I need doggie help!

For everyone but me, this is very mundane and pointless, so let’s hope I am in the right forum.

I have a mini dachshund, male, who will be 2 in September. Lately, he has been snapping at family members. It almost always happens when he is eating (yes, I know, I have told the family repeatedly), or when chewing on a favorite toy. Is there any way to break him of this?

Our other dog is a golden retreiver, and as you doggie people know, goldens are extremely laid back. He doesn’t care what you do or when you do it, as long as you love him.

The family, of course, transferred this behaviour on to Fergus, and it does not work. I cannot get it through my collective family’s skull to leave Fergus strickly alone while he is engaged in the above mentioned activities. (“But I love him and want to pet him.”)

However, I do want to train Fergus to ease up a bit and chill. Can this be done?

Dachshunds
with erections
can’t
climb
stairs.
(I know that doesn’t help, but it’s the title of a funny song that I have on a Dr Demento CD here somewhere, and it makes me laugh.)

My solution would be a squirt bottle with a VERY mild dishwashing soap mixture (about 99-1 in favor of the water).

When Fergus snaps, squirt him and make sure some of the solution gets in his eyes. It will sting, and he will eventually learn to associate his eyes stinging (uncomfortable) with snapping (undesirable).

Always worked for me - works well on cats, also.

Some dogs are very protective of their food. As your dachshund is almost 2 years old, I don’t know how much can be done; most of this training (so that they’re not so protective of their food) is usually done in the first year of life.

However…

I have a Golden Retriever, actually, who is by nature extremely protective of his food. The most important thing was to establish the fact that I, not he, was in charge. I would be the one to determine when he got food, and I trained him early to expect that I might pick up his food while he was eating it, or touch him while he was eating.

Basically, it’s extreme assertiveness training (on your part, I mean, not the dog’s). You feed the dog, let him take a few bites, then take the bowl away. If the dog growls or snaps at you, you immediately grasp his muzzle and hold it closed (using both hands if necessary), and hold on for dear life while saying, in a very stern voice, “No! No bite!” If you keep this up for long enough, the dog should relent.

The muzzle-holding trick is actually extremely useful for all sorts of aggression/defensiveness type reactions (barking, snapping, lunging, etc.). Basically, it requires a supreme exercise of your will. You must not back down. Do not give up. It’s a contest of wills between you and the dog. Once the primary owner (who I’m assuming is you; every dog has one) has done this successfully, it’s time for the other members of the household to do it as well. It works.

Good luck!

Yes, but it will take much dedication and perserverance on your part. And the whole family must cooperate; otherwise, he’ll just learn not to bite you, but it’s still okay to bite everyone else. A few questions, first:

  1. Is the dog intact? If so, this will be much more difficult. If he’s intact, I suggest neutering ASAP.

  2. Does the dog have a medical condition which could be causing this behavior? Might want to check with your vet.

I don’t know how much obedience training your dog has, but here are a few things you can try.

Teach him he is not allowed to be possessive of his food. You can do this by reinforcment; start by just standing near him when he’s eating. You might want to put a lead on him during dinner- if he tries to snap, you can give a correction. When he’s behaving well, reward him with treats, praise, petting- whatever he really likes. Now, get a really good treat, like a piece of cheese or some liver jerky. Show him you have the treat. Make him sit. Drop the treat in his bowl from several feet up. Keep doing this, getting your hand closer and closer to his bowl each time. If he snaps or growls, correct, and walk away without giving the treat. Work up to actually reaching into the bowl to deposit the treat. Teach him that your hand in his bowl is a good thing, and that he’ll be rewarded for this. Make sure all other family members do this as well. It will take a while, but it will work. Alternatively…

Ground your dog. No, really. Daschunds are pretty dominant dogs, and if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. Your dog sounds pretty possessive. You could just not do anything to trigger the behavior, which might work, or it might just reinforce the dog’s belief that he is in charge and can snap at anybody he wants. If this is the case, ground him. Use everyday obedience to teach the dog that he is not in charge, and it is not okay to ever bite people. This is very hard to do, but it works wonders- you just have to be extremely consistent and firm. First off, ignore the dog. Feed him on schedule, do any routine medical stuff, like give pills or clean ears, but that’s it- no playing, no petting, no praise, until he does something for you. This means that before he gets fed, he must sit or lie down. Before he gets petted, he must sit or lie down. He must do these things, or he does not get what he wants. You’re teaching the dog that he is not allowed to tell you what to do- you tell him what to do. Teach him that nice, non-snapping or growling dogs get petted and praised, they get played with and they get treats. Impolite dogs who growl, snap, or act pushy or possessive get ignored.

This is really hard to do, however, because you love your dog. You want to pet him and play with him. But you must be firm and consistent, and all family members must be the same, otherwise the dog just learns that perserverance in being rude pays off, and that he can sometimes get away with stuff he shouldn’t be doing. Try keeping a collar and lead on him in the house (but ONLY when you can closely supervise him! he could be injured otherwise!) to correct him when he acts up. Just a quick snap of the wrist on the lead puts pressure on the back of the neck, which in ‘dog language’ means “don’t do that!”

You can check out

www.greatpets.com

for more training info, especially on aggressive/possessive dogs, and more tips on re-training. Good luck, and keep us posted!

Get a cage and feed the dog by putting his food in the cage. That’s all. Give him a few months.

You know, after the recent spate of Anal Sex threads, I’m now quite disappointed…

:smiley:

Excellent suggestions all around. And GrizzRich, you are absolutely correct.

Lindyhopper, I’ll start the family on a training schedule immediately. Fergus has never acted agressively towards me, he knows better, just the kids. I guess he figured out that I am “head bitch” :slight_smile:

He has not yet been spayed, as we were hoping to bred him this year, but if that doesn’t pan out, he will be taking a trip to the friendly neighborhood vet.

You know, he has snapped twice, and now that I think about it, both times he was right at my feet. Could it be possesiveness(sp?) as well?

**

They are both manifestations of the same thing: resource guarding. You and the food are both resources.

I work in Dachshund Rescue, and ratty is pretty much right on. I would differ only in not using punishments, which in my experience slow training down with Dachshunds more than anything else.

I really recommend Jean Donaldson’s new book Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs. For some reason I can’t get links to work right now, but go to SitStay.com. They have it on sale.

Dachshunds Rule!

The Punkyova
Sadie and Mambo, the Paradoxies