# Growling 12 week old puppy on sofa



## david2015 (Sep 12, 2013)

Hello,

First time post, me and my partner recently got a viszla at 8 weeks old and he is now 12 weeks old.

He is absolutely fantastic and we both love him to pieces but recently he has started growling in aggression. 

He is not allowed on our sofa and he knows this, every time he use to try and jump up he was turned away or told no, now he's big enough to jump straight onto the sofa and recently when we move him off once he lays down he has started to growl in aggression as he knows we are going to take him off there.

He jumps on and sits straight down and looks at us, I always take him off and sit in the seat he was sitting in on the sofa, we are very big on making sure he behaves and knows right from wrong and we show him plenty of love.

The worst it has been was when he came back from puppy class, he came in and ran straight onto the sofa, I took him off only to get a big growl, I don't want to correct the growl by saying no as ive heard if you stop his growl he will go straight to bite, then I had to leave the room for a minute and he jumped back on, I came back in and picked him up to remove him and he growl and then went for me and had an aggressive bite at 12 weeks old, he broke the skin, only a small one but I was very shocked and disappointed.

All we keep getting told is you need to sort that out right now! before he gets bigger and stronger. I don't know the best way to sort this out, our puppy trainer said really drag him off using his collar or even a small lead when he jumps on so he won't want to go on again but this didn't sound right to me showing aggression towards the puppy?

Ive also read people using happy voices and getting him to come off with treats but I don't want him thinking all he has to do is jump on the sofa for a treat when he gets down, we just want him to cut out the growling and make sure he knows the sofa is not a place for him.

We also started puppy classes a week ago.

Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated, also any questions please ask!

Many thanks


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

Deep breath!

Your pup has a favorite game. It is called jump on the sofa and then get a wrestle. Your pup is not aggressively biting you! He is 12 weeks old. What is doing is training you. 

You can handle this in a couple different ways. One you either decide that your pup is not allowed into the room that has the sofa for awhile until he is better at understanding boundries or you could have a rule that if he is in the living room then he has to have a lead on. 

One other option would be to buy pet corrector which is basically air in a can and when he jumps on the couch a swift No! and spray the air. It lets out a hissing noise. Don't aim at the pup just up in the air. 

Good luck. 

FYI you must stay calm in your commands otherwise your raised energy goes straight into the pup. Sometimes waiting them out works.


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

I think a dog could certainly be aggressive at 12 weeks old, but that's not necessarily what your little one is doing. Regardless, I would do a two part plan to get him off in a positive way.

1) PROACTIVE - you need to choose a positive replacement behavior. If he isn't on the sofa, where do you want him? on the floor by the sofa or on a dog bed? this should be decided and then reinforced. I would keep your pup on a lead at all times when in the room with the sofa. If possible just clip the lead onto your belt loop. Whenever you get near the sofa, physically direct your pup to the replacement location (floor/dog bed) and praise and treat. While sitting on the sofa, intermittently toss treats to your pup in the location. This can be staged and natural. 

2) REACTIVE - when your pup jumps on the sofa or tries to while on lead, say no, give him a correction, and then lead him over to the replacement location - praise without treat. Then go back over to the sofa, guiding him to correct location and praise and treat. 

Hope that makes sense - my brain is a bit of mush at this late hour, so ask question if you are interested and need clarification.  The gist is to praise the replacement behavior rather than the act of jumping off the sofa (as you obviously have to jump on in order to jump off). If you were to pull the pup off, it is not aggression. Done with calm assertive energy, it is simply commanding. I like to "speak softly and carry a big stick" when it comes to dog training. My big stick is consistency. You can say the command in as sweet and soft of a voice as you want to, but if you are 100% consistent your pup will respond. I am not a fan of yelling to try to assert power or of using a sharp voice. Is the dog responding to the command or the voice - it's confusing? Also, it is often a cover for inconsistent owners and ends up being bullying. 

Teaching the "leave it" command will likely be invaluable for you. Later, when you phase off of the lead, when your pup even looks like he is going to jump on the sofa, you can say "leave it" and then the command for the replacement location. Leave it also goes in the proactive category. They will most likely teach it in your obedience class, but you could always get started a bit early.

BEST OF LUCK!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

There is nothing wrong with keeping a lead on the pup while in the house. Its just easier to enforce commands with a lead on them.
All of them want to be on the couch and will try and hop up any chance they get. He just needs to be well supervised and pulled (not yanked) off the couch with a lead anytime he gets on it. Put a pad on the floor and sit beside him sometimes when he's on the pad.
Some pups just try and push their limits more than others.
You are being told to sort things out right now. It is easier to control the behavior in a small puppy than it is a full grown dog. And the longer the behavior continues the longer it takes to fix. Just make sure you always stay calm when correcting the puppy, and don't hold it against him later.


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## david2015 (Sep 12, 2013)

Thanks for all the advice, we do have a blanket we put down when he's in the living room for him to lay on and he does sleep and lay on this when he's in the living room but when he sees the opportunity he will go for the sofa such as me leaving the room for the kitchen or if that blanket is not down he will go for the sofa. 

I do also often come down to his level and lay on the floor with him on his blanket and he will fall asleep in my lap or fall asleep next to me on the floor.

I will put him on a lead in the living room and try and encourage the blanket on the floor much more than I have been, I'll keep you all updated on the progress!

Again many thanks,


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## david2015 (Sep 12, 2013)

Okay so sorry to say it seems to be getting worse, the sofa problem we have sorted as he's not allowed in the living room now anymore and if he does I'd bring him in on a lead but his growling and aggression has now spread, he's 13 weeks today and I got him some nylabones, I make sure I have control of his toys and give them and take them away, I gave him one of the edible nylabones and when I tried to take this one away he went mental, growling as I approached and when I took it away he went for me and then walked and sat in his cage growling at me, It may sound silly and people just think he's playing but it's completely different from his play biting and play growling - that I have control over.

He also did it with a stone he picked up in the garden, took a stone and I went to take it out of his mouth and he ran away and when I caught him growling and wouldn't let me open his mouth when I finally got it out he went to bite me...

Is this normal? everyone just keeps telling me how bad it is as we were at a friends house when he did it with the bone and everyone was just amazed at his aggression saying that's not normal?

I am very very calm around him, when he starts going mental we leave the room or I just sit next to him and hold him gently till he's calm making sure he can't bite me. He gets plenty of exercise, we have started ignoring him when he wants petting and praise and only give it to him when hes calm and we call him over after reading tips from the forums...

So it started with growling on the sofa, now it's spread to outside objects and now a toy, I said to my partner it will be his food next.

We are just frustrated and don't know what to do forever checking forums, at 13 weeks does he not know what he is doing or is he trying to show any kind of dominance for things that are not his?

Any help would be appreciated!

Many thanks


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## Watson (Sep 17, 2012)

You can try trading him for things you want him to give up. If he has something you want, give him the command (we use drop it), and trade him for something even better - a new toy, or treat, plus lots of praise. You can pick up what he dropped, and give it right back to him shortly after. You want to teach him that you're not always coming around to take things from him.

As for any bones/toys etc., we always held toys for him when he was little, especially high value bones. He gets to chew on it while we hold it for him. We would pet him and talk very softly. We drop the bone every once in a while and walk away so that he knows it's ok for us to leave it alone, which means it's ok for him to as well. Eventually he realized that us holding it actually helped him with positioning. To this day, he will bring us his bones and toys to hold one end while he chews on the other. 

Since he hasn't started guarding his food, you can implement the idea of you coming near him being a good thing by dropping more food (or treats) in his bowl while he's eating. I would start this right away. We do it with ours even though he's never shown any signs of aggression or resource guarding. We also fed a portion of his kibble in a kong up until he was about 8 or 9 months while we held the kong. At such a young age, resources need to come from you, not be taken away by you. Eventually you'll be able to take whatever you want and it'll be no big deal to him.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Try going to a good trainer who has behavioral in their repertoire. Dharma bites something terrible at the end of play and I was told she needs to be put on a short leash so that I have complete control and made to take a time out so that she can settle down. She bit my leg on Monday, my mother's bum on Monday, tried for the dog walker and missed on Thursday. On Friday she bit my hand to the point where it didn't stop bleeding and would have been stitched but for the fact that it was a bite and couldn't be done because of possible infection being sealed in. My puppy is 14 weeks old.... so I understand how frustrating it is. She is generally a very good and smart puppy with a great personality but for this one behaviour.


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## Watson (Sep 17, 2012)

MCD: Dharma is a Vizsla... notorious for this behaviour as a puppy. She'll outgrow the biting stage with no problems if it's handled correctly. What david2015 described is not the same thing as what Dharma is doing.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

David have you contacted your breeder concerning this problem? Ones that have been breeding Vs for a long time, have a wealth of information.


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## david2015 (Sep 12, 2013)

Hi,

I haven't contacted the breeder yet, I think that will be next on the list, my partner is sometimes in contact with the breeder via text but haven't spoke for a couple of weeks to her.

Seems to have come out of no where really, the sofa problem we thought was only small and we could get round but this weekend seems to have been really bad and last night was the first time the puppy growled and snapped when we went near his food, we always wait till he is sat and calm and then put the food bowl down, we did this and we often pick it up half way through wait again and put it back down, my partner went to do this last night and he went mental, growling and snapped at her as she picked the bowl back up.

So that was after my last post and this morning after reading the one about putting treats in his bowl he didn't growl or snap, he was calm I hand fed him from the bowl a little and then started putting treats in his bowl as he was eating and petting him and he was fine.

Also usually every morning he always gets up out of his cage when I enter the room, tail wagging and I take him outside, he didn't even move this morning, just looked at me a while and then head back on the cage, I eventually got him out, maybe its because he hates the cold and windy weather and I always take him walking at around 6.20am - he was fine on the walk came back and fed him.

His behaviour just seems to be getting worse over a period of days, quite scary really, my partner got extremely upset last night and started crying because she loves dogs and loves him to pieces and wants nothing but to cuddle and hug with him yet she now thinks she can not have any fun with him as he will either bite too hard when playing or growl if she goes to get something etc.

Anyway thanks for your replies, it's going to be hard work and a long process but hopefully we can get these problems solved and be patient and stick to what we have been told.

Thanks and i'll keep everyone updated.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I just recently have been afraid of what our puppy is doing. I can relate to that fear. Yes lots of hard work to correct lots of things. Just enrolled in a class with an awesome trainer. But I am finding it hard for my husband and daughter to be consistent. I do all of the training it seems. Not cool when I am afraid after being bitten.


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## luv2laugh (Oct 6, 2011)

Hi David,

I would recommend hand feeding. I would also recommend searching the forums and looking up information on "resource guarding.'

You could also try "food aggression" or "toy aggression." You will find some really helpful strategies to start with. 

I don't know if anyone would agree, but the fact that it started so quickly almost makes me think a trip to the vet to rule out medical reasons could be helpful. Your breeder and more experienced members may know more about that.


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## david2015 (Sep 12, 2013)

Hi, Thanks for the replies again, I have been looking through the forums, resource guarding pretty much stands out as the obvious problem, I came across this link in the forums and seems really helpful and a lot is what people in the forum have already mentioned:

http://3lostdogs.com/the-real-solution-to-resource-guarding-and-food-aggression/

Haven't had anymore growling incidents, 3 successful meals yesterday with me and my partner feeding him with our hands in the bowl, and praising him so his tail is wagging while he is eating which was a good sign. We then kept putting more food in the bowl from our hands and a couple of treats -0 obviously not feeding him more than we usually would lol.

He's jumped on the sofa couple of times after running in from a walk but I just ignored it, walked to the kitchen and threw a treat on the floor and shouted off as he jumped down.

He really is a very loving and fantastic puppy, he follows us everywhere just wants to sleep and snuggle into us, he sits all the time when he wants something, follows me on walks, doesn't go away from me very far and if he goes ahead he sits until I catch up to him and go past him.

We have taught him some really good tricks, he can sit, paw, other paw, spin, lay down all for 1 treat.

Thanks to the posts in the forum we now have a really good plan to make sure we cut out the growling and just do things different from how we have done, it kind of makes sense as I use to chase him round the garden to get stones out of his mouth and he would run off when he was around 8-9 weeks so he associated me coming to him when he had something as taking it away and not giving him anything back so maybe why he's growling and resource guarding.

But as I said good day yesterday and we will keep at it and hopefully another good day today,

Thanks


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

I love it. At that age if the puppy growls, I smile :-* ear to ear. 
They are so cute. 

No harsh punishments needed either. No pinning the dog, either, only the weak and the spineless do it (Caesar Millan lost a lot of business over it, LOL) 

The crate door (large wire crate,  ) is the ultimate training tool. 
Dog goes in/ dog comes out, the door is the key... It opens when the dog performs. 8)

A table top also works miracles... Puppy will never jump off and I can teach focus easily. Treats come from the left hand, right hand and then suddenly only when we establish eye contact. Later, I put a command on it ;D

See, puppy is so busy, it forgets to growl  at me. 

Look, even a child can do it 

At night, after the kids are gone, I take the dog to he playground... So the dog gets used to the smells around the play ground. Later, I pass by when kids are playing, as everybody likes a well behaved puppy, kids (the brave ones first) will come to pet him over the head ;D. 

Ah yes, over the head because I trained the dog like that. I pet him over the head and treat (on the table when it is small)! 
That way when it grows up and pushes 60 lbs kids can pet him with confidence. 

Their brains are the gateway to their heart and soul. And there is nothing they trust more than their noses. Engaging the nose and the whole dog will follow. 




Hammered out on the iPhone5 keyboard... Sorry about any autocorrect errors.


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

My pup was pre hunting at 10 weeks old and hooking points anywhere I brought her 

My mates baby sit my little's never a issue a question or issues

the mate can only be on step with the skills sets your earned from your personal trail mix/ work bench From Doing Provided  or hired

1,000 of hours with pointers raw real remote and kids

never a problem?

The Nordic Thunder Britches.com Dog Whisper ;D

Very odd and zero luck

Time spent equals Great mates

carry on ;D

they pull there ears they poke there eyes pull there tails My Reds just smile miles 

We take notes dates and far more as the mate and you and yours education grows on and on 

Not one is ever done

from skills and thrills 

Sir Copper Topper age 18 fought to get out side and not fail on me

his body was done his Prostate far worse

near the end great mate

pissed all over me as I carried him out to the grounds he humbled like bubble gum

and was he punished?

Heck not"

He earned it each hunt risking his all for us

Rudy is a top mate against anyone 

Sir Coppertopper

was the Hired pro 

every dance out

18 He won

Killing Him with the shot of mercy killed me in parts it seems and 

was far harder on me then burying my entire clan


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