7 month old Doberman is beginning to snap at me more and more

[wonderdove]

My gf and I have had our Doberman ever since he was 3 months old (hopper). He’s our first dog, besides our childhood dogs we each had. He’s always been a super sweet boy with other dogs, and humans as well. He’s never been professionally trained, however, I feel we have given him average / slightly above average training (heal, food command, crate training, tricks, etc) However, one night, hopper, my gf, and I were laying on the bed, we got up, and picked him up, to bring him to his crate (his usual schedule) when he became aggressive… he showed his teeth and growled. My first initial thought was to immediately remove him from the bed, as I’ve read that dogs should lose privileges if they begin to show signs of territorial aggression over objects. Upon moving him, his growls become louder and more aggressive. Instead of backing off I just held him down (I now know this is dumb as it only endangers me, and that dogs can’t perceive “dominance” in a human to dog connection. After everyone calmed down, my girlfriend and I felt spooked and concerned.

About 3 weeks later, hopper found himself a q tip that fell on the ground. I immediately tried to remove it from him as I was worried he’d swallow it and choke. When doing this, he clenched his teeth very hard, growled and showed defensive body language. I managed to get it out, but I had to use some force. I felt bad that I wasn’t able to make him feel safe, but in the moment In felt like it was best for me to remove the object to ensure he doesn’t choke. For the 4 months that we’ve owned him, we’ve had to forcefully taken things he’s found outside (cigarette buds, bottle caps, etc), out of his mouth, and he has never had an issue with it until now.

Incidences like this, ( hopper finding small things on the ground, and us trying to remove it, leading to him growling), has started to occur more and more. (Roughly 5 more times in a month period), throughout this period, we started to teach “leave it” and “drop it”. Which he picked up on very quickly.

Today, we were sitting on the couch, I went to go move closer, and his pupils dilated, and he growled as I touched him. This got me very concerned. My worries is that he is going to develop bad territorial aggression issues to the point where I cannot remove him from the couch, give him dental care, etc.
When he is playing outside with a dog, and the dog takes his stick / toy, he’s totally chill w it. When we take his toys away, he’s totally okay and chill with it. When I put my hand in his food dish / take it away, he’s totally chill with t. Am I being too anxious and worrisome? Is this behaviour nature for dogs his age? Will he outgrow it? Is he just spoiled? Or can dogs just be grumpy, and it’s normal? I would really love some guidance and second opinions please

 

[prophetictimes]

@wonderdove You need to change the way you're handling him. He's telling you he doesn't want to be picked up or moved with your hands - you should listen to that because it's going to get more intense as he grows up. Focus on teaching him to move around on command - teach him a "follow" cue to follow your hand around, teach him a strong verbal "off" to get off furniture.

I think you're right to keep him off furniture if he's showing signs of starting to guard - I would specifically drill furniture behavior ("up" and "off") as part of training, and teach him to chill in his own dog bed. Teach him that he needs to ask permission before joining you on furniture if you want to continue that. You can teach him that you are in charge of where you want him to be without using your hands to force him around.

Teach him a very strong "trade" for objects you need to take away. "Leave it" and "drop" are important basics, but may fail with valuable items, so you want to practice trading something he has for something more valuable. You'll have to carry treats on walks.

He's showing early signs of resource guarding and it's getting worse. Don't keep taking stuff away from him with your hands. Teach him how he needs to interact and practice those behaviors until they're second nature.

(I literally never move my dogs with my hands, unless it's to lift them in or out of a truck. It's rude, and I also don't need to. If I want them somewhere I can't just point, I put on a leash.)

 

[wonderdove]

@prophetictimes Thank you this is incredibly helpful. Just this morning i introduced an off and on command with the couch and the bed, and he immediately picked it up after 5-6 repetition. Now the real question is will he obey just as well after waking up from a 2 hour nap lol

 

[thetwister]

@wonderdove I agree with the above. My sister breeds AKC working-class Dobermans, and I think you said similarly, I grew up with breed. This year, I inherited a 1.5yr Dobie with a lot of anxiety and reactivity to people and other dogs due to a complete lack of socialization. In addition, the previous owners did not respect his boundaries or handle him appropriately for basic grooming and handling, which lead to growling with nail trims and bath time.

What worked for us is going back to the basics, running drills, and combining play (as a reward- mine is ultra play driven) and obedience. “Off” has been an awesome command, so during playtime we do drills incorporating “up” onto objects and “off”. Design your drills around what your dog is most driven/motivated for.

We also go very slow, so reintroducing nail trimming time and bath time has been a step by step process, handling his legs = reward (play or food). Then progressing to toe-beans, then reintroducing nail trimmers, each step is rewarded heavily to associate a positive experience.

With resource guarding- allowing the pup to have their space and setting boundaries of your own. I don’t mess with my guy at meal time, snuffle mat time, food puzzle time, etc. That’s his space and his time. Same as the previous poster with toys, exchange toys with a treat or bone. Do some research on dog body language, there’s usually a few cues humans don’t pick up on when our dogs don’t want to be pet/messed with. Whale-eye as you’re approaching, lip licking, yawning etc. Give him his own space that you do not interact with him in (the crate works great), and don’t breach that boundary.

For your boundaries, if he’s resource guarding the couch, you hit the nail on the head, no more couch unless you allow it. No more human bed unless you allow it. I have my boy out of the kitchen/dining room while I’m eating meals.

The 1-3 year old seems to be some of the most difficult with the Dobie, but also the best time to reinforce those good behaviors. Go slow, be respectful, and listen to your dog. They give us a lot of warnings before they snap and it sounds like your guy may just be asserting his boundaries. They’re incredibly intelligent- I’m sure you’ll have this fixed in no time!

 

[wonderdove]

@thetwister Hi thank you so much for your help! We have been incorporating “on” and “off” commands during play time and training and he is doing very well! we’re lucky we introduced him to nail trimming and showers at a very young age so he is also doing well there! My gf and I have done some research on body language and the importance of recognizing what your dog is trying to say. Everyday he is improving!

 

[giftsigns]

@wonderdove Check out r/DobermanPinscher, it’s a great community who will have lots of suggestions for positive redirection that’s breed specific. Dobies are incredibly smart, driven dogs and puppy stage is a challenge. He could be going through a fear period, which isn’t unusual. I am concerned that he’s your guys first dog; dobies require consistency and a firm hand, and many do not like to be man handled. This could cause aggressive reactions that you don’t want to encourage, and I would encourage you to learn everything you can about the breed! I’ve had Dobies off and on all my life, currently I have an 8yo male who developed a fear based aggression towards other dogs after being attacked. They are a wonderful breed, and if you can rise to the challenge of puppyhood you will have an incredible lifelong companion. I would recommend stepping up your training regime, they are super smart and can become destructive or aggressive if they’re bored. They are a working class breed, and as such come with higher requirements then dogs breed for companionship. The best Doberman is a tired one!! If you’d like to chat please feel free to DM me, I grew up with this breed and trained my own, they are such wonderful clever loving animals with unique quirks and a loving soul!

 

[wonderdove]

@giftsigns Thank you so much for your help! I feel like everyday I am learning something new about the Doberman breed. It’s very easy for me to put him at such a high standard, comparing to what I see on the internet, but regardless of what this post may say, 99.9% of the time he is the best most empathetic loving boy. I’ve heard that the first 3-4 years of owning a Doberman is a challenge, but after that the companionship that this breed shows is truly incredible. I will continue to train him. When you say Doberman’s require “a firm hand” do you mean like the trainer / owner requires patients and a setting spirit?

 

[giftsigns]

@wonderdove Comparison is the thief of happiness, internet can certainly skew our perspective! I’m sure he’s a sweet boy, the males usually are big loving goofballs! Dobie puppies are a test of patience and resilience, that’s for sure! They pick up everything so quickly, then seemingly forget training at the most inconvenient moments. They def go through terrible Twos, and Teenage Threes, and males tend to take longer to mature and settle into themselves. All your and your dog’s hard work will pay off, and you can have loads of fun while doing it! If you haven’t seen these I’d suggest watching John’s Doberman Planet channel, I love how passionate he is about the breed, his videos are super fun and he’s so in tune with his dogs and they’re so gentle with each other. I stumbled across his videos like 3 years ago, and many things resonated with me.
And by firm hand I mean this. Dobermans thrive under consistency and routine. They love having a “job”, they’re very alert and extremely observant. Your dog looks to you for direction and guidance, and it is your responsibility to hold yourself and your dog to your standard. They are very smart, and can and do manipulate their people, so you have to be able to be firm with them, and not let yourself get suckered into allowing bad behavior that will develop into problems later on. You sharing this experience and asking for help is good; he needs to understand that sort of behavior is not alright and won’t be tolerated, and you need to be able to convey that in a manner he understands and help guide him to correct behavior! You sound like a great Dobie daddy already, and we all need help sometimes. I found a great trainer who worked with me on my dog’s sudden fear aggression, what I liked is he was all about training ME to train my dog, instead of taking my dog and “fixing it”. We worked on some redirecting, and he taught me new games that also helped with anxious door greeting. That kind of trainer will help you and your baby thrive together if you think about doing some external training. Also, taking puppy and obedience classes you can get certifications with him, like his CGC (canine good citizen), or you can do agility courses, scent training, all kinds of fun things that will mentally stimulate him and channel all that energy. Sorry this got long fast, I hope my rambling helped a bit!

 

[wonderdove]

@giftsigns Thank you so much for your kind words! This makes me feel so much better! I completely agree with you that comparison is the thief of happiness. My gf and I are slowing down, enjoying the experience, and one day well look back at the puppy phase and be like “i miss it” haha

 

[harperthe3rd]

@wonderdove I don’t own a Doberman, but a Hungarian Vizsla so another high energy, smart breed who is now about 20 months old. We have noticed that ours gets grumpy when tired and doesn’t like to be disturbed. So after a big walk if we think he’ll be grouchy we just make sure he goes to a crate rather than a sofa or bed so we don’t risk “disturbing” him. He is also good with “get down” and “drop” after some time teaching him

 

[crucinatius]

@wonderdove This happened with my dog as well. I used to take things away from him when he was little without difficulty. Now he won’t let me and he becomes aggressive. This also sometimes happens when I want to move him. I can’t just go and grab him. Sometimes he will let me and other times he won’t. So I have been using food to get him to drop an item or move when he doesn’t want to. I have treats handy so I can always throw a treat on the floor and get him to drop whatever he has. This is working fine at home but not so well if he finds something on the ground when we’re out for a walk.

Edit: I have no idea if it’s normal. I think it’s a mild form of aggression and I don’t know if he will grow out of it. I am just working on trying to build up trust so that he doesn’t feel the need to guard things or become aggressive over items or being moved.

 

[obadimu]

@wonderdove Your dog is getting to an age where manhandling should be a last resort. You can teach commands to move your dog and reward when they do it. You can teach leave it, drop it, and can offer trades for items they shouldn’t have (give a high value treat to take the object away). He’s getting more snippy because you’re ignoring the fact that he doesn’t like being handled that way.

You should look into cooperative care/consent based training for things like grooming care.

 

[ktorres08]

@wonderdove A Doberman puppy strives on structure. Your dog needs a lot more of it. No more letting it on the couch, no more bed privilege until the aggression is delt with. You need to be very consistent with your rules. This is mostly management and making sure it doesn’t get on in the first place rather than moving it after the fact. Teach a leave it, and also a solid out command, meaning drop what is in your mouth. The puppy is getting to an age where you will not physically be able to pry its mouth open to take something out of it. To answer your question on whether this is normal or not, I’d say no. Your dog is clearly showing signs of aggression as a young puppy, seemingly getting more frequent. It will continue to get worse, leading to a bite if nothing is done. Resource guarding doesn’t tend to run in most Doberman lines but he seems to have developed it somehow.

 

[wonderdove]

@ktorres08 I agree with you. As for his resource guarding, I’ve realized that he needs to have more of “his space” rn he only has his crate, but we also introduced a “place” bed for the living room as well. That way theres a middle ground from on and off the couch. He’s loving it! A little too much (tryna regulate the puppy humping lol)