slight aggressive behaviour

A few times when i've went to give Leroy a "row" or put him out the room for undesirable behaviour he has either almost went/thought about goin for me or has growled at me. The first time Im pretty sure it was coz he was wound up and I caught him off guard (coming from behind him) but the last few times hes known I was there.
In the past when I told Diesel off she has actin against me but in a playful way (play growlin, barkin an lungin about bowin bum in the air tail wagin) but with Leroy it isnt like this. My natural reaction is to stand confidently calm an say "no" in a strong serious voice....but I do worry he is goin to launch himself at me?
What should I do?

I'm curious about this as well.

Bacon is starting to become defiant about certain things and tries to bite me (and a couple of times succeeded).

Rocky does get on the defence when I try to take him outside if I need to go out. He does get pretty serious with the snapping and barking. I've found getting extremely stern and serious, and stamping my foot on the ground has stopped him from talking back to me. He listen straight after this as he knows I'm serious.
I'm not quite sure if its the right way to go about it, but it does work for me and everyone else in the family. he has never gone for us though, so I'm not sure if Leroy would need a 'proper' technique.

I put a post on the other day about Louby being undesirable in her behaviour - not taking no for an answer, and biting us etc...if she starts to take it too far we show her the slippers, i dont like doing this cos it makes her cower down, where she is crouching right down on the flor, really scared. We have never ever hit her with a slipper or anything else but we think maybe her previous owner did. I hate seeing her cower like that and looking so scared, but sometimes we dont know what else to do. As i say, we only have to show her a slipper and she does this. Not the best thing to do i know.

Nor Cal wrote:I'm curious about this as well.  

Bacon is starting to become defiant about certain things and tries to bite me (and a couple of times succeeded).

the first word i saw was bacon.

so immediately (well first i got hungry) then I thought your answer to the problem was bacon ha

Mrs McFisher wrote:I put a post on the other day about Louby being undesirable in her behaviour - not taking no for an answer, and biting us etc...if she starts to take it too far we show her the slippers, i dont like doing this cos it makes her cower down, where she is crouching right down on the flor, really scared. We have never ever hit her with a slipper or anything else but we think maybe her previous owner did.  I hate seeing her cower like that and looking so scared, but sometimes we dont know what else to do. As i say, we only have to show her a slipper and she does this. Not the best thing to do i know.

I would stop with the slipper immediately , positive reinforcement is what's required not living in fear of a slipper

Rocky steals my slippers then I can never find them haha

It is very rare that we show her the slipper - as i say, we werent the ones that made her scared in the first place - we would never use a slipper or anything else on her.

i'm just stuck because obviously i dont want to back down to him, hence y i stand strong and say no and look stern but try not to look directly in his eyes (was told as a child never to eyeball a dog), but on the other hand i don't want to risk him seeing me as challenging him an and he takes me up the challenge cause with a mouth that big i think he'd win!! 

Diesel has never shown even a smidge of aggression to anyone or anything (even dogs that show aggression to her) so its all new ground for me.

Max is a very strong willed dog, and likes things his own way .. he can get one on him sometimes, and be very obvious with his "you cant tell me what to do" .. almost to the point of complete deffiance, looking you square in the eye, and standing proud

When this happens, I VERY swiftly shut him out the back, close the door, and leave him there .. no matter what the weather!

After he's remembered he's a dog, seen the error of his ways, and almost scratched the back door down, he's allowed back in, and nobody even looks at him, let alone fuss's him .. then after its all forgotten (couple hours or so) we're back normal, and we're all freinds again

We had a phase of this, I dealt with it in 2 ways depending on the situation/level of bolshyness and what was to hand. Any initial cheek was always a firm "AA" if he continued to push and get bolshy then it was either a "AA" with an added snap of the training discs or if they weren't to hand, I walked out the room and shut the door behind, removing the attention he was after. I never went to grab him or interact with him. I'd leave him for 5-10 mins then re enter. He got gentle recognition if he was calm and quiet... still acting like a gobby brat and I left again. It worked for us. Good luck

Mrs McFisher wrote: as i say, we werent the ones that made her scared in the first place - we would never use a slipper or anything else on her.

No, you weren't, but you are perpetuating that fear!

Andy wrote:Max is a very strong willed dog, and likes things his own way .. he can get one on him sometimes, and be very obvious with his "you cant tell me what to do" .. almost to the point of complete deffiance, looking you square in the eye, and standing proud

When this happens, I VERY swiftly shut him out the back, close the door, and leave him there .. no matter what the weather!

After he's remembered he's a dog, seen the error of his ways, and almost scratched the back door down, he's allowed back in, and nobody even looks at him, let alone fuss's him .. then after its all forgotten (couple hours or so) we're back normal, and we're all freinds again

That would work for me.

When your dog defies you, anything you do is likely to reinforce his behaviour. So ignoring, or removing him from the room is a good way to cope with it.

What you need to do, though, is learn to spot your dog's body language & step in with a firm "No" before it goes too far & he forgets his manners! Most dogs will repond very well to that.

Always keep calm, never raise a hand, but show them that you are the one to listen too. i did same as andy but used the loo for a naughty room but only for less than a min or they forget why they are in there.
for a while you should be as strict as hell when it comes to them begging etc and not giving into anything. something as simple as filling the food bowls where they cant reach them but can hear you doing it, leaving the room for a moment and then comming back in and placing the bowl down will reinforce your status as a provider and the most important person in there life. only put the bowl down when the dog isnt begging or making a scene so they know its your choice to feed at that time. this will elevate you so far up in there status it will help focus with other methods of training and behaviour.

Cheers Nathan that thing with the food sound like a good idea as he does make a fuss at feeding time. Its just tryin to wait out the whinnin/barkin an makin sure my neighbours dont phone police/sspca on me for the noise lol

I constantly reinforce the fact that I'm the one who's in charge. Even little things like when out walking off lead, if we come to a split in the path, if Bacchus goes one way I will always choose the other path so as to make him follow me rather than the other way round. At feeding times when I put his bowl down he must always wait ( only seconds ) for the OK. before eating and he NEVER gets * bits at the table. He does sit under the breakfast bar a lot of the time when we are eating but he never begs, he just likes to be with us.
Although he is spoiled rotten he is always told in no uncretain terms if his behaviour is unacceptable and although he can be stubborn he is never defiant.

Andy wrote:Max is a very strong willed dog, and likes things his own way .. he can get one on him sometimes, and be very obvious with his "you cant tell me what to do" .. almost to the point of complete deffiance, looking you square in the eye, and standing proud

When this happens, I VERY swiftly shut him out the back, close the door, and leave him there .. no matter what the weather!

After he's remembered he's a dog, seen the error of his ways, and almost scratched the back door down, he's allowed back in, and nobody even looks at him, let alone fuss's him .. then after its all forgotten (couple hours or so) we're back normal, and we're all freinds again

I agree totally, How old is your boy? Kenny did this once to my hubby, we swiftly put him out and ignored him. He was around 18 months, and hasnt done it since. Please keep us informed

the first word i saw was bacon.

so immediately (well first i got hungry) then I thought your answer to the problem was bacon ha

Well, that's it then. I'll have to walk around with Bacon in case Bacon acts up. I'm getting better at anticipating his flare ups now. It's always when I have to leave and I have to separate myself from him that he gets defiant. I think I need to bribe him a bit more...