Stubborn Dog

bride2be2012

We have a 6.5 year old black lab. I've had him since he was 18 months, he was a rescue dog and we don't know what life was like for him before I got him. Anyhow, on the whole he is a well behaved dog although he is still as boisterous as ever. But over the past few weeks he has started to become very stubborn and won't do a thing he's told, and has also started growling at me if I try and make him - like just now, I needed him to go lie in his bed out the way while I started making dinner. When I tell him 'bed' normally he gets up from lazing on the kitchen floor and trots of to his bed. Tonight he just sat up and looked at me, was quite happy to give me paws and wanted to play games, but wouldn't budge from the spot...tried to lead him by the collar through to his bed and he bared his teeth and started growling...not like him at all...once I left him alone and went and pretended to straighten the blankets in his bed, he came to see what I was doing and jumped into bed!!

Now, I'm guessing the reason for all this is because we have just moved house (3 weeks ago and this all started 2 weeks ago) and he's not used to his new surroundings yet. He is mainly like this with me, and is better behaved with my DH (dunno why, I'm the one who feeds him lol)...but how can I get him to stop with the growling and teeth baring (he has never snapped) and to bl**y well do what he's told?!

krlyr

I think we can be guilty of applying human emotion or thought process to dogs (I do it too!), and sometimes need to look a bit more basic than "stubbornness", "sneakiness", "laziness" etc.
If he were my dog I would be considering an underlying reason (like you have in a way, such as the house move) and think why that might make him act as he does. I wouldn't think that it was making him stubborn, though - but perhaps he is fearful? Perhaps he is in pain? This may or may not be linked to the move - for example, if your new house involves more walking on pavements to reach the park or similar, it may be aggravating his joints, or he may be anxious or stressed and suffering from stomach aches making him growl out of pain. I think your first port of call should be the vet, to rule out a health issue. Given his age and breed, his joints should definately be checked out - Labs being prone to hip and elbow dysplasia, cruciate problems can be more common in large breeds, and the breed can also be prone to hypothyroidism which can exhibit a huge range of symptoms including stiffness in the legs and temperament issues. Displaying aggression on a reach for the collar can be fairly common - for some dogs it can be quite an intimidating action (many dogs dislike being stroked on the top of their head for similar resaons) or it could be related to pain, e.g. something spinal/neck pain, or it could be painful for him to get up if his hips are sore.

Also I would try to change your mindset on growling. For a dog, growling is good! It is better than a snap or an outright bite. It's a verbal warning that usually proceeds some body language, that can be easily missed if you don't know what you're looking for. I would certainly never punish a dog for growling, I would take heed and remove him or myself from the trigger and then approach things differently next time. So, like you've done tonight, rather than physically force him to move, encourage him to the spot you want him to go to. Take advantage of his breed - chances are he'll love his food, so always carry some high value treats around with you (little bits of hotdog, cheese, cooked chicken/ham/liver, etc)
You might also want to read up on body language incase you're missing some of these pre-growl warnings, either signs of stress or appeasement signals. They can be subtle - licking his lips, 'whale' eye (showing the whites of their eyes can mean a dog is stressed), avoiding eye contact, yawning, sniffing, panting, holding his ears back, tensing the mouth (almost looks like a grin), to name a few

http://dogs.about.com/od/dogtraining/a/dog-communication-and-appeasement-gestures.htm
http://www.4pawsu.com/stresssigns.html

If you think he may be struggling with the housemove you might want to consider giving some form of calmatives. Many can be picked up OTC from petshops or ordered online, things like Adaptil plugins or collars, supplements like Zylkene or Calmex, herbal or homeopathic supplements like valerian or Rescue Remedy, physical calmatives like anxiety wraps or Thundershirts to name a few.

bride2be2012

Thanks for replying...I don't think it's a health issue, he was at the vet about 3 weeks ago for his boosters and annual health check and everything was fine then. He's not been any less active either, and still loves to play and have cuddles and tummy rubs!

Also, nothing much has changed from his daily routine - we moved literally ten doors down from our old house, so still the same walks, still seeing the same people/other dogs.

The fear thing, you may have something there...the new house is a lot bigger and so his bed is in a spare room where as before it was in the living room, maybe it's some sort of separation anxiety going on? You are right about him loving food, in fact, I have wondered if that was the reason he is so reluctant to get out of the kitchen!

krlyr

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out a health issue, it's a bit like getting a general checkup when you go for a flu jab, it may rule out the more obvious things like a temperature meaning you're catching a virus or things like that but they may not spot the start of arthritis in your wrist or IBS causing stomach troubles, these may need further examination to be discovered. A detailed examination, palpatation of the stomach, manipulation of all the joints and possibly even blood tests (including thyroid levels) may be worthwhile if the strange behaviour continues.
It might be worth just treating it as an anxiety issue for now, since there is a huge environmental change that could be the cause - you may know you're only 10 doors down but to him he's living his entire life in a totally strange environment, when you consider that a dog spends most of its life in the house/garden. We moved house last Christmas and we're right opposite my nan's house, so my dogs knew the area quite well from our visits, but it was still a huge change for them and Kiki did suffer some separation anxiety (later discovered she was borderline hypothyroid and she's now medicated, but I don't expect the change helped). Could be worth trying a few of the calmatives I mentioned, also you could try some other ways to calm him - for example, chewing and licking releases endorphins that make a dog feel calmer/more relaxed, so giving natural chews like pigs ears, pizzle, etc. if it doesn't upset his tum, feeding his dinner in Kongs so he has to lick it out of them (if he has dry food, try mixing it with a good quality wet food like Naturediet and stuffing it in the Kong). You could try modifying his exercise routine to be a bit more calming - throwing balls can be a stress-inducing activity because it brings out a dog's natural drive to chase, which they enjoy but it also creates a lot of adrenaline which can cause stress in a dog. You could replace fetch for a calmer activity - for example, dogs often use sniffing as a calming behaviour, e.g. to diffuse a stressful situation, so take the dog to the park and make him sniff out toys or treats in longer grass, scatter some of his breakfast in the garden for him to sniff out, etc.
http://www.4pawsu.com/fetch.htm

rustyboy21

He might just be feeling un nerved by the move and wants to be around you more for comfort?

He may also not like his new bedding position. He has gone from being in the lounge, where everyone walked past him, to being in a spare room on his own.

Rusty, used to lie under the oven door whilst we were in the kitchen, hoping that something like a whole chicken would accidently fall on the floor for him to swoop on ! was normally a roastie or a carrot though.

It may take time for him to settle in your new home, different smells, temperature etc. Rusty used to c0ck his head up every now and again looking into space intensly. We then used to get the smell of pipe tobacco, even though none of us smoked a pipe. He could be getting spooked out a bit at the mo.

I would take him to the vets though just in case he has hurt himself, just to put your mind at ease.

Most likely though, as any normal lab is, he may just be after some munchies, have never seen a slim black lab !

Hope everything is ok.

bugslet

Whilst it's most likely that it's the move, !!! kylyr says ( are you ever unwise on these things:p:D), it could be a health problem.

I had a collie that was absolutely fine until he started getting a bit growly, he did snap eventually, most unlike him. Very shortly after, we discovered that he had bladder stones; no doubt he'd been very uncomfortable. Once they had been dealt with, he was back to his old self.