Hello everyone,

I own a 14 month old Siberian Husky called Tifa, and she is usually a very friendly and affectionate dog...even now she is snuggled up around my feet.

We thought we had her reasonable well trained, she will sit if asked, stay, leave stuff alone if me or my partner give her the command "leave it" and also fetch stuff. We also followed all the advice about eating before her and pretending to munch on some of her food before we gave it to her in order to establish our selves as higher up in the pack then her. She is not allowed on the sofas or bed (but I must admit that every now and then she does get on and we let her stay)

She also gets plenty of exercise, walks and lots of playtime.

However just recently (over the last month) she has had odd, out of character moments, for example my girlfriend had just finished playing with her, told her to sit and then gave her a chew...when my girlfriend then went to pet her she growled and showed her teeth at her. Aimee could not get near Tifa then and so she had to wait for her to finish the chew, and then she got a tap on the nose and a firm 'NO'.

The other week I came out of the toilet to find Tifa had got upstairs, and she had found a box of chocolates....I went to get them off her and I got exactly the same treatment....however I was able to get the chocolates off her quickly and then I tapped her on the nose and said bad girl and put her in her bed.

We have also had trouble at the end of the night getting her to move out of the front room into her bed...I have to go in the kitchen and call her and pretend I have a treat for her to coax her out....failing that I pick her up and march her into the kitchen.

Last night my partner was going to pick her up and push her in the other room when she started growling and showing her teeth again....I stepped in with a firm voice and told her no and she snapped (but did not bite) at me...so I grabbed her muzzle and slapped her on the noise and told her NO!...and then she bit me on the finger and left quite a nasty cut. I put my hand straight round her neck and pushed her to the ground and held her there until she calmed and stopped growling and then I was able to put her in her bed with no more trouble.

This morning I have now decided to keep her out of the living room full stop...we have just had a play and now she is asleep on my feet.

Have any of you had similar problems, what could be the cause and what should I do, she is normally a really friendly (if somewhat stubborn) dog ?

PS - Sorry for the long post, especially for my first one lol

Jason

Ok first off STOP hitting her! She on the defensive because she knows the routine, she takes something of yours, she knows it will be confiscated, she wants to hang on to it, but knows she'll get a smack so she wants to get the first 'attack' in there.

I know its hard when she has something she shouldn't but relax, the chase and the struggle to get it back are the rewards for taking the items. You need to offer her something very tasty in return for the item. You aren't rewarding her stealing, you're rewarding her giving up the item.

So if she takes something, have some very tasty food, it has to be high reward, so meat, cheese, or something really smelly, fishy or liver. Drop some bits in front of her, let her eat them, then try to offer from your hand. Say a cue, such as 'Mine' and attempt to remove the item whilst she its eating the treats from your hand.

The most important thing here is that you don't get into a confrontation with her. She's already shown, she is prepared to snack at you, so you don't want to make her threatned and feel she has to up the aggression

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Also, in regards to the 'dominance' you are trying to show over her. Don't!

Reward the good behaviour and ignore the bad! Don't even speak, look at or give her attention for bad behaviour. You need to use positive reinforcement to train her, not negative!

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Thanks for the quick response HandsOnPaws, like I said before this is unusual behaviour for Tifa. It is only in the last month or so that she has occasionally started acting like this (maybe 4 or 5 times). I was told a quick tap on the nose was a good way to let her know that what she has just done was wrong but we will now stop doing this and just ignore the bad behaviour when it happens and use cheese (something we use a lot anyway to reward her for sitting, staying and fetching etc) to try and get what ever she has back off her.

I have read that she may possibly be going through a teenage rebellion phase?? could this be a reason for her behaviour?

i think it is a case of trying how far she can get she is coming to the age were she will be trying to find her status in the pack if you can do disipline without the smacking it will work much better as they respond to positive rather than negative, she has to learn that she is the 1 at the bottom of the pack and she will only get it with consistancy and firmness as said before reward all good behaviour and try to ignor the bad never let her have any food stuff until she has been told to have it even if you pretend to eat it first then leave it on the ground and say she can have it and i would stop all rough play with her now just do fetch and calm games as to much exitment can make her think she can win the game and then she is top dog again, ant dog will take advantage if aloud

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Not quite teenage, but she will be starting to test the waters as to how much she can get away with! The sooner its clearly set out what is acceptable the better

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thanks for your reply nici, we do and always have crunched on a biscuit while pretending to eat out of her bowl before we feed her, and I always make her sit before I give it to her. We also try to make sure that me or aimee go through doorways first. I must admit I do play wrestle with her on the floor quite often but I will now stop that. I often play tug with her as well although I have heard different opinions on whether this is a good thing or can be counter productive for behaviour.

Anyways she is back in the frontroom with me now lol (i'm too soft), although she is staying on the floor and not on any sofas. Tonight when it's time for bed I'm going to call her into the kitchen and give her a few chunks of cheese rather than try and push her in the kitchen like we normally have to.

thanks again for your help

ps - on another note should I visit a doctor for some antibiotics or something? Tifa nipped me on my finger and punched through the skin with one of her teeth, I cleaned the wound last night with water and then this morning started applying antiseptic cream every couple of hours.

lol.. i think you will be fine if it goes funny tho you need to

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