[PyrNet-L] Agressiveness vs Puppy Play

[Adrienne Wilder <draggon@STC.Net>]

I am by no means an expert but I really wanted to make a comment on the 
recent talk of puppy agression.

Agression, in dogs, is a normal state.  It is excepted and it is 
learned, and it is shared.  Very early on, puppies show agressiveness.  
The fight for a place at a nipple, they  jostle for a place that is 
warm, for toys, ect.   Mom shows "agessiveness" toward puppies who get 
out of line.  Agression is a vital part of the dog language.
In the leanring process of puppies, they are taught, by mother, when 
agressiveness is okay, and through the experience of other littermates 
when to much is too much.  They learn cause and affect, they learn pain 
tolerence, they learn respect.
	It is normal for a puppy to test its boundries in a new home.  
And it is up to the people who own the puppy to set the limits. However, 
it is a fact, that some people simply cannot deal with some types of 
personalities.  This is why it is so very important for a breeder to be 
able to judge and evaluate puppies and place them with people whom they 
can live with.
	Puppies who have lived on "top" in the litter will often be the 
hardest to reprim.  they are used to having it "their" way, they are 
used to bulling their litter mates.  they will do those same types of 
behaviors with children, face biting, growling, ect.  This is where 
dominace exercises come into play.  Nothing for free, everthing is 
earned, the dog can't even breathe without asking.  Seem harsh?  you 
bet.  The alpha is the one who sets the rules and if the person is to be 
alpha then they need to act like it.
	On rare occasions you do find puppies who, for whatever reason, 
lack in the ability to control their agression.  I had never seen a 
puppy like that before, and before Sabastian I would have probably 
argued their exsistance.  That it had to be early seperation (i.e. taken 
from mom before 8 weeks). It had to be trauma, it had to be isolation, 
anything, but something wrong with the dog.
	I brought Sabastian home at 9 weeks, I raised him with contact 
to everyone and thing. I took him to nursing homes and out into public, 
he was a gentelman.  I knew then that something was not quite right.  He 
growled me once when I sat next to him on the sofa and I reprimmed him. 
 I was not afraid, I knew how to deal with a dominant pup.  We worked on 
down stays, we worked on alpha traing, everything.  He never 
**outright*** challanged me again, he never hurt me, he did what I 
asked, but as far a he was concerned the world, while he had managed to 
except me, had no buisness exsisting.
	What I had thought was normal puppy play was actually a red 
light to what was to come.  He would growl at strangers, react harshly 
to disciplin, all this at a meer 10 weeks old.  While I was able to gain 
control of him, he was never able to gain conttrol of himself, and that 
led to his destruction.  It is so very, very difficult to analize what 
is in the norm and what is not over e-mail.  This is why talking to an 
experienced breeder who knows what the temperment of this breed should 
be, is so very vital to the situation of this puppy.
	The person who bred the dog doesn't seem to be the best route to 
take, I think a second, ditached, and neutral party would be best.  If 
this can't be done, then the risk of waiting it out, is really to great 
and the pup should probably be returned.  
	There is absolutely no way of telling if this puppy is agressive 
due to fear, dominance, or absolute insanity, but with what I have seen 
produced from some "breeders" I would not be suprised at what it was 
from. 

-- 


Adrienne Wilder  
Murrayville GA

"Oh, to be loved by a dog!"

Home of:
The golden gang,
Patou and the evil sister geese.
and many stray cats.