# My pup showed some agression when I picked her up



## Mandobizar (Dec 20, 2011)

Guys, I need some advice. This morning before I left to work I tried picking up Laika and she growled(showed some teeth). 15 minutes before I leave I check email and surf the web while Laika positions herself under my chair by the computer to fall asleep. Every morning I pick her to take her to her crate where she happily lays down to continue sleeping. I removed the chair(like I always do), bent down to pick her and thats when it happen. I took my hands off of her, gave her a stern "NO"(did not raise my voice), tried again and same thing happend. Next, I said "come on Laika, lets go". She does not move and refuses to leave the computer room. I then bent down position my right hand over her top/bottom of jaw, grab the skin on the back of neck, lift her up, made her sit, slowly removed my hands away from mouth. She then followed me directly to her crate and lays down. Of course I felt bad. I gave her a quick pat and rubbed her tummy to let her know everything was ok.
Did I do the wrong thing? She is 13 weeks, is there an age limit to where picking them up is not ok? She looked wide awake when everything was happening, maybe I should of just waited it out but I went with my instinct. I feel really bad


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

My .02. At that age I'd act like the pups mom and pick her up by the folds of extra skin on the neck and put her where you want. That is what the pups mom would do. 
The word "pat" that you used. I read and have experienced that dogs do not like their heads "patted" Not a pleasant experience for them. A scratch behind the ears much better.

RBD


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Your dog should allow you to pick her up whenever you want. We STILL pick Riley up and she's 5.5 months and 30lbs! 8)

It sounds like Laika has figured out your schedule and would rather stay in the computer room than go in her crate. You need to do things now the way you plan on doing them when she is 40+ pounds. I don't think you want to be carrying her to the crate at that point.  I would use treats to get her to go in the crate on her own. Make it a positive experience!

***Side note: I was going over some of your previous posts, and I saw that you picked your pup up at 6 weeks.  That raises a red flag in my mind for the type of breeder you got her from. I would be worried about possible aggression issues in her lineage. Did you meet the parents and assess their temperaments?


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

We pick Oso up at 5 1/2 months and he is 38lbs.  My husband does "horrible" things to him like pretending he is superdog, etc. Our cats are all used to this and Oso is too. They let him do whatever with utmost trust - very cute. 

I like what threefsh said about thinking about keeping a schedule you can maintain when she is older.

My first thought is to check her out medically. If you do this every day with NO problem, there may be something different that caused the change. Maybe something hurts her. It's always best to rule it out, although it may not be the issue.


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## Mandobizar (Dec 20, 2011)

@ Redbirddog Will follow advise on the "no pat"
@ threefsh She has figured that out. You're right! I will do things my way and will pass this info to my wife. As far as the breeder, i did meet the parents(calm temperaments), ask breeder just about any question in the book. He assured me that 6 weeks was ok. I now know that was not right. Laika was the last female of a litter of 6. As you read in my previous posts, the only problem we're experiencing right now iis the biting/nipping
@ luv2laugh I will have my wife check her out right now, access her behavior for the rest of the day. She's got her final round of shots coming up next weekend.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

All good advice.
I took advice from this forum, hunting books and a couple of hunting DVDs. 
Made my puppy comfortable with being handled I picked him up any time awake or sleeping. He did show some uneasiness at the beginning but as RBD suggested I just ignored and did it anyway until he allowed being handled, touched any time.
I kept him close to us, and if possible touching him at all times. I used him as a pillow while I watched TV (still do) 
I stuck my fingers in his mouth and kept them there to get used to the texture and taste and above all not bite my hand.

Now, at 11.5 months anyone can pick my dog up (if they want 47lbs in their lap) and he won't show any teeth. 
I can hold a chicken wing and he will bite, chew it and not crunch down on my fingers. It amazes me how he can distinguish between the raw chicken wing and my fingers holding it 

These dogs are Toys for boys, IMO


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

/as for the "pat", yes dogs don't like having their head pushed down. Stroking their head pushes it down. Support his head by placing your palm under the chin and stroke with the other hand. Just don't push his head down in a submissive position. 

Source: Sam's breeder


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## kristen (Oct 18, 2011)

I think you did the right thing in this instance, you told her that her behavior was not okay, and showed her what you wanted her to do. You didn't get mad, and raise your voice, which is hard, but the much better avenue to take. I commend you on that. 

Does your pup show any dominance or unwilling to obey in any other areas? i.e. guarding food, toys, bones etc? Can you put your hand in her dish when shes eating, take a toy out of her mouth etc? I believe others' suggestions in the past have been taking their space (walking into where they are standing, sitting etc.), and just generally showing them that everything is yours, and you can do what you want with it. Taking food away mid meal, crawling into their crate, play "chewing" on their toys etc.

Also, never pick up a dog or startle them when they are in a deep sleep. They kick into a bit of fight or flight and can hurt someone without meaning to. The old adage of "let sleeping dogs lie" exists for a reason!
I always try to warn my dog that hes gonna get moved, I will loudly talk to him, touch him gently, give him a bit of a nudge to get up.


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## pippa31 (Aug 2, 2011)

Bring able to pick up a dog/puppy is really important. Think about if they are injured....they need to feel comfortable with being handled. Pippa hated being picked up as a puppy and would sometimes growl. Our trainer had us pick her up EVERY DAY, multiple times a day. She had us do something called "Airplane" (it takes 2 people). The person picking up Pippa would say, "Airplane!", then pick her up. The other person would "click" (we used a clicker) and then would give her 5 treats (usually something broken into 5 pieces). We did it for about 4 weeks. This worked wonders and now we can pick her up for anything (and she is 8 months). Of course, now, she has other issues we are working on.... 

Good luck!


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## Gator (Feb 9, 2012)

Cocoa is our 2nd time as V parents and I've helped train 2 others in my family as well. At about the age of your pup 3 out of the 4 tried out growling at us to get their way and one would show her teeth. We'd see this behavior when we were asking them to do something they didn't want to do, (usually it was asking them to get up and move.)

Doing what the mother dog would do with all three worked well and within a relatively short time the behavior stopped, (approx. a few weeks). This is what we did. Firmly grab the back of the neck and say "enough" in a deeper voice than the usually speak but don't raise your voice. Respond with this as soon as the dog growls, don't wait a minute before reacting. If the behavior continued or with the more assertive/dominate dogs we also put our hand over the top of their nose when we said "enough." We are basically taking control of the dog's mouth in a similar way the mother would. There is one other aspect to this. Don't let them wiggling or break free but don't hurt them either. We did this by holding the scruff of the neck as well so they could not back out of our hold. Two things are really important (1) you don't want to hurt the dog you just want to take control of their mouth and (2) you can release the dog as long as they are not struggling or resisting. As soon as they are still you can release.

If they lick your face or show any other sign of submission you've made your point and the dog has accepted it. Now with one of the dogs I trained she would walk away and ignore me, (she would not make eye contact.) She was not accepting her position in the pack. We had to be on her every time she growled and super consistent. By the end of the 2nd week she accepted the correction and the behavior stopped. 

On a final note my trainer really discouraged me from saying the word "no" as part of the correction. We say no so frequently in everyday conversation it is confusion for the dog and they can become desensitized from the word "no" meaning saying "no" will no longer be effective. you might want to try a different word, especially if you have young children in the house. Mine short no all the time!


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

Mandobizar, our V gave a growl to my oldest daughter, she was resting in her bed, at about the same age as your girl. I grabbed her by the back of the neck (scruff) & had all 4 feet 2 ft off thr ground before she took her next breath. I gave her a very firm " no!" Pumpkin is now 16m old, and we have never had another incident/challenge. I agree that any and all growling, nipping, or snapping should be dealt with swiftly and firmly. As you demonstrated, it can ne done without being done in anger or abusively.


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