Agressive Behavor
 

I am new to this site. Glad to see there are so many Yorkie owners. I do love mine and he's spoiled rotten. I am having a problem with him and I'm not sure how to handle it. My little Jake is a 5lb yorkie. When I leave every morning to go to work (my husband and Jake are still in bed) he barks like crazy and bites me. He does not want me to kiss my husband goodbye. He even acts this way if my husband or I'm holding him and someone else tries to kiss us goodbye. We have tried to tell him over and over he's a bad boy but it doesn't work. Any suggestions?

I'd maybe try using the Bark Genie to interfere w/ the bad behavior, it works wonders for certain dogs. Cheap on Amazon.

What he's doing is called Resource Guarding...google this and you'll find lots of material.

When Jake does this, say 'no', then put him on the floor and withdraw your attention from him. He will learn that if wants to be in your bed, on your lap, or in your arms, he cannot behave that way.

If he continues to attack on the floor, leave the room and calmly go where he cannot follow. Or, if you can safely move Jake to another room to leave him there by himself, do that. Don't risk getting bitten or possibly dropping a wiggly dog though.

Does Jake know basic commands/tricks like sit, down, and so forth? Do basic training daily to build confidence and discourage this type of behavior.

Like Wylie's Mom wrote, it's resource guarding. Here is trainer Victoria Stilwell's article about how to handle it: https://positively.com/dog-behavior/...urce-guarding/

I too would start by not allowing bed access, if he's going to bark and be aggressive. Biting is a definite no-no. As Maximo mentioned, he needs to learn that only good behaviour grants him access to your bed, lap, arms.

And definitely reinforce good behaviours such as sit and down on a daily basis. I followed the 'learn to earn' model, where Scottie must sit (to say please) before getting anything...whether it's access to the couch, his meals, treats, etc. A polite dog is so much cuter than an aggressive one. When they sit really still, looking at you with their cute puppy dog eyes, really wanting to jump but know they're not supposed to and just keep saying please with their big round eyes. :D But you need to help shape him that way.

I know it's really hard to ask them for so much and it's much much easier to spoil them because they're so darn cute, but if you don't, they start barking at you for stuff in return. You just gotta be strong and be the boss!

I haven't had issues with resource guarding, thankfully. But when we started to let Scottie sleep on the bed, he somehow felt like he gained 'status' and started being really demanding by barking at us for everything. It was so annoying. So, now he only gets to sleep in his dog bed beside me (and the demanding barking has stopped). :rolleyes: