very vocal dog).

She lives for the moment my DH walks in the door. I can see her eyes light up, and she gets this googoo gaga expression on her face and insists that he pick her up and greet her where she sits on his lap and pets her and she gives him all these most delicate little sweet kisses. (Gag me with a spoon!) She melts for him! Funny though, after this ritual ends, she'll stay on his lap and look at me, like ''Na na I got Daddy! and you don't!" If I don't watch them, the greeting is cut short. The whole thing is hysterical.

He asked me why she picked him... well, he has a beard, lol, so I said it's because he looks more like another dog! Hahaha. But I think it's more about how they were raised from puppyhood on up. Whatever happened to her, caused her to make these choices. IDK, maybe a lady was mean to her at one point in her life. Hard to say.

The thing is, now I choose how I react to this. At first my feelings were hurt, I think that's only natural, I am human, lol. But when I really look at the situation, I am truly happy for both my DH and Tinkerbell, and I'm glad they have something very special together. I won't do anything to lessen this bond between them, but I am trying to build my own bond with Tink. At this point, I want more, but right now it's a workable relationship. I did find out that Tink loves kayaking. When we got back, she followed me around like a god! We'll be doing more of that, lol!

Each dog is different. Encourage the good things you see, and try to work on eliminating the bad. It's easier to work on the things that you see in this dog, as opposed to trying to make him like another dog.

I talked about Peek A Boo in another thread, he wakes up nasty too. But, funny story... Peek liked both me and my DH, although he was a Momma's boy at the same time. Well, he loved to lay on DH's lap when DH was in the recliner. Bad thing though, DH was not allowed to get up or even move, lol, as Peek would fall asleep and then growl if DH twitched a leg! I said just ignore him and pick him up! Well Peek tried to tear into DH, but settled right down and went back to sleep. We're talking about a 250 pound man being held hostage by a 6 pound Yorkie! I never laughed so hard in my life. So I would go over to the chair, gently wake Peek up, and pick him up so DH could get up.

Just a note: I don't aim to have 'perfect' dogs, and it depends on a lot of things, but sometimes a work around is better for me.

Here are just some general rules about some biting dogs which could fit your situation:

Dogs bite and nip for many reasons, but I'll state the most obvious ones. If you are trying to stop one from protecting himself in a fight or keep him from a female in heat, he will sometimes turn and bite you without even thinking. They bite from pain or fearful reactions and from habit when they are continually anxious. They bite and nip to try to take control and keep their owner in his/her place. Too much affection without enough training, activity and discipline in some insecure, anxious or dominant dog's lives will cause them to bite/nip out of plain old insecurity, sensing that the affection-giver has no ultimate authority over them - in their minds. They almost always feel insecure around that person and nip or bite to make a statement to the person that they are just as powerful and in control as that person is - a vain attempt to try to bring some order where they don't see much. They need some sense of boundaries and leadership in order not to feel anxious around weaker type owners. Dogs are used to a hierarchy in the wild in their pack dynamic with at least one very strong pack leader they know is taking care of them and the pack and around a person they don't see as a strong leader, will often try to continually take control and remind that person that they are just as powerful.

Most insecure/anxious/dominant dogs only want a strong pack leader to take care of them and make them feel secure by requiring respect from them and until they have that, some dogs will behave in an unstable fashion. They do not really want to rule - honestly - but when they don't see strong leadership in their pack, they attempt to take control from that weak leader by whatever means they think will keep that person off-kilter and cautious of them. It's really a kind of self-defense in the dog's mind.

All of their lives, some insecure/anxious/dominant dogs are like kids going through the "terrible two's", toddlers with no parental boundaries at all, allowed to do any and everything they want, they escalate their bad behavior until serious problems erupt and they usually wind up in real trouble, when all they needed was loving guidance in order to learn how to conduct themselves.

Secure, calm, submissive dogs usually have none of these issues and require little in the way of guidance or boundaries to get them back into normal behavior if they trip up and find a bad habit or two but all the rest of dogs usually need strong leadership and boundaries - all tempered by love and patience and realizing the dog is only reacting to his basic nature and not deliberately trying to be bad.

Dogs rarely bite or nip people they highly respect or strong leader except as described above in the fight/mating situation. If your dog doesn't ever bite your husband, it's because he's perceived as a strong pack leader in your dog's mind.

Only establishing a strong sense of leadership and taking back respect with the training programs suggested, together with re-training the dog how to respond properly to you when it awakens, will usually reshape an insecure, anxious or dominant dog's bad behavior. The Nothing In Life Is Free program together with the obedience training are your best bets for obtaining the respect you need from you dog in this particular instance and it will be lots of fun when you see your dog begin to respond and enjoy the work with you.

And taking back respect is not done with militant voice tones, rough-house ways or alpha-rolling or swatting, it is done by always requiring the dog to respectfully obey you in order to get its needs met ala the NILIF-type program, setting boundaries it cannot cross without you standing it down and backing it off with your stern eye-lock and walking into his space until he gives in and turns away and reshaping its behavior through fun obedience training with lots of positive reinforcement and happy rewards for learning. You can totally change a "bad" dog to a "good" dog using those gentle but firm ways of dealing with him. And he will learn to respect and love you in the process.