growling

[magz]

Hi, first of all I want to thank all of you who replied to my post re finding a puppy, your advice was much appreciated.
We now have Fin, who is 13 weeks old. He is great in almost every respect, the toilet training is progressing well and he is bright and beautiful. However there are a couple of things which are worrying me, the first is that since I changed him to three meals a day he has become very aggressive with anyone who approaches him whilst he is eating, snarling and snapping. I think I am making headway using Gwen Bailey's methods and he will now let me put my hand in his food to put special treats in and will wag his tail but still growls if I stroke him. The second is similar, he was allowed out for the first time this week and has been enjoying trips to the park etc. Today, however my daughters and I took him to pets at home and he was naturally approached by people including small children. He went towards them happily wagging but after a couple of minutes he growled, well more like snarled actually. We then went to our local shopping parade and he did exactly the same, people backed off in fear! He has been quite well socialised, local school, parks, children of all ages, teenagers and adults. I can't think of anything which happened to make him behave like this, he seemed quite happy to be there, not cowering or afraid.
Anyone have any suggestions please?                    

[pwhite48]

Hi Magz

We have had similar problems with our 13week old, Honey.  We ended up getting a behaviourist in to see her, and the results have been really positive.  The diagnosis was that Honey is trying to dominate us all the time, and hasn't yet learned her place in our 'pack'.  I have PM'd you with the details in case you might want to consider something similar.

Loads of tips and techniques along the lines of Jan Fennel and The Dog Listener, and she is alot calmer.

Good luck with him

Phil                    

[Jane S]

I was wondering whether the fact that the growling over food coincided with you reducing the number of his meals could mean that Fin is hungry? I would not normally reduce pups down to 3 meals until they are 4 months old so 13 weeks seems a little young to me, but of course all pups are different. What are you feeding him on by the way? Some high protein complete foods are thought to contribute to aggressive behaviour sometimes so a different brand of food might be worth considering.

Are you attending puppy training classes at all? If not, I would definitely recommend you start asap - this could help with the growling at strangers situation. As your boy is only 13 weeks old, he is still very young & should be able to learn quite quickly that this behaviour isn't acceptable so try not to worry too much

Jane                    

[magz]

Hi again, sorry for delay but the office comp won't let me post replies, mean thing! Phil, thanks I will reply to your pm. Jane, yes the same thought occurred to me, he was hungry so I upped his portions but do you think it would be better to go back to 4 meals a day? He is on Pedigree complete puppy food. I am trying very hard to find a puppy class near, or not so near but most of my local ones don't start a new session until mid March, which is way too far off, I know he is a good boy really he just needs to work that out too.
thanks
magz[size=12][/size]                    

[Jane S]

Hi Magz

I would perhaps be inclined to change to a more "natural" food with fewer additives than Pedigree - perhaps Burns or James Wellbeloved? Just an idea but it might help.

It's a shame you can't find a puppy class before mid-March. Perhaps you could find a one-to-one trainer instead? More expensive but it could be worth it. Have a look at www.apdt.co.uk if you haven't already as there are quite a few members listed in Surrey.

Jane                    

[magz]

Hello again, just to let you know that I have taken your advice Jane and he is in the process of being changed over to Burns mini bites. Do you know of any outlets other than  the internet since the price almost doubles with delivery unless you buy lots?
I have also booked him into puppy classes with a well known dog behaviourist/trainer starting next week so I will let you know how we progress.
Thanks for your help.
Mags                    

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

Hi Magz there is a free phone number on the bag 0800 018 1890

I'm sure they will be able to  advice you, were you can get it in your area.                    

[PennyB]

Hello again, just to let you know that I have taken your advice Jane and he is in the process of being changed over to Burns mini bites. Do you know of any outlets other than  the internet since the price almost doubles with delivery unless you buy lots?  
I have also booked him into puppy classes with a well known dog behaviourist/trainer starting next week so I will let you know how we progress.
Thanks for your help.
Mags

I get mine from my local pet shop who will order the stuff in for me if they haven't got it (it was same price as internet but without the delivery charge as that's free from our pet shop). I usually get the 15kg bags.                    

[Cathy]

I got my burns mini bites from the website, and it givses you the option for free postage in the drop down box for orders over 25 pounds. The 15kg bag was 32, inc VAT and its supposed to last 150 days. this is based on a dog 10kg in weight.
This works out to be 21p per day.

I contacted Burns to check the amount a 11 week puppy should have and they said to work on 20gram per kilogram in weight, so Jazz is on abot 90grams per day. She loves it.  
The only place you don't qualify for the free delivery is the highland and isles. I ordered some Burns KELTIES , and they sent me two packets for £2.00 as they have a offer two for the price of one.  I ordered on tuesday morning and they arrived by buisness post early wednesday morning.

On gthe order page it says standard delivery 24.95 ( thats for orders under hat amount not the actual postage cost.

Best of luck, regards                    

[magz]

Thanks everybody, I only got the little bag to start with in case it didn't suit him, silly woman it's food isn't it? of course it suits him. However I thought £9.49 was going to work out a bit costly. I'll just have to build him a shed to keep it all in lol
Mags