# Aggressive if woken



## Gatsby2015 (Oct 26, 2015)

Hi,
Gatsby just turned 6 months. The shark attacks have really lessened, but if we need to move him or wake him from a nap, he can be snappy. It's really the only time he shows what I'd call aggression. We can take food away, toys, etc.. and he's very gentle. Sometimes he just grumbles when awoken, but if he's really tired he will snarl and will bite. Not break the skin, but make contact with our hand or arm. Common sense says to just leave him alone when he's sleeping, but there are times he needs to be woken. I've never seen this behavior in my previous dogs, dobes. Is this common? And what should I do? I've tried to gently wake him, and get a grumble. When he snaps we firmly say no bite! and continue to move him. He usually falls right back to sleep once moved. He is normally very loving and not aggressive, so I'm wondering if when he's asleep, he is just reacting to being startled when awoken, and it is to be expected? Or if this should be a concern and corrected? Thanks!


----------



## Pecan_and_BB (Jun 15, 2015)

> When he snaps we firmly say no bite!


I went through this with one of my previous hounds. My wife and I consulted with our vet and a dog behaviour specialist and worked with my hound to recondition the behaviour.

As quoted above, I wouldn't recommend using this technique as the behaviour isn't one that is a conscious decision that your dog is making, and by using a firm NO, you might be reaffirming the behaviour. Imagine you being startled awake every day by someone, you yell in response and the person who woke you responds with a "What the heck?!!", not exactly a way to reaffirm it's nice to be woken up. He is being startled awake and it's more of a defense mechanism which some dogs develop when they sometimes do not get enough litter conditioning (sleeping with their litter mates where they get stepped on, trampled, bit, etc...).

What we did to recondition the behaviour is re-enact the litter environment. I got some heavy duty oven mits that went up to my elbows, and when my dog would fall asleep, I would ALWAYS put my first mit lightly on his neck to control where the aggression is going to happen (into the mit and not lunging at my face or legs or torso). Then with my other hand, push on his butt, rock him back and forth, lift his back end up, etc... until he wakes up.

If he bit or growled, I would just continue the action until he completely woke up and realized it's just me and relaxed, at which point I would give him treats, pets and a good old hug. Then let him fall back to sleep and 10 min later, restart the process with the pushing, poking and prodding.

I would recommend finding someone with some experience close to you to help you with this as it is dangerous. NEVER put your face in until you are 100% certain he is aware of who you are and you identify he is his regular self. ALWAYS control where the aggression is going (into the mits) by controlling from the neck.

It took me more than 6 months to re-condition the behaviour and another 6 months before we would wake him without wearing the mits.


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

There's a old saying, Let sleeping dog lie.
So your problem isn't anything new, but things have changed in the way our dogs live.
They now stay in our homes, sleep on our beds, and couches next to us. So let sleeping dogs lie is not always an option.
While it is not something we want in the breed, it does happen. In some dogs we can change how they handle being woken. With others we have to adjust to where they can, and can't nap.
Some say its because they weren't with the litter long enough, and that can be true in some cases. Others it can just be a temperament issue with the dog. We need to see if its a learned behavior that can be altered. By learned, I mean if a dog growls, and then we back off. The dogs learns growling gets us to back off, and so he will do it sooner, or accelerates behavior. 
So while I don't want to push a growling dog to the point he believes he has to fight, I also don't want to back down. I really have to watch myself, because I'm the type of person that will charge forward if I let instinct take over. Stand your ground is the better way with a good many dogs. I keep a light weight rope on the dog's collar( only under supervision), a few feet long. Just makes it easier to have them follow a OFF command if they refuse. You can wear the mitts as Pecan suggested, I like leather gloves. Its just easier for me to keep them in my back pocket, where that are always handy. You will feel the pressure of a bite, but it rarely breaks the skin. So your job is to calmly wake him. If he reacts nicely, I would let him go back to resting, while cooing Good Boy. If he wakes with a growl, I would give him the Off command. Then he either follows it on his own, or a tug of the rope to make him follow it.
Be sure to always pet, praise, treat good behavior, and react calmly but firm to bad behavior.
Every method does not work with every dog. Hopefully a few others will respond, and your job is to weed though the responses, and try and find the one that helps Gatsby. I wouldn't rule out calling a behaviorist.


----------



## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

I like both of these recommendations. But I have to ask: What would happen if you awakened your Beloved not so much by touching or trying to move him, but by calling his name or making a noise or otherwise respecting his space? I'm not suggesting you don't respect him, but also consider that they have a natural protective reaction by vocalizing and getting mouthy if they feel threatened, and if they're asleep and are temporarily disoriented, they don't know it's you or what you're doing.... this is more instinct than learned, so our response to it should be different. You don't want to punish a dog for something he's not aware of or in control of or doing purposely. But rather, bring it to his attention so he can make the informed choice to inhibit it.

Try awakening him verbally first, if he complains, complain back (with humor!) so he gets more info that it's just you before going further. At 6 months, hes still settling in and growing up, so you want to engineer in learning situations that begin with a light touch, there's always time later if the behavior doesn't extinguish (or gets worse).

As an FYI, I'd recommend something a lot different if the actual behavior was more overtly aggressive. But if its not, I always prefer to train to my V's in a Sotto Voce, it fits their (and my) general temperaments. at least initially.


----------



## Gatsby2015 (Oct 26, 2015)

Thank you everyone, great suggestions! I will try calling his name versus waking him with touch, and use a treat. So far, I haven't had to wake him today..he's been going 240 since this morning!


----------

