Please, help- Debo is showing teeth

Hi everyone. I've got a bit of problem with Debo. He's five, not castrated. Up to 2 yr old he was fine with all dogs. Then slowly, he started to show dislike to males who wanted to dominant him or simply he doesn't like, for reasons he only knows. Recently he started to get annoyed with puppies and dogs who are to playfull for him. Today my husband had a situation where he met husky puppy. The puppy came closer to Debo, lower his body and tried to sniff him. Then Debo had a proper telling off a him with showing teeth and all. When my husband corrected him, Debo growled and showed teeth at my husband. My husband took him away from the situation and punished him. Please, help me, why is he doing it?

Could it be that he isn't feeling well, or is in pain? It's unusual for a dog to suddenly become aggressive without a reason. If I were you I'd let the vet check him over first before anything else.

Yeah I have to agree with the above post if it's a sudden change, better have him get the once over to be sure.

Hi, thank you. he can be snappy towards some dogs but growling at my husband really worry us. It looked like he transfered the anger from the dog to muy oh. will ring my vet tomorrow to check if they are doing full check, with blood tests and everything..... just came back from work, and he's very clingy.

Lets hope it's something simple and easily solved. Let us know how you get on.

jola139 wrote: My husband took him away from the situation and punished him. Please, help me, why is he doing it?

Alternatively, the answer might be here. It sounds like Debo was growling and showing his teeth in response to the punishment, rather than to your husband per se. Punishment (in the non-technical meaning) doesn't work and can cause all sorts of problems of association with negative things. Inappropriate human behaviour is one of the major causes of worsening dog behaviour.

It sounds like you might want to look into more positive ways of working. There are some great trainers who post videos - Victoria Sitwell, Patricia McConnell, Zac George, Grisha Stewart (not Cesar Milan) - a bumble on YouTube's not a bad place to start. With all of them, the emphasis is on not asking more of a dog than he can handle (so not asking for dog on dog interactions if that's too difficult), in setting the dog up to succeed, helping him do the right thing that gets praised and rewarded and avoiding punishment. Patricia's books are seriously worth a read, too. Alternatively, working with a good, positive method trainer can be worth it's weight in gold. They will be able to see you and Debo, and pinpoint exactly what's working well and what needs improvement.

Hi Liz, was thinking the same. Told my oh, that his reaction was too strong. I would correct him and walk off. I suggested that we should go back to the basic with him. What we did in the past, was everytime I've spotted a dog, i asked Debo to sit and had his attention on me, and prized him with treats if he did it. Of course , we still going to do a health check up.
Thank you everyone, Debo has few dogs friends, he's not every dog friend, he chooses them. He definitely prefers people company

If this is the cause of the growling, your OH needs to pay attention to what's going on. This is Debo saying 'I don't like what you're doing and I'm warning you not to do it again'. If he carries on and ignores that warning, then it leaves Debo no place to go but stronger, and stronger may well mean an actual bite.

In addition to that, corrections and punishments (yes, even corrections) can increase the negative perception of a dog towards something that it already finds difficult. Other dogs should be good things, not things that cause confusion or anxiety. If a dog starts to associate other dogs with you doing strange and unpleasant things, that confusion and anxiety can only grow.

I would go back to basics, keep a happy distance from other dogs and work on techniques to build up happy and/or relaxed association with others. Walk with dogs he knows and is happy with, walk away from dogs he's unsure of. I'd also avoid all play unless with dogs he knows well and that you're sure he's happy with.

And no more punishment.

Thank you Liz, today took Debo for a walk, armed with treats. When we met a dog, debo was 100% focus on me ( well on treats, but it's a start). Thank you for not judging, my oh loves debo to bits it's just with some training, he still believes that alfa dog thing works best. He's getting better( my oh), I do explain to him that it doesnt work like that, just sometimes his emotions take over.

You'll get there, back to basics