Aggression in 5 month old ACD toward non-primary owner - help!

[aleja]

Hi! My wife and I picked up an 8wk old heeler in August, so he's now 5 months old. I have become 'his person', and my wife is more like the litter mate. He half respects her, but is MY personal stalker and listens to me much better. The other day, we had a 'territorial episode' where he was sitting between us on the couch and my wife leaned over towards me and he snapped at her, nearly connecting with her cheek. Had he connected, there would have been blood.

Wondering if there are other couples out there who have a heeler who is territorial with the primary person in the relationship? Is he a danger going forward or can this behaviour be mitigated by discipline and if so, what kind?

Last night, it was simply a stern 'NO', a submission hold and a time-out in the bathroom. Any ideas/response/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

~T.W.T.D.

 

[jewlsie]

@aleja I'm no dog trainer but I have 7 healers so I understand how mouthy they can be. Maybe try having her do more stuff with him? Playtime/walks and whatnot (you supervising and keeping an eye on the dog of course). That way he might associate her with positive things. I had the same problem with one of my dogs. Every time my boyfriend would come over and sat get up from a chair too fast or make a sudden movement she would bite. Over several months time having them walk/play together seemed to break her of the habit. Patience and consistency really help. But all dogs are different. If it gets really bad you might need to look into finding a professional trainer..

 

[intricateivory]

@aleja Pepper never bit me or my wife (to the dog, I’m worth protecting, but not as fragile as my wife), but once it became clear that we were her people and she wouldn’t have to go back to being a stray, she started nipping anyone who got too close to my wife or moved too fast. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it beyond a clear perception of a threat (eventually we could spot the signs and head off most incidents), which made training her out of it extremely difficult.

After consulting a behaviorist and her vet (and also after more than a year of having her) we opted for fluoxetine, which turned down her anxiety to the point where we could shape her behavior more easily. I tend to post about it a decent bit here, and I’m aware that it’s not a solution for many dogs (to say nothing about how people feel about medicating their dog), but for her, it made a massive difference and allowed us to have company, including small children, without worrying too much about it. We still keep a vigilant eye on her, especially when there is chaos involved (because we all know chaos is a heeler’s mortal enemy), and we probably take her out with us a little less than we could (in Seattle many shops are almost too dog friendly), but mostly we trust her to handle her shit.

You’re probably too early for that, but if you have a lot of trouble getting your boy to listen when he’s out of sorts, consider his anxiety and how it might be mitigated, whether in the moment or after.

Try to think of it less as discipline and more like boundary creation. If you can build strong boundaries and make sure he’s aware of them, he’ll only occasionally test them, if at all.