[MissKittay1185]

I have a dauschund who is aggressive towrds my boyfriend. He growls at him when ever he tries to pet him when he's laying with me or if he tries to move him off the bed. And he just started growling at him today for no reason at all. I don't know what to do about it.. The only other time he's ever growled at anyone is if they run up to him with a mask on like on halloween or if he doesn't know them and they try and pick him up right away... I don't know what to do about his aggressive behavior towrds my boyfriend... What should I do?

[labman]

While poor early socialization can be a factor, this sounds like a clear leadership issue. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss

It may help to have your boyfriend do some of the obedience drills.

[RubyPitbull]

MissK, is your dog neutered? If not, it is definitely something for you to consider doing. We answered a question just like this one earlier this month. Please click on the link below. Even though the other dog is a husky, your little guy's size makes no difference. He is doing exactly the same thing as this other dog and I explain why he is doing it on this other link:
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/s...ighlight=husky

Please follow labman's leadership info. It will help you get a handle on the problem.

[labman]

Yes, neuter him if not. I was confused and was thinking he was less than the usual 6 months.

[peggyhill]

I had this problem with my dog for a while. We started taking him to obedience classes. One of the things that we learned was that we were letting the dog be dominant without realizing it. My boyfriend would always give in when the dog growled at him and would let doggie get his way. This made the problem so much worse. When my dog would growl, my boyfriend would calmly pick him up and put him in his "time out room", our spare bedroom, for a while. After continuing to do this, and by having my boyfriend go to the obedience classes with him, my dog finally stopped. Getting him neutered would probably help too. Good luck!

[kindj]

I'll defer to the experts on this one, but wanted to add something myself from my own experience.

I was dating a woman many years ago who had a male dachshund, and that little fella hated me with a passion from the get-go. It wasn't just me--he hated all males that he encountered.

Some friends had two of those dogs--one male and one female. The female was very friendly and easy to get along with. The male hated and was aggressive toward male humans.

I can't help but wonder if there's something specific to that breed--especially the males--that make them overly competitive or overly protective of their female masters.

Like I said, I defer to the dog experts--I am not one.

[RubyPitbull]

Hi kindj. No it is not a breed specific problem. It is more of a leadership problem. We women have a tendency to be more motherly & nurturing toward our dogs. Dogs view the world in a vastly different way than we do. Everything has to do with the pack it lives in and the rank of all the individuals in the pack. Dogs view our mothering tendencies as an acceptance of their dominance and leadership within the pack. We humans are hardwired to do everything for our very young children who are helpless and don't understand what we are saying. It is instinctual for us to do the same thing for our dogs. When we go out of our way to make them comfortable, allow them to claim the comfy spot on the couch before we sit down, feed them before we eat, give them some of our food,. basically put their needs ahead of ours as we would for our children, we have created a problem for ourselves. Miss Kittay's male dog views her as the alpha female to his alpha male. A dog is very in tune with our emotions and responses. When a two legged male shows up in his house, and it is clear that she is emotionally attached in some way to that male, the male alpha dog views that two legged male as a threat to his position in the rank. So, with your old girlfriend, any man she was dating was taking his female away from him. It is a leadership issue on her part. I explained it in detail on that link I provided in my response above.

If you want a better understanding of how dogs view and comprehend the world around them, you might want to check your local library for this book, "The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. labman has it listed in his sticky as one of the books to read. It is a fascinating read.