What should I do about my newly aggressive dog?
What should I do about my newly aggressive dog? Dogs Training Discussions
About a year ago in October of '07 My wife and i got a dog, A Toy Fox-Terrier, from the pet store. he was born in the march of that year which makes him about 1 and a half.When we got him it took him a few days to get used to being around us, he was unsure at first and compared to other dogs was older already. but we wanted to take him in because we knew older dogs had a hard time finding homes compared to little puppies.Things were good for a long while he'd expanded his comfort zone and things that used to terrify him now excite him. he can be jumpy to random noises and such but overall he was a good dog.However a few months ago, probably around June/July, when we'd punish him for pooping and peeing in the wrong parts of the house he starteed to growl at us. It was sudden and it really came out of nowhere. However we still tapped him on the behind (i mean tap not hit, hard enough to know it was wrong but never hard enough cause injury no harder than a flick of the finger kind of thing). but as times gone by it's only gotten worse. And now it's escalated to where he starts to growl at us with his hair on ends even when he's laying at the end of the bed and doesn't want to be moved. Basically when we want him to do something or he doesn't want to do something he reacts with a growl, a sturn "no" and a strong demeanor usually quiets him down after a minute or so and he wants to be friends, but he's getting more and more aggressive. I understand that after being an older dog in a pet store he's used to being dominant, but I was sure that after living with us for over a year that had gone away.He hasn't bit either of us yet, but he has snapped. But it's only a matter of time before he gets one of us. My wife was scared of the look of him when he's in this state and even though she's the one that wanted him she thinks he's gone beyond the point of coming back to being a behaving dog. Now i'm trying to convince her not to give him away because I'm attached to him too, and he's our dog. he's in a loving home and we give him rawhide to chew on and he's usually a well behaved dog, play with him just about every day aswell so he's excercised. But these last few months have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs.And just tonight, I came into the room we feed him in, and before i could even see him he was growling at me like I've never seen. He had gotten into his food supply as it was way past his feeding time (as he was already fed) and was eating the food. I ended up giving it to him in order to calm him down, not something i usually do but i coudn't take it any more.Tonight was the first time I felt i agreed with my wife, that i want to give him away. Can someone please give me advice as to what we can do to stop this behaviour from him, I don't know too much about dogs and Whatever i did know i'm out of ideas and my wife is too scared of him to try anything. thank you to anyone who can help us.We can't afford a behavourist, we dont Have very much money. If we had that kind of money to throw around we would have done it by then. But we don't, he needs to eat and we need to eat, and bills need to be payed. And as far as spanking him is concerned We have never hit him to the point of abuse, either of us. But he starts when he knows he does something wrong most of the time. But it's been less about that lately and more about growling whe he wants something his way. Like I caught him peeing tonight and I didn't do anything I just looked at him, he acted sheepish and I cleaned it up. but when got into his food (something he's never done before mind you) he acted up like i'd never seen. When he does good we congratulte we hardly ever even spanked him and even when we did it was never out of anger.Oh and it's hard for us to house train him we work messed up hours, and we dont want to wake our landlord up when we take him out at night. But that's the thing he CAN "eliminate" inside the kitchen. we've promoted that, and he's stuck to it mostly, but like I said he's been reacting more to thngs that he doesn't want to do more so than things he shouln't do, for the most part he's a well behaved dog. And we never HIT him like I said more like warning tap. I don't believe in hitting either. And rather than criticise me as a person, why not offer constructive criticism as to how i SHOULD discipline him?I'm a firm believer in Caesar Milan's Rehibilitating dogs and training owners, and I do WANT to have a good and healthy realtionship with the dog. Giving him away is the LAST thing i want to do, and me giving him away is an admittance of failure to be a good owner on my part, not his failure of being a good dog.I WANT this to work. I will do som readings and research to and any advice that can lad me in the right direction towards success in our freindships will get Best Answer. Again not that,WE CANNOT AFFORD A Professional. otherwise i wouldn't have a problem. I love this dog and i would do anything for him.