Aggressive dog

[kpereida]

I have an agressive dog, he growls at my 14 yr daughter when she tries to get near him except for when she has food, at times he will spin chasing after his tail and growl, it shounds like a dog fight going on. If we try to clip his nails he will growl and try to bit us, when we let him go he goes into one of his tail spins.

Kaye

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi kpereida,

What is your dog's breed and how old is he? How long have you had him?

Most of dogs don't like to be clipped his nails. It is all practice and desensitization that dogs let you clip nails. Especially if he has a bad experience about getting nail clipping, it is very understandable that he tries to bite you.

Let us know a little bit more about your dog and background.

[kpereida]

Our dog is a male Chihuahua/terrier mix that is about a year old, he was fixed before we brought him home from the animal shelter about 1 1/2 months ago. His nails were about an inch long at the shelter, they must have clipped them while he was still asleep being fixed, so he may not be use to them being clipped, but the major problem his his snarling and grawling at my daughter when ever she tries to get near him. They deffinately have a love hate relationship, when ever she is gone for an extended time he will use her room as a bathroom. They got along fine until she brought home another dog for a day, than a cat for a day, and than a friend stayed for a few days which meant that he could not sleep in her bed, he was very protective of the bedroom and did not want anyone to go into it, he started out snarling and growling at the freind when ever she was in the bedroom but since she has left he has been angry with her, but this has been more than a week.

[KOPcaroline]

Hey there,

I think the first step in sorting your problem is to limit the dogs access to your daughters bedroom. He's obviously protective of something in there, and if he's using the bathroom in there when your daughter is gone, he should be kept out of the area for a bit. Maybe only let him in when your daughter is there alone, so that she can spend good time with him, and he can learn to trust her again.

Smaller breed dogs often latch onto one person as a favorite, and if your dog feels he has been replaces by another dog/cat/person, this could be his way of reacting. Your daughter should work on speaking to the dog in calm tones and spending good, relaxed time with him. The whole family should work on keeping him calm, speaking in quiet voices and making sure he's getting plenty of love from everyone. Just make sure he knows he's an important part of the family.

As far as nails, you should try and take it slow, a lot of dogs hate having their nails trimmed, whether its the feeling or the sound of the clipping that bothers them, I'm not sure. First work on him letting you hold his paws. Play with him and be sure to touch his paws a lot, when he's comfortable with that, work on holding them. This is a trust thing with some dogs, its going to take a lot of repetition. Incorporate trimming only one or two nails into a play session after he's ok with you holding his paws. Don't do all of them at once, just a few, so he knows its not a horrible thing. And just continue to work up to doing all at once. Just be slow and calming with your dog as you go.

Some dogs just won't tolerate their owners trimming their nails. If this is the case, you could try getting a nail grinder, a small, handheld rotating grinder that doesn't "pop" nails off, but gradually works them down. Some dogs handle these better. You also might just have to get the vet to do them everytime. If you go the vet route, be sure to try and make it a somewhat enjoyable trip, with treats and fun time, so that your dog doesnt only associate the vet with bad things, and therefor becomes aggressive at the vets

Hope you can sort it, good luck, let us know if you continue to have problems!

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi kpereida,

I think KOPcaroline's advice about nail clipping is great. It takes a long time and a lot of repetitions in desensitizing being nail clipped. If your dog likes treats it is a good idea to give her tiny bits of treats every time you touch his paws or nails. Start with paws and then nails. Bring out the nail clipper and just touch his nail with the clipper every day. After a couple of weeks if he feels comfortalbe when the clipper touches his nail, clip one nail as you talk to him and distract him. If he lets you clip, make a big deal and give him a special treat! Everything is depending on how comfortable he can feel with letting you do to him. Once he trusts you, he will let you do all kinds of things, that includes taking something away from him. Until he reaches to the point, he will keep protecting his resources. It takes a long time and a lot of patience but I am sure you will get there.

If you think it is too much for you to clip his nails, groomers can do easily and it won't cost much. Once they are clipped, walk him on a concrete or pavemant every day and it can prevent his nails getting too long.

Small dogs, such as Chihuahuas are fearful of strangers, thus snarls and growls. Just think of you encountering a dinosaur. There are a lot of small dog owners who don't pay efforts to socialize their dogs with people and other dogs because they can just pick up their dog and walk away. On the other hand, you can't do that with big dogs and big dogs can injure people and other dogs when they actually bite them so big dog owners are expected to socialize their dogs to become friendly dogs. Maybe your dog's previous owner didn't pay much attention in his training and socialization.

I would strongly recommend your daughter takes him to dog traning classes. It is the best way to build mutual trust and bonding, as well as him learning to ge a good canine companion. Good luck