I’ll start off by saying that he has a bad past life. He was obviously abused by his previous owners and straight up abandoned in the woods. He has bad anxiety that he is on Prozac for, and it seems to be helping for the most part.
Lately he has been grabbing random shit and snapping and growling when someone tries to take it. He’ll grab the stuff off tables and counters to chew, so it’s not like he’s finding random stuff on the floor.
Last night he grabbed tape off of a table and when my sister tried to take it, he bit her hand. It wasn’t hard and barely left a mark, but it is still incredibly concerning. I was the victim of a severe dog attack as a child, so any aggression is not okay. I don’t want to have to get rid of him because he’s my baby boy and I love him so much.
I have no idea how to stop this behavior. I’ve never had a dog act like this. It started in August and has gotten worse in the past month because our living conditions changed. I broke my ankle/leg and I’m laid up for a while at my parents’ place.
Do y’all have any suggestions?
I’m a fosterer with quite a bit of dog training education. I second the advice that you need a good qualified behaviourist, this means degree level study or above.
However, for the meantime, nobody should be taking anything from him by force. This will worsen the behaviour. The things he’s taking don’t sound like they pose danger to him so take all the urgency out of the response. It’s anxiety driven so you want to make everything really chill.
Firstly, clear everything away, as much as possible get things in drawers or too high to reach. The less he can get that he shouldn’t the better.
Work on swapping with a low value item like a toy he doesn’t play with much, so say an old ball, give him the ball, get a treat and offer the treat while holding your hand for the ball. What should happen is he drops the ball, give him the treat, then hand the ball back. He’s learned that nothing bad happens here. He gets the treat AND the ball. Do this 5 times in a row, then leave the ball with him. He’s learned here that it’s all very chill and you’ve reduced his anxiety.
As he gets better at this, increase the challenge slowly, maybe a toy he likes a bit better, then better again. At this point you can also start swapping items, so you take a teddy, give him a treat, then give him a ball. If this makes him anxious then slow down, you want it to be really chill for him.
Eventually he’ll start giving you stuff just to see what he can get. It’s a fun game.
Another exercise you can try if he does get something you don’t want him to have is to throw treats away. If he has something you can throw a treat in one place, then another, then another, while he’s having a great time, quietly remove whatever he had, he’ll probably have forgotten he had it, but make sure it’s quickly hidden to help, give him loads of fuss when it’s gone for extra memory wiping!
Also make sure he is getting enough exercise and attention, and he’s not in pain, these kinds of problems usually start if a dog is feeling crappy for whatever reason.
Thank you so much for all the advice! I’ll definitely try out what you said. He just got a checkup and the vet said he is fine. He could probably use more exercise, but I physically can’t take him out because my leg is messed up. My sister is in charge of that during the day until my parents get home.
Exercise doesn’t have to be walking, how mobile can you be? Can you hide food around the house? Or throw a frisbee?
It might be tricky to teach but if you’re stuck in one spot you can get a couple of balls and play fetch, you hold the second ball, refuse to throw it until he brings the first one within reaching distance, smart dogs get that quite quickly. It also helps their brain cause they have to work out what you want them to do.
Talking of the brain, sometimes thinking is as good as doing, so you can set up puzzles, set up a frozen kong, all sorts.
The room I’m in isn’t good for fetch or stuff like that. I’m going to see if my parents can help me into the yard tomorrow so I can play with all of the dogs. My sister said she made up a new game with them that they love but won’t go into more detail lol.
I’ve given my dogs kongs, but the beagle loses interest if he can’t easily get the stuff out. If I make the kings easy, he’ll eat it all in 30 seconds. The puppy isn’t food motivated and just ignores the kongs.
This is such a good reply! I didn’t see it before I posted despite it being older, must have been a fedi hiccup.
