If a puppy growls when someone touches him to get up, would you intervene or ignore this behavior?
In this situation the puppy is telling you, through the aggressive display, that he doesn’t like to be bothered while he is resting. In this situation I would generally tend to ignore this and move away from the dog. But let’s be clear that ignoring the behavior doesn’t mean you accept it. What it does tell you is this is critical information that you need to pass on to the supervisor and to the family to ensure that they realize they may want to get some behavioral training for their pet.
The other thing you want to do is remember to wake this dog up in a different manner…not by going over to him and touching him, but by standing at a distance and calling him and offering him a treat. This will often allow you to wake the dog up without having to cause hime to go into an aggressive display.
Would you intervene or ignore a dog that freezes when you walk by him while he’s eating a pig’s ear?
In this instance you would only intervene if you have something more tasty that you could offer and toss to the dog. Otherwise move away from the dog. Freezing is an early warning sign aggression and since the dog has a pig’s ear this is an early sign of resource guarding. Do not snatch the pig’s ear away from the dog to show him it is yours. This only reinforces the current emotional state that the dog is in since he already thinks people might take things from him. By offering the dog something that is even more tasty such as freeze-dried liver or roast beef…you are actually teaching the dog to change to a different emotional state which is “people coming near me is good because I get even better things.” Whether you intervene with another type of food or ignore, this is a sign you should notify others in your pet care center about and also the family so they can work on some behavioral training with the dog.
You’ve opened a kennel and the dog begins to growl and / or snarl. Would you intervene or ignore this behavior?
In this situation the only intervention you would do is close the kennel and get some assistance. You do not want to go into the run to correct the dog or see how far the dog might take his aggressive display because this can be very dangerous. Remember once you’ve gotten into that enclosure, you’ve taken away any space from the dog and he has no flight option. It is possible that he will attack at that point. So stop your approach and go get assistance.
A dog lifts his lip and growls when you reach for his food bowl. Would you intervene or ignore?
In this example you should respond just as you did with the pig’s ear. If you have food, you might toss the food away from the bowl to see if the dog would go after that piece of food and change his current emotional state. If he does now, then you should move away from the bowl. Either way you should stop reaching for the bowl and move away until the dog is out of the area before you try to pick up the food bowl.