Aggressive Golden Retriever Pup

Ponder013

Advice saught for dealing with an aggression problem in a Golden Retriever Pup.

My friend bought a GR pup a few months ago. He isn't experienced and it sounds like the breeder was a bit dodge - he didn't see the parents, no papers and biggest red flag of all, the pup was only 7 weeks old when sold, the breeder gave some excuse about this. Pup is now three months old

I've had dogs (terriers) all my life and I've never seen anything like the agression in this pup. He's bitten my friend on several occassions and yesterday, when the friend tried to remove something from the pups mouth, it went ballistic and attacked him in a really frenzied way, drawing blood from several places on his hands. When friend shouted at dog to stop, dog merely barked back and bared it's teeth - I've never seen anything like it and I've trained some pretty 'mouthy' staffies and JRT's in my time.

I know the pup was probably removed from the mother and litter before he learnt any proper bite inhibition, but still, the agression is alarming.

Anyway, I don't know much about the breed, and was wondering if anyone else had any experience of dealing with this sort of behaviour from such a young dog and any ideas about what to do. I have a sinking feeling that this isn't solvable, but am hoping this isn't the case.

tesslab

Your friend should probably bring the dog to a vet first to make sure there are no health problems.
Secondly they should look into a dog behaviourist. Perhaps someone on here could reccomend a good one.
Just a tip if they want to take something from the dog it's a good idea to make a game of it. For example trade something tasty for whatever the dog has or maybe a toy. This way the dog will see it gets something nice each time it lets go of something it shouldn't have.
Best of luck and keep us updated.

SophieSakura

I think it's probably solvable because the dog's still a pup, but it probably would help to go to a professional dog behaviourist.

I don't think Golden Retrievers should be like that (well obviously no dog should but especially not Golden Retrievers), they're generally extremely friendly

barbiegirl

Dog Behaviourist is first step. Our Sindy is half retriever and whilst she puppy bit we taught her bite inhibition by squeeling like a pup if she bit too hard. Plus you friend does need to establish he is in charge. This means that he controls food, walks, toys, where and when the pup can go anywhere. It needs dedication, love, affection and some times some just plain strength.
By shouting your friend is escalating the situation. I have found ignoring to be the best training solution. The owner ignores the dog until he is behaving as he should, if he misbehaves, turn you back and ignore again until the pup is calm. It's frustrating but I do find it works well and far quicker that shouting.
Best of luck, this is only a pup and can hopefully be brought around.

tk123

+1 for ignoring him if he's bold - this is what we do with our GR. He knows his leave it/take it command but if he's already got something we just swap him for a treat. For biting has he been socialised with other pups eg in the park/puppy classes? Is your friend yelping etc when he does it - shouting will just make things worse and definitely don't smack his nose as it'll make things worse. It sounds like an obedience class might be a good idea too to help the puppy see that your friend is in charge.