# Running, Growling, and Snapping



## copper (Aug 6, 2012)

Hello!

My family and I own a beautiful 6 month old Vizsla puppy named Copper. We spend a lot of time with him, and have enrolled him in a puppy training school. From birth, he was deemed slightly more aggressive than his siblings; however, he is eager to please. 

Lately, we have taken him swimming in our pool for exercise. We take him on a two to three and a half mile walk per day, at the least. Along with the walks, we let him run off leash in our yard. 

Even with all of this hands on attention, we have found our puppy to be possessive of his kennel, and previously his food. Our trainer has instructed us to ensure we put an end to this behavior immediately. While we have abolished his possessive behavior of food, Copper attempts to bite the kennel door when opening or closing. 

We love our puppy so much. If anybody has experienced these behaviors, could you please let us know how you resolved these issues?

Thank you!


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Copper,

Welcome to the Forum - do post some pictures of Copper, we all love to see pictures of our lovely dogs.

I am not going to give advise on sorting Copper's possessiveness as there are others on this forum who have far more experience than I on this problem. However, recently there have been a lot of posts about aggression, possessiveness - on the board (on the left) have a read through "Resource Guarding..." and do a search on aggression you will find a lot of very useful information.

Good luck, I am sure Copper's problem is easily sorted at this age.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Is it an outside large kennel or a dog crate that he is guarding? Look up Cesar Millan on the internet. He has some good videos on dealing with dogs that guard objects.
You can start by ignoring him when you walk up to his kennel. Don't look at him or speak to him. Sit down on the outside of it with your back to him. As long as he is barking/ growling ignore him. If he stops turn to him and act normal and proceed with your daily routine. If at anytime he starts barking again turn your back to him and wait him out.


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