Need help! Dog showing signs of aggression!

What do you do when he growls?  How do you prepare him for new people coming over?

It sounds as though he is loose in the house?  I would confine him or make sure he is comfortable before having people enter the house.  You want him to feel secure enough not to growl in the first place, rather than have to correct him or find ways to get him to stop growling.  When new people come over they should ignore him, not even try to give him treats or anything, until he is the one that approaches them first.  If he were mine, I'd confine him to the kitchen or den or something, let the new people in (everyone ignoring him), let him see/hear that they are MY friends and are not dangerous, and then if he doesn't make any fuss, he is allowed to come out while the guests still ignore him as he sniffs around and gets comfortable with their presence. 

Thanks for the advice, but a problem we face is that he stays with my boyfriend who lives with his mom.  His family and friends of the family just walk in the door.  They usually also show up unannounced.  So for now, we are going to have everybody knock before coming in, because he seems to be fine if we open the door.  When he growls we usually ignore him.  Should we be doing something else.

Sounds like the biggest issue will be consistency and getting everyone to help.  If they really care about the dog and addressing this problem, they need to work with the dog and not just let people come and go unannounced without preparing the dog. 

You'll probably get different answers from different people, but I never correct dogs for behaviors like growling, air snapping, or curling lips.  Why?  To me, those are the dog's warnings and the dog's way of saying s/he is scared and uncomfortable.  If you start correcting these behaviors (saying "no", making the dog leave, etc) then you are telling the dog NOT to warn you before it bites and soon the dog will just go ahead and bite without warning.  I prefer to observe these behaviors, look for patterns, and think of how to address the root cause, because the growling is really only a symptom.  My dog Kenya doesn't growl, but she curls her lip and snarls.  After observing her doing this to many people and dogs in many environments, I learned that it's not out of fear or aggression, but that she is a dog who needs personal space.  If you get in her face, she will curl her lip to say "hey, please give me some space, you are making me uncomfortable."  Once she gets to know the person or dog, she doesn't need as much space.  For example, when we first got Coke, she curled her lip anytime he walked near her and bumped her, but now they sleep back to back and even lick each other in the face.  He would see her snarl and walk away because he understood she was asking him to back off.  Since he was respectful of her space and gave her time to get used to him, they are now best friends. 

Now when new people come over, I make sure I am standing between the dog and the door.  I have the dog sit and stay off to the side.  I let the people in and I ask them not to reach out to her, but if they want to pet her they should kneel down and call her over to them.  Then she will come over and wants to get her head scratched.  I ask them to sit along side her, not directly in front of her, and pet her cheeks and chest, not reach over her head.  If I can see that she is still not getting comfortable, I will have her go somewhere that is safe to her (she likes to go in her crate or sleep under the kitchen table).  I also allow her to sit under the dining room table while we visit and ask people to ignore her.  She feels safe under there and can sniff everyone without them touching her or making eye contact. 

At first, the lip curling behaviors scared me because I thought I might have a dog that is fear aggressive, but I've worked at socializing her AND managing the environment to avoid those confrontations and now it never happens (but I still do the above things when people come over because I haven't had her that long).  I also talked about it with my trainer and she agreed that it would be a bad idea for me to say "no!" and put the dog in her crate when she curls her lip because that's just the way a dog communicates.  It doesn't mean she is going to bite (in fact, it means she does not want to bite!).  I would assume the same concept is true of growling.  It's the dog's way of saying "I'm nervous, please don't come closer right now".  You can manage the environment by making sure the dog is safe and calm before people enter and by asking people to ignore the dog at first and you can socialize by allowing the dog to approach the visitors once she feels safe and slowly learn that new people in the house are not a big deal. 

Some people will say you should have the new people give the dog some treats.  I think that can work, but I don't have strangers give my dog treats because I want her to see a stranger as something totally neutral, not bad OR good.  Also, sometimes she will approach a stranger, but is still a bit nervous.  If the stranger gives her a treat, that is reinforcing her nervousness.  The only time I let other people give my dog treats is when I give them the treat and say it's now OK because she has relaxed.

Thanks for the info.  We are going to work with people about making sure they knock.  So that way we can answer the door and get him prepared.

I would hang a sign on your door asking people to knock. That would help, explain to them what is going on.

Liesje gave some super advice. Don't feel bad about "letting your dog down" or anything like that, you're doing fine, and taking some steps now to prevent escalation is the perfect thing to do.

If I were you, I would have the dog learn a "go to your pillow" type of command (hopefully the dog has a crate, or at least a pillow?) and then, when someone comes to the door, the dog is asked to go to his safe/comfortable place and leave the greeting/inspecting of guests to the humans.

If you absolutely can't get people to be consistent about knocking or training the dog, then see if you can section off an area in front of the door (maybe you have a "mud room" or something? or an entryway?) so people can come in and have a "buffer zone" between the entrance and the dog. That way the dog has a moment to figure out what's going on, who's at the door, and whether they're friend or foe.

I'd also recommend keeping a cup of dog biscuits by the front door and asking people to toss the dog a cookie when they come in. I'm sure that would quickly get the dog much happier about people coming into "his" house.  

Great ideas everyone, but one question about the cookies, could this lead to a regression in himjumping up.  I realise that the biting is a priority, but I just want to be aware of other issues that may arise.

He did have a crate, but becasue of space issues we resorted back to a pillow, but it is in another room where he can get away from everything, but he can still hear all the goings on. 

A pillow will work. He just needs a place that is his to go and calm down before greeting the guests.  Maze has a crate in the back room and when people come over I send her there and tell her that when she can say hi nice, she can come out, I don't lock the door when she's in there at these times.  Maze also has aggression problems with the front door, and this has helped her. She used to lunge as soon as I got the door open a crack and try and bite no matter who it was.

The cookies shouldn't cause him to regress into jumping up but if he does start, then put him in a sit or down before he gets the cookie from the people. That should help him realize there are still rules. 

crazy_pixie_

He did have a crate, but becasue of space issues we resorted back to a pillow, but it is in another room where he can get away from everything, but he can still hear all the goings on. 

Can you get another pillow or blanket to put where you want him to be when you open the door? 

yeah I could get him another pillow.  How do I go about training him to go to his pillow?

crazy_pixie_

How do I go about training him to go to his pillow?

start close to the pillow. use small treats, it's easier to fade them later. toss a treat on the pillow and give him a command to go there ( i use "place";). he should go there to get the treat -- you might need to guide him there if he didn't see the treat.

when he is going to the pillow without needing to be guided, start getting a little further from it as well as sending him from other directions.

when he can go there from about 6 feet away, start sending him and rewarding after he gets there. then start gradually increasing the time he stays at the pillow before getting his treat.

in my experience, the dogs learn this pretty quickly.

Teaching "go to mat" (or pillow or crate or whatever) 

I looooove the "go to mat" behavior! I know several people who have made the sound of the doorbell or a knock at the door the "cue" for a "go to mat" behavior, or you can just use a voice cue like "go lie down" or "go to bed".

Thanks so much everyone.  You are lifesavers.  I will start working on this at once.  One question though should I keep his pillow where he can still see the door or put it in another room or does location not matter?