Aggressive behavior?

[CARMEN KEATS]

My chocolate lab puppy just turned 6 months old.  He's been great, knows sit, stay, lie down, spin and paw and has been potty trained since he was 3 months old.  We try to keep him as active as possible (those labs have lots of energy).  Recently (training on the leash) if I pull him from a situation he wants to be in or doesn't want to be in, he'll come and look for the leash, grab it and start growling.  He gets to the point where he almost grabbed my arm (but didn't bite down).  I've had to calm him down and that sometimes does not work so I will try a way to distract him to change the situation.  How can I stop this behavior?  He's such a great dog otherwise and I know he's just a puppy which is why I want to stop the behavior now.  
 

Note:  he's never bit anyone in an aggressive manner at all.  This only happens when he wants something or doesn't want something.  Maybe that's his way of showing frustration, but any ideas would be great! 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Carmen, welcome to the forums.

I am glad to hear you have trained you Lab so many things and that you were able to potty train him so quickly.

I agree with you in that it does sound like frustration. Some dogs may feel particularly frustrated when on leash which they sense as a barrier that prevents them from interacting with the environment.

I worked some years ago with a Lab mix who wanted to meet people and dogs so badly, that if we deviated and distanced ourselves or went the other way, she would redirect her frustration and overstimulation by nipping my arms.  Walking her was a nightmare as I would come home with lots of scratches and black and blues.

These case can be challenging because we are sometimes caught off guard, and once they're latched on the leash, it's difficult to redirect them, and the more we try to pull the leash, the more they'll latch on and growl. Not to mention, as they try to grasp the leash, they may nip our arms, and that obviously get's a reaction from us, and they may then start focusing more on our arms, than the leash. 

In these cases, it's helpful identifying if there are any particular triggers/events on walks evoking the behavior (leash biting when the walk starts, when it ends, when we take a different path, upon seeing other people or dogs on walks). In any case, the goal is to tackle this early before it becomes an established habit. 

In your case, it sounds like pulling him away from a situation is a trigger, so we can use a multi-faceted approach:

1) distracting him in a timely manner and keeping his mind off the leash by providing alternate behaviors to engage in

2) making the leash less enticing to bite 

So with distracting,  you'll aim to toss several small pieces of treats on the ground before he has a chance to grab the leash. This way, you'll be reinforcing the behavior of not biting the leash, therefore creating a replacement behavior. You pup can't be focusing on grabbing the falling treats and grabbing the leash at the same time since his mouth is already occupied by searching for the dropped treats and chewing. 

I would aim to training a strong response to the smacking sound. Practice this at first in a quiet room in your home, then progress to other rooms, than in the yard, then in front of the home, then on a nearby walk, then farther to the point of having a very fluent response. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

So any time you need to distance him from something, make the smacking sound to grab his attention and start tossing some treats on the ground in the direction you want him to move so that you don't need to pull. If you use treats that are high enough in value, this should cause his frustration to dissipate and should activate his "seeking system". 

As he gets good at this, you can then also insert some training. For instance, when you need to move away from something, make a smacking sound and try distracting the pup by asking a few steps of attention-heeling  with a tasty treat at high level, that surpasses the leash in value (in other words, the treats attract the pup more than the biting the leash as dogs can't bite the leash and eat at the same time). Here's how to train attention heeling https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

You may also find it helpful training emergency u-turns: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ and generously reward each turn.

With making the leash less enticing to bite, you can use a metal chain leash (which most pups do not like to chew and is often the easiest fix). However, I wouldn't use this as a standalone solution, as if we don't tackle the root of the problem which is the frustration, he may feel compelled to start jumping up and biting your arms. 

Implementing more impulse control and frustration tolerance exercises can also help teach dogs how to better moderate their emotions. This won't magically solve behavior problems, but provides dogs with an extra skillset that can help them. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

At 6 months, your pup is reaching the adolescent stage. This is an age where behaviors often start getting more challenging. It's good being aware of it and what to expect.  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

I hope this helps, keep us posted on how things go and feel free to ask any further questions

Best,

Adrienne 

 

[CARMEN KEATS]

That’s a lot of great information!  Thank you so much for the quick response. His frustration does stem from me getting him away from something he was interested in. I will try those methods. 
 

I also noticed he tries to nip when we pet him. It’s not all the time but it seems he gets over stimulated. Is there a way to “correct” that or is it just something we need to be aware of and respect to let him be when we notice him starting to nip? 
 

thank you again!! 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome!

How is his bite inhibition now that he is 6 months? When he has nipped in the past, has he ever broken skin?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

If his bite inhibition requires some level of refinement and he goes into frequent nipping mode, you may want to work a little bit more on perfecting that and providing alternate ways to interact with you that doesn't involved biting your hands.

Hand feeding treats and bite inhibition games can help provide some guidance:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

Here are some games:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

and here is a handling guide for pups who struggle with being touched:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-teach-puppies-to-tolerate-touch/

The Touch and Treat Game is a more generalized version. Here's more about it:

This games turns touching your puppy in different places into a fun game. The goal is to create positive associations. Aim for a lovely positive conditioned emotional response where your puppy goes from disliking or dreading being touched to looking forwards to it because of all the great associations. More about this here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/

1) Start by touching your puppy briefly in areas he's less likely to react and feed a treat. Touch/treat, touch/treat. Rinse and repeat several times looking for that lovely conditioned emotional response.

2) Gradually move to areas where your puppy may dislike being touched like the top of the head, ears or paws, always feeding a treat to create positive associations. If your puppy tries to nip, split the exercise into smaller steps. For example if your puppy tries nipping when you try to touch the top of the head, start petting the nose lightly or sides of the head and giving a treat until he's comfortable with that before progressing to petting the top of the head.

More tips: 

-Don't wrestle with your puppy and don't play rough physical games. Avoid provocative gestures like tapping your puppy on the nose, giving scruff shakes or muzzle grabs.

-Make it a habit of capturing your pup's calm behaviors, by telling in a calm tone of voice "good boy" every time he sits or calmly settles on his mat. You can even deliver a kibble or two when he's in this relaxed state. Skip treats as these are often too interesting and risk to arouse him from his relaxed state.

-When puppies don't sleep enough they can get cranky and this leads to them turning into nipping machines. Many puppies and dogs are too overstimulated by things in their environment to fall asleep. Providing them with a quiet place to settle can help them relax.

-If your pup breaks skin and acts aggressively, please seek professional in-person help.