Looking for insight, opinions and two cents welcome.
I have an almost 11 month old Rotty. I’ve had him since he was 7 weeks and 4 days old (which I understand is a little early, especially, considering he was last of the litter picked up). He was about 120 lbs over a month ago and a fit 120 at that. He really has lived up to all the positives I read about when researching the breed. He is the most happy, loving, and cuddly dog I’ve ever had / been around. Problem is he’s been showing some serious signs of aggression recently and want to know how serious / fixable they are.
When he was a wee pup he displayed aggression to protect his bones and food. I understood early I had to break him of that. I did so by always rewarding him and praising him when I’d take his bones and he didn’t react. I established that I could take it when I wanted but that, it didn’t mean that was a bad thing. I got him comfortable with me and his bowl by having him eat with my hand in the bowl. Everything was going well up until Christmas.
I gave him some wet food as a special Christmas treat. Unfortunately he loved it way too much. Dude was in an absolute trance did not come up to breath but once he realized I was standing too close he snarled at me for the first time since he was a wee pup. I stood my ground with him so he would understand my proximity wasn’t a problem and told him no. He didn’t like that and bit my forearm / elbow. I was wearing a hoodie and jean jacket so minimal damage but still drew blood without tearing the jacket. That was bad but I figured that were just not feeding him wet food anymore.
Fast forward beginning of the month I make him breakfast (his dry food with a little cottage cheese, nothing out of the ordinary). I walk past him and have to squeeze by so I scratch his butt and say something like “coming through buddy.” Once again he snarls and I’m heart broken but I try to stand my ground this time take a step back but he proceeds to bite my elbow again. Nothing too gnarly but breaks the skin through an under armor long sleeve. Once again not ripping the shirt but enough to cause slight bruising a teeth bite / scratch. So on that front I’ve been hand feeding him since to try and rebuild his relationship with myself and food with him again.
That’s all great but last night when he was laying on his bed when my girlfriend went to give him a kiss on the head goodnight (the dude typically loves this shit). That moment however he did not. He snarled, jumped up, mouthed her arm (left no mark) has she lifter her leg to get him off he punctured her thigh with presumably one of his canines. No full bite mark just a pretty solid puncture.
Obviously this had me and her pretty distraught and wondering where we went wrong. I think we’ve definitely babied him a little too much and definitely gonna have to re establish boundaries, no more him just jumping up laying in the couch with us etc. Just trying to decide what route to go.
ALL IN ALL, ASKING FOR ADVICE EVEN FOR TL;DR:
- How much will neutering help?
- How much of this has to do with who he is vs just being at an age where he might be more erratic?
- What would you do?
- At a scale of 1-10, 1 being this is a common phase for some and will workout and 10 being euthinization is a real possibility? (I don’t say that lightly)
Just curious to hear from the community. Looking for advice other than “seek professional help.” That will be something I might have to look into but not to sound like a prick but a lot of them are pretty clueless themselves from what I’ve observed.
Just to answer any questions ahead of time, me and my gf both just under age of 30, with house and fenced backyard. Work opposite schedules to where he’s only in his cage on average 8-10 hours of the day. He plays with his dog cousin 2-4 tjmes a week on average. I’m a 6ft 200 pound male who’s never let him feel like he’s the winner when we play (I maintain control and dominant position). Any online res