Adolescent Male Behavior

**SharonaZamboni** · 07-25-2011, 09:30 PM

Bean growled for the first time tonight at puppy class. The teacher was nearer to him, since we were doing a recall, and she took care of it, and explained to me what Bean had done. I got home and looked up teenage dog behavior. Wow. I do see restlessness, demanding of attention, etc. It never occured to me that they sometimes mark indoors! I hope I never have to deal with that.

So...Some articles say no tug games, others say OK. Let dog win, never let dog win. I intend to continue to use my instincts about what to do with my dog, but if anyone has advice from experience, I'd love to hear about it.

Also, what should I do in the event that he meets another dog and they have a real dogfight? We have zero dog parks within 50 miles, but on our walking path, mine has been the only leashed dog we've met. Never had a problem, but I'd like to be prepared! Even if it's another dog that is aggressive.

**ScorpianAbarth** · 07-25-2011, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by SharonaZamboni

So...Some articles say no tug games, others say OK. Let dog win, never let dog win. I intend to continue to use my instincts about what to do with my dog, but if anyone has advice from experience, I'd love to hear about it.

As you say, you know your dog. Unfortunately, we can't predict what would happen if you did/didn't continue to play tug of war etc with Bean...just take every situation as it comes. Also, every dog is different - for example, Zack will mark every two seconds on a walk but if we play tug, he always gives in to me and will roll over.

Another example of somebody thinking they can predict a dog's behaviour without knowing them...At the vet last week I was explaining that ear drops do not go down very well with Zack and it's major effort to get them in there. The vet was very nice, but verrry sure that he knew Zack's reaction better than mine and cockily said ''I'll show you how to do it properly'' and proceeded to hug Zack's head to him under his chin, to which I said ''...and then he headbutts you''. The vet laughed, all ''no no, he won't''...2 seconds later, the vet bit his tongue (literally heh) as Zack did exactly what I said he would

Trust your instict with your dog and take each incident/behaviour as it comes

**SharonaZamboni** · 07-25-2011, 10:08 PM

Love that story! My departed Cammie was an angel, and never bit anyone, but if she had a pig ear, I didn't want to know what followed the growl. I would put my face anywhere on her at any time, but a pig ear was not for testing.

Bean's not really into tug; he'll play, but it's not his favorite game. I just don't want to inadvertently encourage dominant behavior because I was unaware.

**ScorpianAbarth** · 07-25-2011, 10:15 PM

Yeah, this time the infection isn't that bad at all but he still managed to fractutre my elbow (don't know if you saw my thread on that)! Oddly, the ear rub after the drops always goes down well

What was it that triggered the growl, by the way?

**SharonaZamboni** · 07-25-2011, 10:36 PM

I don't know how ear drops would work here, but nail clipping is a challenge! Hope you're healing well! How can you do it with a fractured elbow?

Bean was doing well at class. I was backing away from him (in a sit), he got up, I told him to sit. He almost sat, then ran to me, around my back, then up to the front where other pups were waiting their turn. Just boogied up to some puppy and decided to be boss of it. Teacher grabbed his collar, had him sit, and did some treating of the dogs. I didn't have time to hang around after class to talk to her about it, hopefully next week.

It was an odd class anyway. Started with puppies pooping and peeing, and some little girl vomited her dinner as her sister cried for her. Poor kid was probably mortified.

**ScorpianAbarth** · 07-25-2011, 10:50 PM

To answer your question - with great difficulty! Lol. My mother is taking him to the park for me this week, so we have a 'cuddle' when he comes back to me and he's so knackered I can usually manage it fairly well. He knows I'm hurt too...keeps trying to lick my elbow or rest his face on it gently.

That does sound like an odd class! The simplest piece of advice I can give you is; if a dog means a growl/it's going to escalate, you'll know about it. Zack's mother sometimes 'growled' when she played with other dogs but that was actually just her when she was excited or saying 'c'mon, I can take it!' while wrestling. If she was going to attack, there would have been a lot of signs beforehand