I’ll start off by saying that he has a bad past life. He was obviously abused by his previous owners and straight up abandoned in the woods. He has bad anxiety that he is on Prozac for, and it seems to be helping for the most part.
Lately he has been grabbing random shit and snapping and growling when someone tries to take it. He’ll grab the stuff off tables and counters to chew, so it’s not like he’s finding random stuff on the floor.
Last night he grabbed tape off of a table and when my sister tried to take it, he bit her hand. It wasn’t hard and barely left a mark, but it is still incredibly concerning. I was the victim of a severe dog attack as a child, so any aggression is not okay. I don’t want to have to get rid of him because he’s my baby boy and I love him so much.
I have no idea how to stop this behavior. I’ve never had a dog act like this. It started in August and has gotten worse in the past month because our living conditions changed. I broke my ankle/leg and I’m laid up for a while at my parents’ place.
Do y’all have any suggestions?
Dogs are pack animals, you need to be the leader of the pack.
Dogs assert themselves over other dogs.
You need to assert yourself, make sure they know you’re in charge
How should I do that without being rough or scaring him? I don’t want him to regress psychologically. He’s improved so much in regards to his anxiety, and I don’t want that to get messed up.
Don’t listen to that kind of stupid advice. Go see a professional trainer
I’m not sure, maybe his improvements come from feeling that he’s the alpha now.
Jesus. Leave this topic to an actual animal expert.
This is incorrect.
Every reputable source and organisation recognize this pack and dominance theory as an outdated idea, especially for human animal interactions.
The American vetinary society of animal behaviour has very direct and well written statements on that and where the ideas came from and what the modern solutions are.
https://avsab.org/resources/position-statements/
You think being aggressive with a dog suffering severe anxiety is a good plan?
This is just awful advice from every angle.
Dogs learn much better from reinforcing positive behaviour.