growling wolfdog

[Michiel]

Dear all,
Our wolfdog is now 2 years and 3 months old (from June 2005). and seems to be doubting about the character mood he should take for the future. In the last years he loved to greet enthusiatically all people (men and women) and all animals. Since a couple of months he started growling. Some situations in which he growles and not growles:
- sunday evening after 22pm is a time for lying away from us and growling when we (my girlfriend and I) caress him;
- all mornings in the week are time for playing and licking and being a bear for hugging;
- he can ly with his head (almost every morning) on the legs of my girlfriend, be caressed but then sometimes starts growling;
- he listens to commands but when my girlfriend calls him (not the command "to come" but just a calling) to come but not as a command he never comes or comes with his ears and head down. When I call him he is always very happy to come;
- he does not growl when children caress him, fall on his head, or do other things;
- he does not growl to men but he growls more and more to women;
- growling to women: he tends to growl at women he does not know + my girlfriend (his boss from the moment we got him, though he recognises me as the leader of the pack). He does not growl at women he knows but are not part of the pack;

We 'punish' him when he growls against people or dogs (other animals are still his biggest friends, especially birds). We punish not too severely but he is shown growling is inappropriate behaviour.
Now we wonder whether all male wolfdogs of this age show this behaviour or whether it is quite common? Does this behaviour go away in some time (just like similar as it came)? What are ways to deal with such behaviour: training, punishments, socialising, etc.
He still goes with us to busy streets, overcrowded places, restaurants, hotels: not a problem at all. He is not afraid or impressed with what happens around him as he is used to this, i guess, since he was 7 weeks old. He only does not like it anymore when women want to caress him.

Thanks to all for giving any advise.

best regards, Michiel

[Mirkawolf]

Considering your location, would not it be easier to go and ask directly the breeder of your dog, or any other CSW owners around there? I mean, that is if you are Czech and you can sort things out this way much easier.

From what you say, it makes me think, if it is not possible that your girlfriend hurt the dog anyhow, with her hand, maybe not by purpose, but simply it was so strong experience for the dog, that since then he is affraid of her touching him?
It is difficult to give ideas or suggestions like this, without knowing the situation at your house, the dog and you and your girlfriend.
However, I think that punishing the dog everytime he growls does not lead anywhere. He might stop growling and start biting instead. Now you at least get warning.
I´d think, that to make up things between the dog and your girlfriend, you should go absolutely different way. She should be the only one to do all things that are important and good for the dog. That means, she should be the only one to feed him and to give him treats. She should be the one to play with him and take him for walks and do anything with the dog, that he loves to do. With this way, the dog will start to see your girlfriend again as a source of great things and not a threat.
If the dog would growl at her, I think the best thing would be to turn around, totally ignore him and go away. But it would also mean he will not get his food, toys, the game is over and so on. He would figure out things very quick, what is better!
But it is also possible, that the problem is in hierarchy in the pack, that the dog simply decided not to respect your girlfriend etc. Then the solutions would have to be similar, yet different. Therefore I´d suggest you should contact your breeder for advice, other CSW owners/trainers in the area who might come see the dog and the situation and so on. I do not think there are any certified dog behaviourists in CR for the moment. But definatelly there exist better ways of solving dog problems, than punishment and choke collars.

Btw., there´s list of great books, that will open your eyes to the world of dog thinking and how to deal with them. You can get them on Amazon for example, in English. I´d suggest for example Patricia McConell - The other end of the leash, For the love of a dog and then books by John Fisher - Think dog!

Good luck.

[GalomyOak]

Hello,

It is impossible to diagnose a dog’s behaviour issues over the computer, I think – since dogs cannot talk, and speak only with their body language – which we can’t see online. We don’t know what the dog has to “say” about the situation. I agree that talking to the breeder, or someone else knowledgeable in the area of dog behaviour that can meet with you, your girlfriend, and your dog is a wonderful idea. It is very important to get the “energy” of the household at the correct place, it is good to have someone outside the pack to evaluate and intervene.

Does your dog growl only at home towards your girlfriend, or also out in other places? Are there other animals in your home? I don't own a wolfdog, and am not a certified trainer, but have worked with other breeds (my room mate in college was a dog behaviourist who worked with “problem” dogs to make them safe and friendly for new homes – she gave me much of her knowledge), and also had the opportunity to watch the training of grey wolves (just for safety and handling purposes while I was working in a rehabilitation center, and always when the wolves were raised from pups) in a reintroduction-to-the-wild program. Some males decided to try out the role of being dominant right around the time of adolescence – usually anywhere from 11 months to 3 years. More often, with our own dogs, or dogs we were training, the aggression dominance happened at home - the dog's territory, and always with the less dominant people in the house – my mother, for example, who both had less experience with dogs. The dogs would often pull, stare down, jump or chase while out on the leash – not aggressive, but not obedient either. I am a teacher for students ages 12-15 - I kind of equate the behaviour of our dogs, to the behaviour of some of my students - fine at school, but trying to be in control at home with their parents. In the US, we have a saying for these youngsters - they are "feeling their wild oats".

We have used several techniques to teach our dogs where their place was in the pack, most of the time, even our polite puppies will challenge us to some extent in their teenage/young adult stage – it is natural for all animals and humans to test their boundaries as they grow - it is very important at this stage to remind the dog who is in charge, or problems can escalate. It is around this age that many people in the US abandon dogs to shelters – when the dog loses it’s childhood “cuteness” and becomes a challenging teenager – especially with more independent breeds such as chows, Dalmatians, huskies and Akitas. We currently have a pure GSD, who is very easy to train, as you can imagine – she loves to please. She is about to begin training for search and rescue. We also have an Akita/shepherd mix that is very independent, and we must constantly find new ways to motivate her. It is important to recognize what motivates your dog – most are either play or food driven, many, such as our GSD, are both. Our mixed breed dog is not at all food driven – she takes most tasty treats and buries them in the yard – but is very play driven, and will do most anything for a ball or plush toy. She also loves to search, but is better for detection work, as she has a bit of shyness towards people (we acquired her at 14 months of age, untrained, from a family that was scared of her “teenage” bahaviour!)

These are some of the things that have worked for us – although I still HIGHLY agree that you should meet in person with someone who has experience with dog training, and better yet someone with CsV experience, as I am sure the breed has it’s own very distinct traits, as all dog breeds do.

1. At feeding time, the person who the dog is being aggressive to feeds the dog, so the dog would associate him as the provider of food, and good things – the person the dog wants to make happy. He would make the dog "perform" for feeding - sit, down, wait - and when the food had been placed on the ground, the dog still has to wait until it's been given permission to eat. We will, on occasion, ask the dog to stop eating, and wait - as a pack leader will do in the wild, but your dog must totally trust you to do this. I will at times take a stubborn dog and tie it to my hip when I am going around the house, all the time, for about a week – the dog then must be my side, doing what I want us to do, when I want us to do it. Affection is only given when the dog is in a passive, submissive state (calm, sitting, lying, or standing quietly – not staring intently, hyper, jumping, etc.). Being that close is a great bonding experience. When our dogs are being trained and we are outdoors, we keep the dog on a 20 ft(6.5 meter, I think) leash when playing, or in a confined yard, until it obeys commands pretty regularly.

2. If we are out walking our dogs, and they are having dominance issues, we make certain that they are behind us on a lead with just enough slack on the leash to make them comfortable, but not enough to explore, or pull, without permission. Pack leaders always walk first – up stairs, through gates or doors, etc. We use training collars, that can constrict around the neck for a quick correction (a tug), or nose halters, which apply pressure to the nose – but are very conservative with giving corrections, and do our best to communicate any other way. Corrections are always a last choice. We DO NOT hurt the dog, only get its attention, with corrections. We also have a warning sound that we make about 3 seconds before giving a correction, and we also give a hand signal - our trained dogs know to obey when they hear this sound, or a correction is coming. It takes puppies, or untrained dogs time to learn, of course. We don't use corrections until we are certain the dog KNOWS the command we are asking - it is our job as the leader to effectively communicate what we want, if we as humans fail, it is not fair to punish the dog. It's also important to know if your dog is a "soft" (mild tempered, sensitive), or "hard" (more dominant) - we don't use hard corrections on soft dogs, as they can have their personalities damaged, and become more shy. Once our dogs know the correction sound, we rarely have to correct – the sound works just fine. Our trained dogs don’t even wear collars unless we are out in public (we live deep in the forest). We only give commands once when we say them, not over and over, we always combine our voice with a hand command, since a dog’s language is through it’s body, and we NEVER say the dog’s name when we are correcting. The name should only be associated with positive experiences.

3. I’ve found that an even more effective way of correcting with some dogs is to nudge the area just between the elbow and the ribs (same place as the girth on a horse goes) or the area just above the tail – pretending my hand is a “mouth” that is nipping – I wouldn’t recommend this with a dog that is growling though, at least not without seeking outside help. We will occasionally use a “dominance roll” with stubborn dogs, and place the dogs on their back, in a submissive pose, until the dog submits – again, not something I would try without outside help of a trainer.

4. Of course, treats, praise, play affection for good behaviour and commands that have been followed well, and ignoring, no eye contact, and no talking to the dog when it is acting inappropriately. The only problem with ignoring a dog that is growling, is that he may want you to leave him alone – ignoring the dog has taught him that by growling at you, you will leave him alone, hence reinforcing the bad behaviour, rather than stopping it.
Sorry this is so long – I guess I had more to say than I thought when I started typing!

Best wishes in your training!
Marcy

[mijke]

Originally Posted by Mirkawolf1

Considering your location, would not it be easier to go and ask directly the breeder of your dog, or any other CSW owners around there? I mean, that is if you are Czech and you can sort things out this way much easier.

I agree with you, but I think Michiel preferes also to write about this in English language forum (Michiel is an dutchman who is living in CZ)

[Mirkawolf]

Originally Posted by wildenmorgen

The only problem with ignoring a dog that is growling, is that he may want you to leave him alone – ignoring the dog has taught him that by growling at you, you will leave him alone, hence reinforcing the bad behaviour, rather than stopping it.

This is very true too. One would need to know, why the dog growls, if he really means it, see the situation and evaluate it. Different situations and moments need different solutions. Again, help of a behaviourist or experienced dog owner/trainer would be the best.

[Michiel]

Dear all,

Many thanks for your information and tips. Before I posted the message we spoke with several breeders and trainers here in the Czech Republic. Their response is that the dog is very friendly and behaving in a good manner. They recognise the growling but state it is something inhabit of the wolfdog breed.

Now for several weeks we noticed an interesting aspect. When I am from home for a couple of days he does not growl at all. When I arrive back, he can start again. The growling is more something of a slight irritation: like do not caress me.

From one of the very experienced behaviourists and some breeders we got the feedback that when he growls agressively we should punish him. When he grows out of irritation we let him know it is not allowed but punish less hard.

The point we were struggling with is that we raise our dog as somebody who should be a friend to everyone. In the Czech Republic most dogs are trained to guard the garden or house. That's why we sometimes reach out abroad to other trainers or breeders for advise.

Many thanks again for your feedback,
Michiel