Having two whippets I am no expert but my two could not be more opposite. There is Sasha whom is a pocket rocket, angel who does everything asked of her then there is Rag, a cute excitable 8 month old GREMLIN!!!!! very fiesty who backs down to nothing , has optional hearing and snaps and snarls(taken two chunks out off Sasha so far) yet becomes a loving snuggle pup and super show dog like a switch goes on in her head. I am still trying to work her out but do find that if she gets too excited she becomes a bully so the muzzle goes on until she calms down, if this does not work she has the lead clipped on and taken away from the fun until she behaves. She is learning but does think she is the Queen of the clan and has to be nipped in the bud. Hope this helps, and you can persevere until things calm down for him or maturity takes over.  Nora
P.S. It is the terrier in them that does it!!!!!

-- Edited by max at 23:00, 2007-08-14

O.K. the minute I read your post, I knew right away what you were going through.  I had a poodle ( Bengy) for 14 years that started out the same way.  The first we knew about it was the vet being very concerned about the dog's aggression to his first vaccination. The dog was only about 8 weeks and the vet had never seen such an aggressive reaction to an injection in such a young puppy. At the time, I did not realise how badly he had reacted, but the vet was very concerned. The vet was very experienced and said he was very worried about the the pup's nature.  He said he felt one of the pup's parents must have been quite grumpy as well ! 
However, we also experienced terrible aggression to our young son and were advised to get the pup castrated as soon as possible, which we did. |It certainly helped,but did not deal with all the problems.]  What we eventually had, was an extremely dominant, strong little pup, which was very much the boss and taking over the whole house.
If you would like to go into my members posts, back to the one that starts Grrrr,Sun17th DEC 2006. Moptop,  It may give you some insight into our problems.  
I, at the time (20 years ago) was not experienced enough to deal with this pup, that grew into the most problematic dog!!
Unfortunately he was such a strong character, it went on for years and he ruled the roost.    Give me the same problem now, and it would be over in no time!!!!!   I have been reading Jan Fennels books the Dog Listener and watching Ceaser Milllan the Dog Whisperer and I see every single problem I had in this dog. 
However, everything can be cured, believe me, help is much more readily available nowadays.   I do not know if your wee pup is the same as my wee dog, but all I can give you is my experience of a similar instance, that turned into something worse, that could have been prevented. 
 I now do not tolerate any bad behaviour in dogs at all.  Over the past few years, I now have the most well behaved dogs on the planet. My dogs are extremely happy and relaxed. Very submissive, but HAPPY submissive, they way they should be in the pack.  I am the leader and they know it and are extremely happy about that.  Makes for a much happier dog.   I can take any bone off them, no problem, and so the way it should be!!   Bengy would have taken my hand off.  !!! Would not tolerate it now!!
I have learned a lot.
Please do not worry, it can all be solved, Nip it in the bud now!!  So easy when they are young!! It is not so bad believe me. Just a strong character.  
Marian.  

It sounds like the adult has stepped in to sort the puppy out herself and he is learning his place.
Most dog experts say that left alone to sort out problems a pack will find their places without too much trouble so fingers crossed this bodes well for the future.
Marie

Great stuff that the dogs are putting Jake in his place. Saves you doing it!!   Things will work out fine. You are very experienced and you know what you are doing.

Just wanted to mention about another aggression case I had with another one of my dogs. I see there is already a post about aggression elsewhere, but, I did not want to comment there, as that poor dog appears to have had a brain injury, which can result in Personality changes, so my story may not apply on that particular thread.  
 
David and I rescued a cruelty case from the S.S.P.C.A  many years ago. The dog was in a terrible state and was photographed for court.
He was as sweet as pie when he arrived. We spoiled him rotten, as you do, and especially, one treated as cruel as he was.
After a week, the dog turned into a fiend.  Wouldn't let my husband into the bedroom, growled, snarled and bit us badly when we tried to move him from the bedroom and our laps etc;  I couldn't  get a collar on him to take him out for walks, unless he was distracted with food. It was pathetic, I had to actually give him his dinner in order to put the collar on while he ate, it was the only time I could do it.     He also soiled all over every bed in the house. 

I phoned the SSPCA inspector at Bothwell Bridge Animal home from where we rescued him, to get advice. He said it sounded like a clear case of dominance and to see my vet right away, he also advised to get him neutered.
My vet said it was a classic case of dominance. He told me it is very common in rescue dogs, as people just spoil them rotten at the start because they feel sorry for them.  If a strong willed dog gets any chance whatsoever to be top dog, they will seize the opportunity. We had inadvertently given him the message that he was top dog by lavishing him with stroking, on our beds, laps etc'
We felt very sorry for him after the way he had been treated in the past. I did not realise at the time, we should have established leadership first and then lavished with love!  
We followed our vets advice and banned him from bedrooms in the first place. All bedroom doors were kept shut, to avoid any confrontations. He was not to be let up on the settee. I had to cover it with suitcases to keep him off.   When we sat down he was not allowed to jump up on our laps, we had to block him with our legs.  There were many other useful tips he gave us. He told me it was either listen to him and do as he said or the dog would have to be destroyed.
It worked out great. We also had him neutered. He turned into the nicest wee dog. The difference was amazing within a month.   Totally changed character.  

So, you can see why I am a bit paranoid about dog behaviour now. I am more experienced these days and have done lots of reading up on the subject.

Prior to us adopting Jack, the whole family got together and we made up some ground rules. 
At the beginning Jack gathered up various things and took them it to his bed. His collection included, socks, knickers, shoes and anything that belonged to the family. Now, I know it is cute and funny and a typical greyhound trait, however, I found out, that it actually can make some dogs too possessive.  They believe everything belongs to them and eventually this can progress into 
the dog thinking it is top dog, which can lead to other problems like difficulty trying to take things off them like food, bones etc; 
Every time Jack took something of ours, I took it back off him straight away and replaced it with one of his many toys. So basically, I was telling him it was my stuff, it belonged to me, not his, but mine.  Jack does not touch any item in the house anymore that does not belong to him. He has a ball playing with his own toys.  We never engage in the tug of war games, banned in this house.
 He is not allowed to be near us when we are eating dinner, he now just gets up and walks away to his bed, does not have to be told.   

In the morning, he normally comes over for a cuddle and a kiss when the alarm goes off at 6.30 am. When he is at the side of the bed, I make a point of not getting up to take him out immediately, until he lies back down in his bed. I get up a few minutes later, when I am ready, not when he dictates, I am not being cruel, I know he is not desperate for the toilet, as he is let out last thing at night and he never rushes to pee when I take him out in the morning. He comes up on the bed in the morning after I am up and he has been out, to cuddle his dad, but he always waits to be invited. Jack will never jump up on the bed unless he is invited.  Once or twice when Jack arrived he tried to get us to get up at 3am- 4am in the morning.  Well, having been there and done it 3 times a night with the last one, I did not move !!!  I sent him back to bed, he was at it. I knew he did not need out, having been out last thing before bed.  With my last dog, I would have stupidly have got up and there the cycle begins!!  

I am quite happy Jack knows his place in the house, he knows he is not the boss.   He is very happy about that and one of the most obedient dogs I have ever come across.   He is absolutely loved to bits. The way I work with dogs nowadays, is quite different to before, because of terrible past experiences. I don't put up with half the stuff I used to.
I am really delighted, we have a very calm, peaceful and happy home, with no stress and a lovely waggy tailed boy and girl !!     
Marian. 
     

   
  
    

That's great news Abbey. It sounds like he's a wee character and your other lot will have him sorted very quickly!

No worries, i found it really interesting about your dog, its always heartening to hear stories of success..i love reading your posts, they are good and newsy, i can imagine that you type as you talk if you know what i mean....Jake learned another valuable lesson tonight, he wouldnt settle down and was just pushing his luck with Holly, she wanted to sleep but he wouldnt stop tugging her ears, so she snapped at him, didnt make contact but it was enough to stop him in his tracks, he shot of screaming and hid under the parrot's cage..he is learning every day and of course, we wouldnt allow him to be hurt by the other dogs, but they have to be able to tell him..they are a good bunch, who rarely use anything other than a dirty look..but his telling off from his 'buddy' Holly was well deserved. I'll take some pics tomorrow and post them up.

-- Edited by abbey at 23:29, 2007-08-15

  What a clever boy he is, very fast learner it seems! 

 Hope Jake's leg is now well rested. I expect he has been running around having fun and been too energetic !   

 Can't wait to see more pics ! 
Marian. 

Wee Jake is coming along leaps and bounds! Your adult dogs are teaching him his place which is great because he'll become such a well-mannered young dog. It's also important that he socialises with other dogs too, so you're really covering all the bases by taking him along with you to the surgery to meet other pets. At the moment he's thoroughly enjoying being a pup, testing his boundaries with the adult dogs and learning when he's gone too far!

Looking forward to meeting you and your dogs at a GAL event sometime.

Christine

Wendy, don't panic........ just yet !!  It's early days and he is obviously a very bold strong willed pup. He is just seeing how far he can go !!  The only worry is if he over steps the mark with another dog and gets hurt.    Give him a bit more time to settle, hopefully, he will calm down a bit and your stress levels will too.  
Marian.   

He does sound like a super-confident young man! But you have to be pack leader. Viv Silverstein is a Dog Behaviourist with GAL - she can help with advice for you if you're worried about his behaviour and if you pm her on this site. She runs training classes for greyhounds and lurchers, so it may be something for you to think about once Jake has had all his injections.

Was Jake the first born in the litter? I read somewhere that the first born are often pack leaders.

In the meantime, I think your vet is giving sound advice. Jake is very young yet, but if he reaches that adolescent stage uncorrected - oh boy! And neutering certainly seems to calm them down.

All these thoughts are for the future if all else fails! As Jake is so young and he's been with you such a short time, he may take a telling from your adult dogs and take his place in the pack. I know from my own two dogs that they tolerate far more from a young pup than they ever would from an older dog.

Good luck with Jake - I'm sure he'll turn out to be a wonderful addition to your family!

Christine

I couldnt get onto the site all week-end or today..but here i am now..well, an update...all is going well, Jake had his 1st vaccination on Monday and since Sunday he has been like a different puppy, he appears much more relaxed and much less in the other dogs' faces, to the point that he was outside with them all in the sun this afternoon and lay alongside them sleep, every so often he would sneak up closer and cuddle into one of them, he is more submissive to them all, especially Milly, he now kisses the ground when he sees her coming, i guess he reckons it saves time later!!! I was talking to one of the Vets i work with and she said that she wondered if some of his 'bravado' was actually stress..she made the point that it must have been quite scary for him to come into a household with 6 adult dogs, he perhaps felt intimidated and defensive..she may have a point? Whatever has happened over the week-end he is like a different puppy, yes, he is still spirited and full of business but not in the way that he was last week. There is no more snapping/growling and he is VERY quick on the uptake..i notice that he picks things up incredibly fast. I have been training him to come back to the whistle..he LOVES this 'game' and will stop whatever he is doing and comes hurtling back to me his tail wagging madly. He is learning that to get treats that you have to do something and now sits the second a treat is on offer. He had a good run around the field tonight at the farm (no dogs)and is now crashed out! Here are some pics taken today..

Errr...i think that's MY toy young man...

Is this my best side..?

Life is just way to exciting...

Let it all hang out..

He's absolutely scrumptious! I see he has the roach pretty well perfected too. What a little sweetie! I'm so glad he's settling in a bit better and becoming a bit more relaxed. It doesn't take them long to find their place in the scheme of things.

Christine

i love him xxxxx
i want him xxxxx

You could well be right. Pups are just like babies in a way. They need lots of sleep and Jake may be getting grumpy just like a baby would do if he's not getting enough.

I'm sure you'll get him sorted out! You're doing all the right things - and it's interesting that he settles when the other dogs aren't around and you're busy at work. He's adorable!

Christine