DS: Large dog owner seeks small dog owner advice...?

Resource Guarding: Good collar and lead. Make her sit. Put the bowl down. Don't let her have it. Make her stay in a sit. Give a good solid JERK of that lead. Get her attention. Then let her have the food. You still have the lead. Reach down, first growl? JERK the hell out of that lead give her a *LEAVE IT* command. Put her back in a sit. Repeat above. Repeat until you can say LEAVE IT, she stops eating and when you can touch that bowl without he slightest hint of guarding.

Growling/Biting: When you pick her up? She growls/snaps? Put her back on the floor, pick her back up by the scruff (she is going to whimper/scream: ignore) support her bottom with your other hand, get her up to your face and give a good solid BACK OFF. If she tries to bite you while being hung by her scruff? Go in deeper on the hold. Get direct eye contact. BACK OFF.

Now as far as those pee pads? Gross but her mother is calling the shots on that one.

She is a little terror with a superior attitude. Need to bring her BELOW that. And her precious little *spirit* is not going to be broken.

You can also use prongs on small dogs but at this point I don't suggest it because I don't think you will need it.

ADD: I have had all kinds of small dogs. Dachshunds is one of them. These dogs are usually hell on 4 legs. My 7 year old Dachshund was what you are dealing with now.

This may seem like a strange question, but does she only react with growling and snapping when she's being held (especially if she's being held by someone who is standing or walking)? If so, she may just be insecure about being held that way. Happens a lot with small dogs as so many people seem to be unable to resist picking them up every 5 seconds.

I'm not suggesting that you should ignore the snapping. I'm suggesting that if it only happens in a specific circumstance, the dog may truly be fearful and or greatly stressed. the dog is trapped in someone's arms and your head is moving towards it--very stressful situation for the dog.

I'm not big on physical corrections even with large dogs (I don't think I've ever made a secret of that), so I'd treat the problem the same way as I would in a large dog. Strong verbal correction and an ignore.

My dog was good about not nipping skin, but she had a hard time realizing that there was skin under clothing as a pup. Once she nipped me hard enough to draw blood through a sweatshirt and I pulled her miserable, rotten face up to mine and yelled at her and then I walked away. She never nipped again.

I don't think I'd do that with such a young puppy in most circumstances--I did it with Jess because I was SURE she wasn't going to go for my face. But with the demon pup, you can hold her face and chew her out from a safe distance as she can't lunge that far.

We never had any resource guarding or growling/nipping issues toward people with our toy breed. But he did get skittish around other large unfamiliar dogs and used to become snappish when they would bend to sniff him.

When we first got him I was in the same situation as I'd only had large/giant breed dogs pretty well "How do we correct this little guy without over-correcting him?" Mock bites work really well with him, sharp pokes and a stern voice. I think scruff corrections would have been a bit much for him as he does have a really soft temperament. But every dog is different, even some little dogs can tough attitudes to crack.

You might consider looking to see if the reactions are more fear based next time. If the dog is overly skittish you definitely don't want to over correct. I'm thinking this is more what this is about since the dog was being held, couldn't escape and had somebody coming down over his head.

As a person who has had both large and small dogs, let me run this down for you. First this is a dog it not a toy or accessory so start treating it like a dog. The dog most likely is not messed in the head but displaying normal puppy behavior. The mix doesn't matter in this case. Just like a large dogs, they need proper exercise and I mean outdoor exercise on the ground at the end of a leash.

For housetraining, this dog needs confinement just like large dogs. In fact they need more confinement then large breeds because of their size. They also need to be toileted more often because of their size. Look at this from the small puppy's prospective. A 20# puppy doesn't have to walk very far to make it 30'. To a small puppy this distance may seem like a mile especially if they have to run with a full bladder to make it to the pad. This means the small puppy has to learn to plan. Plus the room looks very big giving the puppy that he can go anywhere in the room. another reason to restrict freedom by using a crate and a leash until the puppy is trained.

For the head kissing bit again take a look at it from the dog's prospective. The dog is being held down so that it cannot get away and this big giant face with an huge open mouth and giant teeth is coming at it. The mouth is bigger then its head. The puppy struggles like crazy to get away because it has learned that running is the best way. Since it can't get away, it tries to defend itself by biting. Since the puppy got bit by acting this way, it's going to be freaked out even more the next time that it happens. He's not stupid he knows it going to happen again. Of course the owner thinks that it's cute so continues to do this and then sets the behavior. This puppy most likely displays the same type of fear when a huge hand starts coming to its face also. The best way to desensitize this is to make the hands and face friendly by not coming directly at the dog. Instead pet and "kiss" from the back of the head at first. Personally I feel that many dogs even lkarge dogs hate the human kissing. They just tolerate it. This is one place where a little common sense goes along way. Plus this dog needs to learn that hands and faces are positive and fun. It a correction needs to be given it should be done with a collar and a leash and not with a human body part. A correction should fit the size of dog. You would not give the same strength correction to a chihuahua as to a german shepherd. Again this is common sense <or not>.

Small dogs can be trained in fact they love training and they are fun to train. Too many people forget about their size and how they relate to their giant environment so the handler's positioning has to be done differently so as not to put the dog in fight/flight mode. Many small dog trainers start their training on a table so that the dog is taller. Plus it saves the trainer's back.

I work the same with the small dogs as I do with the big dogs..This is something that needs constant attention and the same goes with a firm NO that you would say to your Dobe..Was your mom holding the dog when she went to bite you?? This is guarding and mom may think it's cute but that will turn dangerous..I have always trained from the time I got a dog.no matter what the age,that I can put my face in their face and grab bones and toys out of their mouths and no growling or biting is going to happen in this house..Yorkies are difficult as I owned one and he was a little Sh-t,than you have a wonderful mix of the Maltese,great little dogs..So I say mom has her training cut out for her and yorkies are also hard to potty train so that goes along with that problem..remember I have 10 little ones and never would any of them ever bite or snap..

add...maybe if you take a dog biscuit and put it in your mouth and let the dog take the treat he will get close to your face and want that instead..it's a start,thats it's ok to be face to face without biting/snapping..than loads of praise

I have a small dog that I've had to correct at times. I am lucky enough to never have had to deal with her nipping at anyone but when she did misbehave I used a deep voice and said "no" while using my fingers to lightly tap the side of her neck....lightly...but not so light that she didn't feel it. Just enough to get her attention. I think when it comes to issues like this it's a bit easier with the bigger dogs because they don't have that "small dog syndrome". It might not work the first time or the second time but if you keep at it the dog will eventually understand. I know getting too physical with a dog is not going to work but if you don't use some type of physical interaction the dog isn't going to respond. It would help if your mom puts the dog down and doesn't encourage the bad behavior too. I know a lot of times people think they have to baby small dogs and be gentle with them because they're small....and that's not true. One of my old landlords had a golden retriever and two small yorkies. The yorkies didn't have the "small dog syndrome" because she trained them the same way and disciplined them the same way as the retriever. It was the first time I ever met two small dogs I actually liked and helped me decide to get a small dog.

Good luck!

Edit: You say your mother has cancer and can't exercise the dog as much as you'd like but perhaps teaching the dog to fetch a ball could help. That way your mom would only have to throw the ball and the dog will get exercise.

She sounds like a basket case of a dog. I correct my dogs the same, regardless of size as they're all still dogs. I have a Lab, Cairn, Peke/Chi, and a Chi and they each get the same corrections.

It seems like she just has a buttload of issues to be honest. I've never had a dog of mine try to bite me intentionally. Honestly I'd probably swat it in the face out of instinct! lol It seems like the poor thing is being humanized or babied. That's usually where small dogs get the horrible behaviors like nipping/yapping/etc. Is there a way you could take the dog from her for a couple weeks and set it in its place? You could bring it back and explain the changes. If she doesn't want to be away from it, you could always have a trainer meet up with her at her house to handle things.

Best of luck! I know the little ones can be the worst!

First, I'm sorry for your mom's illness. Given her health, you may need to accept the pee pads. Get the enzymatic cleaner by the gallon and try to confine the pup to rooms that can be easy to clean. And make sure your mom knows she will have to sacrifice her throw rugs. If your mom isn't mobile enough to give the dog quality exercise, then you'll see even more behavior problems in the long run.

I have a nippy puppy and we are working on this. You already know that this is a poorly bred dog so you are dealing with greater problems than I am. My pup will try to nip at noses, but he is being playful--no growling or baring of teeth. I don't want nipping. I do encourage the pup to "give kisses". I don't know if you want the pup licking faces, but if this is OK with you, try smearing a little peanut butter on your lower jaw/cheek area (your being generic, not specifically "you"), then tell the dog to "give kisses" and praise while the pup licks. When my pup nips, I grab his muzzle and hold his mouth closed, or grab his lower jaw and hold my hand there trapping his tongue. He hates it and knows I won't release until he quits pawing my hand and squirming. Pick a command "no bite" and use it with a very firm voice. One thing that also has worked for me is to get a very small bunch of hair at the gum line and give it a very sharp twist while issuing the command. You don't want to injure the pup, but a yelp isn't going to kill the pup. I've tried these things with two Scottie pups (very large mouths in small dogs) and neither of my dogs have been hand-shy because of it.

My dogs haven't done much resource guarding, but if I see over-possessiveness for a toy or Kong, that item is removed for a long period of time (weeks).

Good luck. I know some may think I don't handle my puppy nipping appropriate, but it is critical to me with this breed to end this behavior and I have had success with these methods. My breed is a small "cute" dog that attracts lots of attention, and I will not condone nipping. These dog's have huge, powerful mouths for their size. Know that I tend not to let my dogs get away with bad behaviors.

I have big and little dogs, and it seems like your mom is humanizing this dog. She needs to treat it more like a big dog. People always comment how nice and cuddly are dogs are and how our small dog doesn't growl or bite anyone. And I'm surprised - because they never should. I love my dogs to death but they are still dogs, big or small. So, tell her would that be cute if it was a 100lb dog? Just because the dog is small doesn't mean it should get away with this (it sounds like you already know this.. but how can you tell your mom). Tell her that she is actually doing more harm to the dog then good.

It's very difficult because people want to cuddle with small dogs and pick them up a lot. This gives them a sense of power. I'd suggest that your mom starts making the dog work to cuddle. For example, sit and stay before your mom picks her up. She needs to sit before your mom invites her up on the couch or chair to snuggle. She has to earn the right to do those things, instead of just feeling entitled.

Launi has given a great answer.

When I aquired my 16 week old Pomeranian puppy the woman who owned him for five days was intimidated by him. When you read the notes from the free vet exam she took him to you would think she had brought in Cujo, the owner described him basically has holy terror. My vet described him as dog aggressive on his first visit at 16 weeks old.

The morning after we got him he picked up something he shouldn't and I went to take it from him. He did not just do the puppy growl thing he was full on "I am in charge" mode snarling and snapping etc. I grabbed him by the scruff and held him on his side until he finished his tantrum. It He was shocked, and he sure did not give up right away. I think I did that only one other time.

I tell you if I went to kiss him on his head and he bit me I would grab his scruff so fast and I would hang him by it like Launi described.

These little dogs turn into beasts because of worrying that the correction might be too much. My little guy gets the same correction I would give a big dog, I just have to tone the force of it down.

Your moms dog sounds pretty typical of a lot of toy dogs, they get no limits or boundries set early on and pretty soon they are in charge and they are going to push and test their limits all the time if they don't have consistant consequences.

Again Launis suggestion for the resource guarding is great. Definitely set him up on a lead and collar to start.

In our class we teach dogs an "Out" command. We absolutely set them up with tempting things and the moment they go to bother it we tell them "out" and give them a leash correction. Only the less bright dogs take more then once or twice to get it. So Launis approach is on that same page.

Unfortunately this little dog is going to figure things out pretty quickly and if mom does not follow up on what you start he will be he same little beast the moment you are gone.

You will get the idea of how much "force" it takes pretty quickly.