Expert: Delores Beck - 6/11/2010

Question
Hi Delores,
I live in Egypt where cocker spaniels are a surprisingly popular breed.  I bought my 10 week-old golden bitch puppy two weeks ago from what counts here as a reputable pet store.  I am lucky that I can work from home or take the dog to the office a lot of the time so she is rarely left alone for more than a few hours.  

Most of the time, Sunny is happy and delightful.  She plays with her many toys and is responding well to house training.  However I would really like your advice on how to deal with her temper.  Even experienced dog-owner friends have been surprised at how this cute puppy can sometimes growl and fly at you biting.  It happens several times a day when she is at her most alert, usually when she is prevented from doing something that she wants to do like biting trouser legs.  

She is too small to do any serious damage but I would like to teach her that this is unacceptable.  I have many friends with kids and this kind of behaviour will terrify them.  Even when disciplined ie. told "no" very firmly, several times, or in extreme cases held down on the floor, she will continue to growl and snap.  I know goldens have dominant temperaments and have adopted a consistent approach to this behaviour in the past two weeks as has my partner.  Still she is not showing signs of improvement as yet.  

There are no professional dog trainers available here and I would really appreciate any advice you can give.

Best wishes.

Answer
Yes, I can help.  And "now" is the time to make this history in a week.

You have to act at the very first hint of a growl.  Do not wait until the game is afoot :).

What I'd like you to do is write me directly because we need to chat a bit and that's faster and more efficient.  My email is DeeBeck7765@aol.com - just send the above question.

And don't despair - you're just not correcting properly and this is usually easily handled.  Cockers are indeed cute & cuddly but they're also very dominant dogs and she's "trying you on".
At this age it's not hard to back them down...let it go and you'll have major issues.
Delores