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This story could be quite funny if it wasn't such a serious case.

I went to a clients armed with knowledge that I was dealing with an aggressive 18 month Maltise x Shi Tsu.

I knocked on their door, and sure enough the first one there was lil Penny (not real name) barking and informing me this was her house. Following her was Penny's owner. She picked up Penny and calmly asked Penny to stop barking as she opened the door. I asked the owner to just put Penny outside while we had a talk.

During the converstation she informed me that for the past 2 months or so her and her husband had not been able to sit on their couch, as Penny would get on the couch and attack them if they came to close. Yet Penny would allow them to sit in the chairs beside the couch.
The owners had Penny since she was 8 weeks old, and before Penny started claiming the couch, her husband and herself always sat in the couch to watch TV.

I asked the owner to let Penny inside and demonstrate to me.

Penny rushed through the back door as the owner opened it and instantly claimed the house, the owner and me. The owner then walked into the loungeroom. Penny charged into the loungeroom first and jumped on the couch. The owner appoached the couch, and before she was 1 metre from the couch, lil Penny turned into the devil, bearing teeth, growling and snarling. The owner then went over and sat on the chair. Penny jumped of the couch ran over to the owner jumped up and was as friendly as could be. The owner then put Penny on the floor and got up out of her chair and started moving toward the couch, Penny immediately shot across up onto the couch, and again turned into the devil.

"Well" I said, "you definately have created a little leader here". The owner said "but she is so good any other time. I tell her to sit, and she sits most of the time. When I feed her, she sits and waits till I put her bowl down, and overall she is a good dog".

I informed the owner the first impression I got when I saw Penny was very assertive body language. "When you let her inside from the back door, her body language was very tense and assertive. Even now while she is just walking around she is patrolling her territory and on guard".

I asked the owner to demonstrate giving Penny a treat. The owner said she is very good, she will sit and wait till I give it too her, but then she does tend to snap it from me.

The owner went and got a treat from the cupboard, and of course Penny knew what she was getting, and was jumping up and going crazy demanding the treat. The owner said "Sit Penny", penny sat instantly the owner moved the treat toward Penny and Penny instantly snapped it out of her hand.

I asked the owner did she know what she had done then? She said yes I told Penny to sit, she did, so I gave her the treat as a reward. I informed her, that what she actually did was rewarded an assertive state of mind, not the actual sit. Penny claimed the treat from you, you didn't give it to her.

I then took a treat and demonstrated how to stop Penny from claiming the treat. I said to the owner, that always remember, packleader of the house claims and owns everything. Right now Penny claims everything. She claims you, she claims food, she claims the couch, she claims the door, she claims the house as she enters, and she claims visitors.

I showed the owner how to read Penny's body language, and informed her, that we should only ever reward a calm submissive state of mind. Just because Penny sits for her treat, doesn't mean she should be rewarded for it, we wait till she presents us with the right body language and state of mind, then we reward. We do this by not allowing Penny to take the food when presented to her. Whenever Penny goes to take the food, we instantly and quickly move it away from her, and give a firm "ahah" or "no" at the same time. Our body language and the energy we project is also important. We keep removing the treat from Penny until she understands, and refuses to take it from you. When she is refusing, her state of mind changes into a more submissive state, and her body language will be less assertive. We then give Penny the treat.

This is what I call blocking assertive behaviour, and should be used in all stituations with Penny. When we block assertiveness we create a more balanced submissive state of mind. The same when you let Penny inside, we do not allow her inside until her state of mind becomes submissive and her body language relaxes showing us again a more balanced dog, and believe it or not, a much happier dog.

"Why then", the owner asked, "is she aggressive to us on the couch? I informed her that Penny has claimed it. She saw it as packleaders place, and leader must control or claim that place. For months you and your husband sat their, Penny understood that that was a place of power, so when she started taking on the role as leader of the pack, she claimed packleaders place from you. Aggression works for her, giving her a sense of power over you.

I demonstrated I walked towards the couch, sure enough Penny claimed it before I got there, and the little devil appeared again. I ignored it and assertively walked forward and sat down. Penny kept growling and bearing teeth but backed away to the other side of the couch. I slid toward her, Penny put her tail and head down as I got closer to her, and then jumped off the couch. I said to the owner, now I have claimed it from Penny. Penny walked out of the loungeroom and into the kitchen in a submissive state.

The owner was worried that now Penny was scared of me. I informed her not to worry, there is an adjustment time here, Penny will come back, just ignore her totally. Sure enough 10 minutes later Penny came back into the loungeroom in a more submissive state of mind with both the owner and I sitting on the couch.

This is only a very short version of the entire consultation. I demonstrated where changes needed to be made in all areas of their relationship with Penny, and in doing so, Penny would be much happier and relaxed, and her and her husband a lot less stressed.

I informed the owner that they had unknowingly created a very insecure leader, and an insecure leader is usually always under some form of stress. Penny wasn't a very assertive dog, but they had given Penny the impression that she had no other choice but to take on a leadership role.

EVERY pack must have a leader.