Help with unwanted behavior

A

adellelauren

Forums Regular
Our Sheltie is almost 5 months old. We socialize her and she just got done with puppy class. But lately she has been doing a few things we do not like. She has been barking and acting a bit aggressive, not sure if it is aggression, towards people and dogs walking down the road. She also growls alot if we touch her face and today when someone walked by the car she growled. Has anyone experienced this at such a young age?
 
It can happen at that age. It's a combination of fear and excitement. My trainer taught me to say, "Leave it" firmly. I also used the "aach!" noise with distraction.
 
I wonder if your puppy growls at people and dogs because she is trying to protect you? I think this is a natural thing, but of course you don't want her to do that to everyone, so I agree you need to correct this before she thinks it is okay all the time.

I am more concerned right now about her growling when you touch her face. When our Christopher was very young, he never growled when being touched anywhere, so I don't think this is natural for a Sheltie puppy. I wonder if she is hurting, maybe a tooth? Does she growl at the vet too when he touches her face? Good luck with your little baby. :hugs

Maida, owned by sweet Christopher, sweet Ritchie and my eight wonderful little precious Sheltie angels
 
Is there any chance your puppy was the only one in it's litter? I have a 1 yr. old Sheltie that growled when touched or petted at an early age. I only recently learned that this is common for a singleton puppy. I consider myself lucky because for the most part Finley has grown out of this behavior w/o any specific training.
He also suffers from leash reactivity which I think is unrelated to the other problem. If I had it to do over again I would have handled the reactivity differently. I saw signs of this problem right from the start but, didn't take it seriously and messed around w/ too many different training techniques. The technique I finally settled on is basically the "look at that" game. You can google it and find lots of info and videos. I also found a few books helpful: Fiesty Fido by Patricia McConnell and Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas. As the others have said it's better to work on this now than wait until she learns to react this way too all people/dogs.
Good luck!
 
Great advice!

I agree with verifying if she may be hurt for the growling when being touched.

As for the barking, it is probably fear/protecting you. What worked best for me was also the ''Look at that'' game. It did take me some time to understand the need to reinforce with a very high rate at first (lots of very yummy treat as soon as she spots the person). Eventually, you can treat less and give her more time to really observe the people/dogs she sees before deciding they are a threat.

I also recommend the following books:
- like hrcarol mentionned: Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas (I have not read fiesty fido but heard great things about it)
- scaredy dog by Ali Brown
- control unleashed (Even though it is based on techniques for the agility dog, this is the book that helped me the most to understand what was going on in my dog's head. While I was reading it, we made amazing progress that changed my dog.)

On a side note, I wanted to mention the importance of using only positive methods. This type of reaction can be worsen by the use of such things as a choke chains as the pup will see a person/dog and think ''oh no must bark to protect mom'' and then you give a correction and the pup thinks ''that person/dog made this correction happen.. I will need to bark more next time''.
 
Sorry I haven't responded. It's been a crazy month. She has stopped the growling with the face. The vet said it was more than likely because she was losing her teeth and it was uncomfortable for her. In class she is great with other people and dogs. She does so well.But when walked around the neighborhood she is still acting out on occasion. But as soon as she meets the person she is fine. I spoke to trainer and am doing a technique with her. Fingers crossed.
 
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