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Need advise for a friend

OhMarley

OhMarley

Well-known member
My friend pup he's about 9months old has been acting badly lately. Sometimes for no apparent reason when people are either over or when they are out and walk past him he charges at them growling and barking and snaps at their ankles!!!!
Firstly anyone have any idea why he would be doing this??
And how to you stop him!?
They are quite worried the last thing they would want would be for him to bite someone. He is otherwise a really sweet dog.
 
They need to work with a good trainer as this is potentially dangerous behavour -- in most regions of the US, a dog that bites WILL be put down if this is reported, especially if the victim is a child and the attack was unprovoked.

I'd suggest they immediately have a look on this website:

www.apdt.com

and locate a trainer in their vicinity and arrange a home visit. This isn't the kind of thing that can be handled in a general obedience class. If they have never done any obedience work with him though, this is likely to be contributing to the problem.

He needs to be assessed to understand if this is behavioural or due to temperament. Most likely it is the former but it is very important to determine this. Some breeds, like terriers and collies, can have a propensity towards this type of behaviour (it can be a type of herding behaviour).

They need to determine what triggers this behaviour and the best way to manage it. The reason I strongly recommend going to an APDT certified trainer is they use rewards based methods and will not risk worsening problems like this through punishment. The wrong approach can easily make the dog even more reactive.

Good luck to them and let us know how their dog does. he is young enough that if it is behavioural they can nip it in the bud before it becomes ingrained.
 
Well he is a terrier!! He has been to obedience, but its their first dog so I suspect they've been rather bad at carrying on with training after class ended. I did tell them I thought a behaviourist was needed rather then a trainer. In australia if your dog bites someone they can demand it be put down so they need to do something before it gets worse. He's the sweetest little guy I wouldnt want anything to happen to him.
 
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