My dog is aggressive towards kids, food, and new puppy. What to do?

I'm sorry to hear that this happened! How upsetting for you and your cousin. The situation you describe - a child coming up behind a dog and startling it, particularly when food is involved - is an extremely common trigger for bites. Any dog will bite if it feels scared or threatened. Our responsibility as adults is to make sure that these situations don't happen. For safety reasons, I would recommend keeping Max separated from any visiting children from now on to prevent this from happening again. Also, in the future, please don't hit him or scold him for reacting this way - the aggressive behavior was prompted by fear, so punishment will only make him more tense and defensive around kids in the future. This is likely why he growled at your friend once he was back in the house - he was stressed and upset, and already "on-edge" from everything that had happened before. If you want to try and work on this issue through training, I would strongly recommend getting help from a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate Max in person and help you put together a detailed plan for him. Training for aggression issues is generally focused on teaching the dog to associate good things with whatever he is currently afraid of (such as children, visitors, etc.), and should not involve punishment of any kind. Management is also extremely important to ensure that everyone stays safe, for dogs with any history of biting. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org

Although this behavior can be common, mild aggression can very easily escalate and quickly. Especially, if your older dog decides to challenge her or not back down.It's not aggression you are seeing, it's resource guarding. I'd recommend always supervising them during feeding times and when treats or other high-value items are around. Teach your younger dog that there are no shortages of great things, ever. This means working with her around your other dog and showing her if she has something good like a bone/treat/toy there is another one coming. I call them treat parties where you have both dogs sit and give them rewards, alternating back and forth. This teaches them that they have to wait their turn, but they both will get something. Start with something basic like kibble, and every turn "trade up" for something more scrumptious each round. And offer plenty of "treats". This should help with some of the resource guarding you are experiencing. Keep practicing this regularly and it should help. If things begin to escalate more please call a professional trainer for a consultation and help. Nip this in the bud, before it gets to be harder to control.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I understand your concern and applaud your for realizing this is a huge issue when there are children in the home. Tanyet mauled you over a resource he wanted and he has the likelihood of doing it again with something else highly valued. I know you love him so I suggest hiring a private trainer or a Veterinary Behaviorist to work with you and Tanyet. I would have him crated or locked in a separate room when the children are home and up. If this fails then I would rehome him to a house with out children I hope this helps and I wish you all the best!

Hi there and thank you for using PetCoach! For food aggression problems, I typically direct clients to the ASPCA website for a detailed write up on dealing with food aggression. If these measures do not work, then I typically recommend using a service such as Bark Busters to come to your house and help correct this behavior. This can be frustrating to overcome but with persistence and patience, Buddy will likely improve. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. https:// www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/common-dog-behavior-issues/food-guarding

If this is a new behavior, have him checked by the vet to rule out any medical cause. If he is physically healthy, he needs some serious obedience training. He will need to learn to be respectful of your other dog's food and guests in your home. It sounds as if he may have been the king of the hill, but now he needs to have his place in the household redefined. I can help with this, but it is not an issue that can be resolved in a few sentences here. You can click on the prompt to initiate a consult, where we can discuss this at length.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having this issues! It sounds like there are a few different things going on here with both dogs, which definitely makes the situation more complicated. From your description, I can't quite tell if your male dog's crate aggression issues are directed at the puppy only, or if this is more of a general problem and he also snarls and runs from the puppy at other times as well. This is important information to help determine what may be going on so that we can make suggestions. I'm not sure how old your new puppy is, but if she is younger than six months, aggression at this age is quite uncommon and very concerning. Possessive aggression (also called resource guarding) over owners is a relatively common problem that can often be successfully treated, but you would really need an expert who can help you in person. Particularly in a young puppy, a veterinary behaviorist would be your best bet to evaluate the pup and put together a detailed plan to start working on this problem ASAP. If you want to keep both dogs, this will definitely require some professional assistance and quite a bit of time and effort for training. I would recommend asking your veterinarian to refer you to a board-certified veterinary behaviorist for some hands-on guidance.

It does sound like from your descriptions that Graham is starting to act a little aggressive, and I would take him into a professional behavioral expert as soon as possible for training. I never recommend owners try to train aggressive dogs themselves because it can be dangerous, so it's best left to a professional. Aggressive behavior can escalate, and it can continue to be a problem. Without seeing his behaviors in person, I can't say for sure if your kids are safe around him, but I would not leave him unsupervised with them just to be cautious. I would speak to your vet first thing in the morning about a referral to a behavioral expert.