# Aggressive Cockapoo



## Joeycockapoo31 (Nov 29, 2020)

Hi, we have a nine month old cockapoo Joey. We got him over lockdown and we love him so much. However he has a major problem with possession regression. He will take anything he can find and if we even come near him he will growl and snap, this has been going on for months now. We have tried almost every technique that there is, we rung the vet he recommended getting him neutered which we did. We have tried countless methods none of which have worked, aswell as taking him to a training who said she found him worrying and we heard nothing back from!!! For example today we were putting up the Christmas tree and he got a plug from one of the lights, obviously we need to get this off him ASAP it’s dangerous. So we use the method of bribing him with some food and he goes over to the food and I go to lift the plug, and next thing he viciously attacks me bitting my leg and bitting my hand drawing blood and leaving marks. He has done this a few times to my mum and sister and my family are scared of him. I obviously reacted by pushing him away and there was shouting going on. This is our first dog we have no idea how to react to this, how to handle him, we have honestly tried everything and he can be the most loving puppy. It breaks our hearts we are at our wits end, he is a danger to us and others. Please can anyone help us, we will appreciate any advice we are trying out best and just want the best for Joey as well.


----------



## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Resource guarding in cockapoos is not uncommon and you need professional help NOW to get this under control. From his point of view he has something he values and you are being aggressive by taking it off him. The longer this goes on the more stressed the dog gets and the more likely they are to guard. The fact that you have tried countless methods is probably adding to his anxiety and escalating things.

Molly came to me from her first home as she guarded almost anything and her owners were scared of her. She was very unhappy and stressed and once she got less stressed the guarding became much reduced. 

If you want to message me with the area you live in I can try to help you find a trainer to help. Any advice along the lines of showing them you are in charge is very very wrong and will make things much worse.


----------



## Joeycockapoo31 (Nov 29, 2020)

Thanks for your reply. Do you have any advice on how to help with stress or what you did to help molly with her resource guarding? Im unsure how to get the thing off joey without causing stress. We have contacted a trainer he is meant to be very good but he hasn’t got back to us yet so hopefully he will soon.


----------



## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Can I ask if the trainer is a member of an organisation such as APDT or IMDT? These are reputable organisations who assess trainers and use modern methods. The wrong sort of trainer will set you back hugely (including some you will see on TV!) 

Next you need to choose your battles and assess risk much better - a plug I would not class as an emergency situation, what was going to happen if it took a few more minutes and a calmer approach to deal with?

Bribing him with food is not what you are aiming for and all that you accomplished with this incident as well as you getting bitten is convince him you are not to be trusted. He had hold of something, was stressed about it and told you (I am guessing quite clearly with look, growls or similar) that this item was important to him. You tricked him by throwing food and snatching the item which is why he reacted as he did, he then got shouted at further convincing him that you are not to be trusted.

You need him to be happy with you being close when he has things - so other ways you could have dealt with it yesterday, getting his lead and calling him for a walk, using treats or a toy to call him away - but if he snatched the treat and ran back to his item repeating a few times until he was calmer and relaxed enough to leave the room with someone for more treats letting another person retrieve the plug. Opening the front door or ringing the doorbell to otherwise distract him from what he is guarding.

You need him to not see you as the enemy always taking his things away, are there any things - like his toys maybe that he is happy for you to take away from him?


----------



## uniquelady17 (Aug 2, 2017)

Hi there well I had a problem with my puppy when he was younger with aggression towards me, it got so bad that I was going to send him back to the breeder at the 12 week mark but I decided that I loved him to much and would try anything to fix him, like you I have tried some many trainers had vet advice and nothing had worked and then one day my neighbours had a get together of there family and some of them were farmers, well so I found out. When any one of them of course walk into my neighbours my dog barked of course and then I heard a whistle a couple of times and Cosmo stopped barking straight away. The next day I went over to my neighbours to ask if someone was whistling and they said they are farmers and I told them about Cosmo they ask if I would like to talk to one of the older farmers which I did, it was the best thing I had ever done for my Cosmo. I told the farmer what Cosmo had been doing and he said to me leave him with me and I will train him I of course turned this down....lol but he said to me go home and roll up some paper and he said wack him on the nose with it when ever hes naughty, he said don't do it on the back end of the dog as dogs are used to having things drop on them on the back end and he also said get a crate out and if he's really aggressive to pop him in there also. I know every dog is different just like people but Cosmo has never looked back the moment I got home I did everything the old farmer told me to do and to my surprise and I just couldn't believe it, it worked straight away Cosmo didn't like it at all and after a while when he was naughty all i do is pull this out of pocket and tell him off and he like a little butterfly......lol Cosmo is now 3 and he is still a little monkey but nothing like he was, he is not a people person really and gets stressed and I noticed this when we were out walking that if someone came towards us and he sat between my legs I could see he was getting stressed so I just say to people now that he is not a people person just to keep his stress levels low, he can also be very vocal and when playing some people would take his play growl as an aggressive one but thats just his play growl. We were even out the other day walking and I had 2 people say in a matter of 4minutes what a well trained dog he was in coming to me when called, i actually felt quiet proud that after all the training all the hard work I had done with him had finally paid off. I love him to bits now and wouldn't be without him. I don't know if this will work for you but I couldn't help but share it just in case it does because I know just how you feel. I wish you all the best and please let me know how you get on


----------



## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

It may have worked for you Uniquelady but that is extremely old school training and in my eyes not a good way to deal with a 12 week old puppy who is showing normal puppy mouthing.

That is very different situation to a dog resource guarding and again punishment methods are not a good tool to use.


----------



## uniquelady17 (Aug 2, 2017)

Hi there yes you are right it is very old school but animals and children are alike in bringing up what may work for 1 may not work for another, this was just my experience I went through and was a very hard time for myself and the family trying to deal with this and understand what would work for him. Cosmo was round the 5 to 6 months by the time I saw this old farmer and what Cosmo was showing was not normal mouthing it was aggression, when you have a dog like this you do know the difference between the 2, also having the backing of the different trainers saying it is not mouthing. The training used wasn't bad it was simply a tap on the nose with a rolled up piece of paper but like i said above it was just an experience I thought i would share with this lady as I no what it is like being at your wits end and wondering what to do next..... whether or not she would like to try this is entirely up to her, it was just my experience with my dog.......


----------

