normal or abnormal aggression

[jac]

My 4 month old growls then quickly jerks his head and either tries or succeeds in biting when he is moved from a comfortable position, frequently to his crate. Is this normal? I'm not sure if this dog has a temperament problem or not.

[CRSTFR]

There are a couple of things I can think of; your puppy thinks it is the boss or your puppy isn't sure if what ever is about to happen is safe. What ever it is, you need to get a handle on it. Humans just love to pet a little sleeping dog.

It is real easy to pick our puppy up and put them in their crate or off our pillow, that way we don't have to wake them. You might try giving a command to go to the crate or off the pillow. This will eliminate the boss in your puppy. I am just guessing, but does this occur while the puppy is up on something ie bed, chair, couch? If it does, keep in mind that hight off the ground is part of the dominance game. So your puppy might want to be up at your level instead of down in the crate. I have 3 dogs, Odie 12 years, Truman 1.5 years and Carmen 6 mo. As soon as I get out of bed in the morning Odie jumps up and takes my spot, if he is not quick enough, Truman gets in there. Carmen can't make it up there yet. The mintute I walk back into the room, they slump down to the foot of the bed because they know if they don't I will be telling them off.

[Guest]

he usually does it when he is on his floor pillow, so height shouldn't be a factor. Thanks for responding.