Minor aggressive / protective instict in new dog

[Leeana]

Thursday evening we brought home our new family member, a 12 month old chocolate merle long coat chihuahua. He took up with my instantly very strongly. He is rather shy, but not real real shy. I live with my father and mother. He will not allow either of them in my room, he will stand back and growl / bark and take stance. He has not tried to bite them exactly. If I am laying in bed, he will get over me in a protective stance and barn if they walk by my door or come to my door. I have no idea how to handle or address this, I am so far from a dog trainer, but we want to give it our best. They have made a move to bond with him. While I was at work today, dad said that he laid on the couch next to him and dad was able to take him for a walk.

This behavior just started today, this morning. I took him this morning to where I work (Nursing home/assisted living setup) to see some of my co workers as they have been real supportive in my dog search and he would growl and bark at them if they got near us. Not bad, just only if they made a move to come toward with their hands. But he did allow a couple of them to pet him with no issues at all.

I was hoping he would be able to tag along to pony shows and other events with me, but this would be a big liability. He is here and here to stay, forever, we just want to (for his quality of life, and ours) fix this. Mostly right now I want to tackle to allow and tollerate my parents much more.

Looking for any and all advice please

. He is fixed, too. He is so so so freaking sweet, maybe just a little insecure (which im guessing is where this "issue" comes from). Now, when I went to ladies house to pick him up, he had no aggressive attitude towards me as being a stranger in his area - odd? So maybe this is stemming from him not being fullly secure here yet?

Thanks!!!! Can't wait to hear training advice..or storys or tips or gosh - anything!

 

[disneyhorse]

MANY chihuahuas I've met have this exact issue. There are some Dog Whisperer episodes I've watched on the subject, too.

Chihuahuas were bred to be lap dogs and be protective of their person... That's why they are small and feisty...

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

I would encourage the Dog Whisperer approach. Do not reward ill behavior with coaxing and submission. Rather, quietly and calmly be the boss. When a little dog barks and takes that stance he's trying to get his way. If he gets his way then it will reinforce bad behavior.

The person he's growling at should not change emotion and continue doing what they started. The dog handler should calmly do obedience, ie don't yell 'be quiet' rather whisper 'sit'.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Dog trainers really like Victoria stillwell...check out "its me or the dog" on TV. She has won respect of dogtrainers with her cutting edge techniques. You can also consult a local trainer to work with you...desensitize techniques are necessary here..not force..and not the alpha wolf roll force and flooding type of training you see from another popular trainer on Tv... you can contact NADOI (national associationof dog obedience instructors) for local trainers. Best wishes

 

[LindaL]

I have a 13 yr old MinPin who is exactly the same....and has been his whole life (I got him when he was 9 mo old, so his "puppy socialization habits" were already pretty much in place by then). Your dog is young...and trainable. He is probably insecure and scared...and trying to see where he fits in with his new "pack". Do not let him become "alpha" by rewarding this behavior, but rather re-focus him to something positive and reward that behavior. When out in public, do not coddle him, by petting and telling him "it's OK"...that is a form of re-enforcement for him to continue "bad behavior". Always re-focus to something positive, then reward.

 

[circlesinthesand]

I really wouldn't advise you to do the Ceasar Milan way of dominance, remember that aggression breeds aggression, you're going to have to manage this carefully, what I would suggest is get the book MINE! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding. It's a GREAT book and will help you understand how to recognize and how to manage what it seems like is going on here. At least from what I could gather from the short post. Either way this is a MUST have book for anyone with a dog that seems even remotely possessive (or anyone with a puppy/breed that might become possessive which IMO every dog has that potential without proper socialization) It's starting with the first time he did it, 'guarding' your room as a resource and probably later guarding you (or possibly his own body.)

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Caesar Milan receives a lot of criticism for his methods. Personally I disagree with his detractors. Not because I think aggression is good, but rather the vast majority of owners are unwittingly submissive and coddle bad behavior.

Dogs (and people) follow calm, confident leaders.

Dr Taylor

 

[disneyhorse]

The episodes I've seen of Cesar Milan dealing with protective small lap dogs did not involve alpha rolls or any sort of aggressive handling... He just had the owner and the other people ignore the dog and carry on with life without giving the dog attention for the negative behavior. No animal trainer is perfect and every trainer may have different methods depending on the individual.

 

[circlesinthesand]

I'm not going into the whole CM argument, all I said is dominance is probably not the way for this dog based on what the OP has said.

I thought of two other books that might assist you. Control Unleashed is great (there is a puppy version that I'm so wanting!) and if you're into clicker training at all Karen Pryor has some great books plus there is a book called Click to Calm that is a good one too.

For what it's worth, I've dealt with dogs that are far worse than your pup and the books I've mentioned are the ones I've found very useful.

 

[Marty]

Oh man this is really bad. You need to nip this in the bud right now. He's claiming you, he's claming his territory and setting his boundries, which do not belong to him. You're parents need to step up here and claim their house back and be a leader as well as you, not the dog. Go to youtube and bring up the CM back videos on how he handles this type of thing. I'm all for his method. He is adorable for sure but take it from me that life with an aggressive dog sucks.

 

[shorthorsemom]

He is fearful..getting tough will only convince him more that these humans are bad. He is also very bonded to you. He is a bite waiting to happen. Keep him leashed until under control. Don't pick him up and carry him and coddle him...you can actually make it worse.. stay calm. Do Not yell at him or get tough with him..he is communicating to you that these people are upsetting him...over correct and silence the growl or bark is very much like turning the ticker off on a time bomb...it will still go off...just without warning because he is being taught that telling everybody he is upset is wrong.... is he food motivated? If so find the one food he will die for...chicken..liverworst..cheese..something terrific... flicker train him to the food...click treat..click treat... then when the person enters before he reacts..click treat... make him believe this wonderful person causes you to click and treat...you can eventually move toward person. Enters..puts treat on floor..exits then he goes and gets the treat...long process...tip of iceberg here on explanation..just trying to get your wheels turning... sorry guys..CM takes us back 20 years in dog traning methods... the only things he says that are of value is to stay calm and a dog needs exercise...mu h of his methods are Tv showboat.. it is good hat he makes fokks aware of the importance of training though...Victoria stillwell...awesome

 

[shorthorsemom]

That's flicker not flicker...typing on a kindle grrr. Lol good luck

Grrrr..clicker..stupid kindle