juniper8204 wrote:And to answer mnp13's questions about the details of the situation--I was working him with treats and excited verbal praise when he got it right. I've got the Science Diet Jerky treats...he loves those. I did not use leash corrections...the trainer that I talked to suggested not to do that for now. I told him "no" when he wouldn't go to the down position.
ok. What were you telling him "no" for? I'm just trying to lead you into thinking about it, I'm not challenging. You said "down" he didn't down, you said "no". No... to what? Not downing? Growling? I'd assume he was sitting when you said down, so were you saying no to sitting? Sound confusing? I'm guessing your dog was confused as well.
Another question - in your initial post, when you said "no" did you jerk the leash?
Several rounds of this, and I popped the leash to get his attention
I would venture a guess that "no" accompanied the leash pops that you delivered when he wouldn't go pee.
A second leash tug and he growled and came up the leash at me.
Your throughally confused puppy is trying to let you know that you are being throughally unclear and unfair. You told him down, then you said no. And now in your puppy's head "
oh crap, she said 'no', now she's gonna yank on my neck. I hate yanking on my neck. I don't know what she wants me to do, then she gets mad at me for not doing it. Maybe I'll just let her know that she is confusing me and that I don't want to be yanked on for being confused" *growl*
You said "down" and he didn't "get it" and probably guessed he was on his way to being punished for whatever it is he didn't do. I'd probably growl at you as well.
As for the snapping, I'm sure he didn't like the feeling of having his feet off the ground and was trying to get you to put him down. did he calm down when snapping at you didn't work?
Vette: handling fear/wariness of the crate is a completely different issue than handler aggression. If your dog is desparately fighting you to prevent you from putting it in a crate, punishing it for acting out in its fear will only make that fear
worse. Had she connected with you, it would have been handler error, not dog error.
You solved that problem by giving the dog a treat in the kennel so that it would understand that the kennel is a good place. That solution doesn't apply here.