Hi,
What age would you say a dog is a teenager and tries to not challenge but get a bit braver as such?
My american bulldog has started to change at 16 weeks i think its as his becomeing a teen and wanting to challenge us a bit more.
The 1st time today when i went near him and his pigs ear he growld and barked at me he normaly lets me put my hand in his bowl take it of him and throw it just this once his challenged me and his challengeing me in other ways is this due to his age and being a teen.Thats if this age is the teen age for a dog

Many Thanks
Max

Depends on the breed I think ..Malamutes tend to start get moody ( ;) ) at about 10 - 14 months old :D (and I hear that they stop at about age 7 years :D :D )

Hi, :)

If you've been taking food/pigs ears off him a lot, he will learn to guard - you may need to change methods so that he learns to trust and, with training, can be happu about you taking anything (but this should not be as a test).

I can take treats/toys etc from my dog, but only do it very rarely and do a "swop" for something else really tasty and then give back the original item. That way trust develops. I've taught all my own dogs and family dogs this way :) It's also good to know that in an emergency, if there ever is one, I can take items or food away (say if there was some piece of glass in the bowl or something...).

Lindsay
X

Hmm thats an interesting question and one Id like to know as well.What age do GSD's roughly start the teenage stage?
Kimmy

I wd. think that 16 weeks is a bit early in any breed to be going throught the teen stage.  Anton was 2 three weeks ago and has been going through his teen stage for about the last 10 months :d  Unfortunately I don't think that he's going to grow up until he is about 5 years old, he is still very much a baby.

You could VERY easily end up in serious trouble with an American Bulldog if he's successfully taking the leadership role with threatened aggression this young and not just serious for you but anyone around both inside your home and outside.
You need to be trained by someone with experience of high level traing with difficult dogs and preferably this breed specifically. If you email me I will give you the address of a site where a few people have trained them properly to quite high levels of obedience, which you must have with this dog.
A habit pattern is already forming and habitual natural behaviour is very hard to break with dogs like this.
In terms of positive reinforcement, which increases behaviour: Each time your dog warns you it is rewarded by what it perceives as a favourable outcome, (you let him have what he wants) the outcome 'positively reinforces' the behaviour and recurrence, with this dog particularly, the behaviour has a high probability of recurrence and as the aggression matures by each repetition serious trouble is almost inevitable.
If he tried the same behaviour with an older canine peer he would be in big trouble, that's how canines communicate between themselves and the behaviour you have experienced is a communication technique common to canines. You are very quickly and clearly becoming 'prey' 'in his mind' and he is a predator under certain circumstances appropriate to his canine needs and 'in his mind'.
I won't offer any advice it really needs to come from an experienced and successful owner of this breed specifically. If you email me at the address below I will pass you a site address where a few people have the necessary experience with your breed.
davedee@zipido.com

hats off to davedee
you have to stamp out any forum of your dog trying to take leadership... its not only for yourself, but for the safety of others.

Once a dog thinks its in control, it'll become increasingly aggresive towards yourself and others who try to challenge it.

If you do find yourself in this situation try many different challenging techniques over time to regain the leadership - remember, dogs are pact animals

challenging techniques:

- stand on the dogs bed preventing it from laying on it, if it isn't happy still hold your ground for 20-30secs. then break eye contact and move on without looking back. do this over afew weeks everyday or so.

- Taking toys and such is a bad move if he/she is playing with them, only take toys and such around the dog until you have earnt more trust.

- do not give tip bits at all on demand from the dog, and only half the time if he/she does something well - don't get your pets depended on them

- When/if the dog does somthing wrong in public, deepen your voice when speaking to it, it has been proven some forms or angery shouting promote bad behavour further due to the tone

Hi Bad Friday,

I don't know how relevant Davedee's advice is to the Am Bulldog, perhaps there are real safety issues with that particular breed at a very young age which need breed specific advice (very sad IMO if that's the case) but ordinarily a 16 week old puppy is just that - a puppy - that needs guidance and positive reward based training to encourage a secure character and a bond of trust between the puppy and it's owner. 

I wouldn't want any new puppy owner reading this thread to think that in general words like challenging, aggression, etc have any place in describing puppy behaviour or how it should be responded to.  Thankfully training methods have moved on considerably.  Setting up challenging situations - such as standing in their bed, eye-balling them, removing things from them just for the sake of proving a point :rolleyes: etc., etc., are now very much frowned upon and totally unnecessary :(

Regards, Teri

Thank you for posting that Teri. I agree with everything you have said. 

hey Teri

actually reading through my post, i see how it may be seen as harsh... i ment it for older dogs ( age 2)

though i stand by the methods stated, i've seen nasty things happen to dog lovers who let their dogs run the show.

over all though, good point Teri

NEXT TIME YOU GIVE HIM A PIGS EAR SIT WITH HIM AND HOLD ONTO IT DONT TAKE IT OFF HIM LET HIM CHEW IT WHILE YOU HOLD IT SHOWING HIM YOUR MASTER OF FOOD.

  Why 

Would you give a small child a bar of chocolate and whip it off him/her?  What's the point of giving a puppy or older dog a high value treat and then removing it?  To train a dog to give up something from it's mouth or be happy with humans near food bowls etc all that is required is to offer a tasty "swap" item in exchange for something he is chewing and to occasionally add something extra special onto his food while eating from a bowl so he learns that hands etc around his food mean there's a good chance of a pleasant surprise :rolleyes:  THAT'S the best way to be "master of food" (strange terminology however). Negative training is the road to ruin :(

To OP, please don't give your puppy pigs ears under ANY circumstances - they are potentially very dangerous as are raw hide chews :(  If you do a search on the board (top right of screen) on pigs ears you will read some pretty scary stuff about such treats.

Regards, Teri :)

SO THE DOG TRUSTS YOU I DO IT LOTS WITH MY PUP SHE DOESNT GROWL AT ME SHE ENJOYS IT.I DONT TAKE IT OFF HER JUST HOLD IT .SHE THEN KNOWS IM IN CONTROLL IM MASTER OF HER FOOD.

Hi Maysea

Never needed to do it with mine and funnily enough my dogs trust me too ;)  I've only ever used the methods I described and if they have gotten hold of something potentially dangerous (such as a cooked chicken bone) I can safely and quickly remove it from them - not a grumble to be heard :P

As I advised the OP, check out the more pressing safety issues re pigs ears - perhaps you ought to rethink the treats you use as well as how to use them :(

Regards, Teri

HI TERI I DONT USE PIGS EARS I WAS REFERING TO ANY TREAT I GIVE HER BUT EVEN IF I DID SHE WOULD HAVE A HARD JOB CHOCKING ON IT IF IM HOLDING IT WOULDNT SHE.I DONE THE SAME THING WITH MY COLLIE AND HAVE NO PROBLEMS TAKING ANYTHING OFF HER EVEN MY CHILDREN CAN TAKE THINGS FROM THEM (NEVER FOR LONG ALWAYS GIVE IT BACK STRAIGHT AWAY)I WOULD RATHER HAVE A DOG EATING A RAW BONE KNOWING IF MY CHILDREN WALK PAST THEY DONT GET GROWLED  AT AS THE DOGS ARE USED TO THEIR HANDS AROUND FOOD .I WOULD NEVER TAKE FOOD AWAY FROM THEM AS A PUNISHMENT.

Totally agree with you Teri too ;)

Dennis Carthy knows what i think of him anyway, don't you Dennis? :D

Lindsay
X

Hi Lindsay,

Is this the sad #### with the electric collar fixation?  God forbid anyone ever follows his lead on training *techniques* :(

Teri

ELECTRIC COLLAR?

Everything Dennis posted about led eventually to promotion of electric collars.

But let's not let the post get taken over by that ;)

To the OP: if you are still concerned, (not sure if you are in the Uk or in the US?) I would highly recommend a book by Jean Donaldson all about resource guarding called "Mine!"
It's very good :)

It's important to be able to take food in an  emergency, and also for people to be safe around the dog and food together. However, if you train for this in the wrong way, by "taking" food/toys/treats/chews a lot, the dog (or yes, even a puppy) will start to object. I would myself - it's nothing to do with any kind of bid for dominance.
Even the weakest dog in a pack will fight for it's right to eat, once it actually has the food.
In a wild wolf pack, in times of hardship, the dominant pair hang back so that the pups get to eat. It makes sense, because the important thing is that the genes survive.
You may also be interested in www.dog-dominance.co.uk  I went to a talk by this man a few weeks ago, it was very good.

Lindsay
x

I often take Tylers bone off him just so he gets used to it, same with pulling his tail and ears not to cause him any pain, just incase a child does this, then it is nothing out of the ordinary.

Sadly Louise, this is how many owners think, and for the majority of dogs it is OK...  BUT some people find it hard to differentiate between a dog who will accept it amd the one who will take your face off!  For safety's sake it's far better to teach a dog that food + people = goodies not a threat.  That way, on the rare occasion when you DO have to remove something, the dog will be happy to let you do it because it's learnt that it brings rewards, and you don't find yourself facing a dog whose had their bone removed one time too many........