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Posted by KDiamondDavis on March 05, 2003 at 17:38:21:
In Reply to: puppy growled today posted by rachael on March 05, 2003 at 15:17:42:
:We (Me, my mom and dad and 2 sisters, 9 and 12) have a new golden retriever puppy who is now about 12 weeks old. We've had her since 9 weeks, and she has always been very good. She is mostly pretty mellow, although she does love to play! We haven't really had any problems with excessive play biting, although she does get excited sometimes. Today when I walked into the room where she was chewing on her Jumbone she started growling and protecting the Jumbone from me. Me and my mom were both very surprised and I quickly grabbed her by her lead and gave her a sharp tug while saying "No, drop it!" and I took the Jumbone. I held it, then gave it back, then said drop it and took it again. We repeated it about 4 times and there were no problems. About 2 minutes later though, mom shifted in her chair and Lola started growling again so we did the "excercise" again, but with mom this time taking it. I'm wondering if we reacted appropriately and if there is anything else we should do to more firmly establish her as *not* being the boss.
:I'm afraid that we undermine our authority because she free feeds (she is a healthy weight, and it is working fine so far) and because she is basically always with someone, although we do have a kennel for her when we go out. Do we need to maintain more active NILIF "program"?>>>>>>>>>
You need to train, of course, as you need to do with any Golden. I hope you are in puppy class with her, or will be very soon. But did you act appropriately? I would prefer a different approach. Her behavior was defending her prize. You showed her that yes, you were capable of taking away her prize. You corrected her, adding to her defense drive. You may see more of this behavior in the future after doing this, especially as many times as you did it.
I'd suggest you walk by her and drop treats, trade her treats for her bone, and eliminate the bone when you're not in a position to actively work with her. Defuse her feeling that she needs to defend her stuff from humans. Condition her to think of humans as givers, not takers. If you make this a confrontational situation, well, she's the one with the teeth. Both of you could eventually lose.
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com