Hi!

I have a 4 month old puppy, and he is the sweetest thing. Does great with people, kids and babies, and even does well with some of the neighborhood huskies. However recently he has been more aggressive with other puppies and smaller dogs.

He has been going to puppy classes and did well with those dogs, he was always the most energetic and rambunctious one, and so far he is still a bit nippy which I'm working on with him. He had been going to a play group as well, one time an older sausage dog attacked him for no reason, but he had seemed unaffected by it at first. Now I think that experience may have affected him more than I realize, as he does bark and nip at smaller dogs.

He doesn't do it to all dogs, I have to watch him carefully, but we're at the stage now that in the past two weeks he has gotten bad. He didn't get into doggy daycare and today he lunged at a small lab puppy, and he got kicked out of play group. Which is a shame because it's a great way to socialize and he had been going to play group since I got him.

I'm trying to set up some doggy playdates with some neighbors and friends so he can learn how to play with others better, and the trainer has now asked me to bring him in for solo sessions since this incident.

I'm feeling stressed because he is a sweet puppy, he is a bit nippy and he doesn't like me to pet him when he's eating, he does sometimes get territorial over a toy and if you try to take it away he will growl and nip. I've been working on that as well with him.

Any other ideas of how to nip this in the bud? On walks when he was younger, because of his energy some other dogs would growl and lunge at him, he's a very happy bouncy dog, who is now becoming too aggressive and rough for my liking with other dogs. I realize I need to socialize him even more than just taking him to play group and classes. He's my first Husky, and my first male dog. The other dogs I've had in the past were female lab mixes.

Thank you so much for any advice!

Not all daycares are created equal. Some will help work with your dog, I would try to contact another daycare and be honest, tell them what happened with the other daycare and your pups past with the dog that attacked him.

It sounds like you need a behaviorist not a trainer, they are two different things. Behaviors like this are hard to help with unless you are there so I would really contact a behaviorist soon. They will grow into behaviors not out of them so you want to start working on them soon.

Look up dog manners, your pup maybe doing things that are rude or being a bully without you realizing it during off leash play or vise versa. Huskies tend to be rather intense in their behaviors.

Also never just take food items from a dog. That's very rude and can and more often than not will lead to resource aggression. Working on a drop it command by offering a higher value reward is what I would do for your pup.

Remember be patient and calm, and your pup is a dog, at the end of the day their instinct is to protect themselves. Plus if you are stressed or nervous your pup will feed off of your energy, as they look to us for direction. Good luck!

Yeah, perhaps a behaviorist is the way to go. His trainer does breed Goldens so she has a lot of experience but maybe she knows of a behaviorist who can do more intensive work with him. I will look into it.

With his food, at first I was told by someone to remove the food. But I stopped doing that, so now I just leave him to eat in peace, I guess some dogs just don't like to be bothered when they're eating.

Will keep working on the drop it command for sure. In the situations when he acts out I do try to stay calm.

With puppy manners..he does have the tendency to shove his butt in the other dogs face...I don't know how or why he does this? Is it a husky thing? It's like he's saying here I am and woosh butt in the dogs face lol. He really is a sweetie, I'm just hoping he will be able to play well with others..

I'm struggling to find a good daycare that will take a dog with these issues..I'm currently waiting to hear back from one, so hopefully he will be able to go to that one. It's tough because he needs to socialize more with dogs, but daycares won't take him if he's lunging at other dogs :/ also I've noticed when he's around other dogs, he tends to prefer to play off on his own...is the normal? Or is it because he needs to be around other dogs more often?

Thank you so much for the advice Nova

Any trainer or behaviorist you may go to needs to have experience with huskies or they will feed you a line and have you doing unnecessary things often. What makes you think your dog is being aggressive rather than just inciting play? Aggression suggests he's out to hurt something and will tell a trainer something different and can change their who approach to your dog. Best to drop the word aggression so you can keep anyone that you talk to mind open to what is more than likely over excitement and an attempt (albeit failed) to get another dog to play when he doesn't really know how or doesn't know how to read when the dog has already said it didn't want to. The butt to face is a play tactic. Not just a husky thing. Kind of a 'smell my butt, be my friend' sort of thing. Just they have a tendency to rush and bounce toward another dog and if the dog ignores them then they get bratty and throw a tantrum of barking and wooing and even body slamming sometimes. They can be real brats.

@msottile8  As is often the case, mine is a bit of a different take from the others.  Huskies play rough, rougher than most other dogs!  Are you really sure that her "aggression" isn't really just a desire to play.

Dogs on lead often react differently than they would off lead.  When you said "lunged at a puppy" (and at 4 months, he's still a puppy!) are you sure that this wasn't him getting hyper and wanting to play?

I'll second @NovasHuman comment that you might want to "Look up dog manners, your pup maybe doing things that are rude or being a bully without you realizing it during off leash play or vise versa. Huskies tend to be rather intense in their behaviors."  What I read, suggest that the pup might have been taken from the litter before the recommended 8-10 weeks and not know how to behave as a puppy.  If that's the case then letting some other dog teach him is the best recourse.  A well-mannered bigger dog will know how to "suggest" he behave better than any behaviourist ever will.

Dogs introduce themselves by presenting their butts; it's something to do with the identifying odor from the glands and when they do that, as @TwisterII says, it's a "be my friend" action.  While to us humans that, in a human, would be the ultimate in offensive, that's the way they do it.

Be sure of what your pup is doing. They do bark, run up to and, bounce (can look like lunging) at uncooperative playmates. They will vocalize with a variety of sounds, then try the run at and bounce again. That's just a persistent husky pup demanding the other dog (or cat, human, whatever) play. They don't give up easily.

Normal husky behavior, as annoying as it might be to to other animals and, even humans, that's normal.

Thank you so much everyone for all your advice!!! It's been a few weeks and my boy is doing so much better and he got into daycare! I've been socializing him a lot with the dogs in the neighborhood and some other huskies as well, he's still a bit rambunctious with little dogs but I suppose that's to be expected because he's only 5 months old.