hi,
We have a 20 mth boston terrier has been growling since we have had as a tiny pup when on he jumps on our sofa or bed, and of which we make get off,but he had never bitten, he can be toy processive so those toys are taken off him,until he calms down with the growling, he is an entire male.
A few months ago when he jumped on the sofa my teenager came up to him and he snapped at him and bruised his face.
For the last week he has had a cold , took him to the vets to be checked out as he does get  reverse sneezing, vet said temp ok, chest clear but gave him antiboctics just to be on the safe side.
we have a 3 month old border terrier male, his behaviour had not worsenened with puppy arriving. Fed separately,play and interaction together supervised always and he is very tolerant of pup,5 days ago he got on the sofa in the evening i lent across to move him down and he bit me on the face , no growl or warning, it was semi dark with just lamp light he was sleepy but still not an excuse, i have had to attend casulty where i had three stitches to my face,
generally he is loving and playful, but now i am very wary as we have teenage children and are concerned that he could bite again, in certain situations mainly i believe when he is tired.We are considering castrating him , hopefully to calm him down but any other suggestions would be appriecated.
Has own bed, and children know not to touch him when in own space but it does seem when he is tired or near sofa that when he is more aggressive.

i think you need to go back to basics with both dogs and set up some house rules, if they are bad mannered around the sofa then dont let them on it anymore. one at a time teach them that from now on it is a human only area, you will have to seek more experienced advice than me on how to do this and im sure there will be people on here later to give you advice.
castration wont cure him. only teaching him what is acceptable, and preventing the situation from arising therefore if it was me i would ban him from the sofa.
x

Hi lesleyann,

Firstly, if your dog is dozing don't attempt to move him if he has a tendancy to snap or growl as a first instinct, wake him from a few feet away with a call of his name, then give him the command that you want, Off! or Move! or Down! Many dogs and in particular smaller breeds act on their instincts as they would a preditor approaching them so tend to make a show of aggression.

You have two choices here you either work with him the way he is and use avoidance techniques re: above, no quick moves on him, especially when asleep and no attempts to actually lift him up, use a command with a treat and praise to get him used to the meaning of the commands that you give him, it doesn't take long for a dog to understand what is asked of it.

If he reacts negative even with a voice command and tries to disobey that command then you remove him into isolation for a few moments, pop him behind a dog gate or in a room to be alone then allow him back in and try again.

If this is a dominance issue then as suggested you need to knock him down a peg or two, don't allow him on the sofa or bed, I would never allow any dog to ever bite me, keep calm with him, strong eye contact, get going on teaching him commands he needs to know his boundaries and that it is not acceptable to bite or even growl if asked to do something, but you must give him instruction, without instruction he will voice his own opinion on what he wants to do, leaving you with the decision to make instead of him. You can't allow that, you are in command here.

Just give him clear precise instruction with reward when he complies and isolation when he doesn't, it will work in no time. :-)

may be usefull to put a very light 'house line' on his collar - ONLY when you are with him -so you can use that to move him without getting hands-on if you need to put him into a time out place or get him off the sofa when he says no.
Chris

Thanks for your reply, i do think it is a dominance issue and will use the voice commands and use the isolation, he is a quick learner and i think maybe an obedience class could be helpful to, i think we as a family have been to soft with him, but now we have all agreed on the techinque, commands to use collectively so we dont confuse him.
Kind Regards

Thanks for your reply he doesnt wear a collar at present in the house, but it would be easier to move him as suggested when he doesnt want to do as he is told.
Kind Regards
lesleyanne

just to agree with the above posts - i have a 11 month old westie who exhibited the same growling snapping behavoir from a very early age. Although he has never bitten me - maybe i was to quick for him!- he suffers from fear aggression and guarding food and would always growl when he was tired (must be very careful that you get a diagnosis as there are different aggression types). I have been working with him using positive training techniques as follows;

Nothing in life is free NILIF - find this on the internet. Very useful technique to teach you and the family how to become positive pack leaders ( I found this excellent)
Use a house line - so you can gently remove him from the room for a 'time out' 10 secounds - also to gently remove him from sofa if he jumps up (he is not allowed on it now!)
If he is fear agressive its very important to 'jolly' him along with positive praise. No shouting etc - ALWAYS CALM CALM CALM
IF he is guarding stuff i.e food, bed, toy then there are some good postive training techniques to combat this - again loads of info on net
Also it would help with bonding if he gets at least 10 minutes one on one traing a day in basic commands like sit and stay etc - again helps with leadership issues

my westie is 100% better than he used to be - but he still has a along way to go - so you will need to be patient - no quick fixes - but you should see improvements within a few weeks if you are consistent. I have another westie (3 years) who is very docile and i have never had any problems with and both dogs get on fine.

Given you said both dogs were acting unusually aggressive is there anything going on in you household that could have upset the dogs?   Or have you done anything else that might impact their behaviour - like switching foods, sleeping arrangements, etc.

Hi, thanks for reply,
Both dogs are feed on eubanka but different formula for there age group,
Puppy is only displaying typical puppy behaviour, play is always supervised, boston has own 1-2-1 time as well, puppy sleeps in crate, Boston in bed he has always slept in, in different room . The only difference was that he had been unwell, He has always been  processive off his toys and growls when he jumps on the sofa, that he has been stopped. The only other difference was the hype of xmas and new year.
The vet has said she believes he snapped because he was unwell, and has given us information on a local dog behavourist.but we have also now taken on board the suggestions offered by the other forum members.
Kind Regards
Lesley

Hi, Thanks for your reply, will look on web for the site you recommended,
Early days with puppy but they both seem to get on well, and boston does get time away from puppy on own,  i do walk puppy in arms when on a walk for another few days until his innoculations have kicked in, but older dog is walked seperately as well.I am using the time out method as well used to walk on the  children !
I hope we have the success you have had as we are fully committed to both dogs.
Kind Regards
Lesley