# Sad by dog's behavior...help



## Cdmvirginia (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi- i posted a couple of times on resource guarding behavior that my 15 week old puppy exhibits on occasion. It's not consistent and it's not frequent, but there have been maybe 5 times where my dog has growled or snapped at my husband or children. I have been reading a ton on this topic and everyday i practice removing an object and trading with a higher value object. Several times per day. 

Tonight my 6 yr old son was sitting on the steps next to the pup who had, unbeknowgst to me, grabbed a rag that i had cleaned food off the counters with. He, out of the blue, snapped and growled at my son. i immediately yelled out at the dog to show my displeasure, but i wasn't sure what else to do. Thank goodness he didn't break skin, but it broke my heart. We lost our lab over the winter suddenly and he was the type of dog that my kids could get on the ground and cuddle with--I am so concerned and sad that i may have a dog that will not be affectionate, and instead will be the opposite. I guess i need words of encouragement, because i can;t even look at my puppy at the moment. He is doing so well in all other areas, and seems generally very good natured with all people and dogs, but i just am so worried that i will have to be on hyper-alert for the rest of my dogs's life because of this unpredictability. 

Does anyone have success stories to share, where the 'trade' and 'drop it' training significantly reduced this behavior? Also, i suspect this is a bad idea, but should i start having other members of my family try to trade object with him to desensitize him? He seems to only be this way with them, not me, so i am wondering if it might help to have them work with him. Please help talk me down off the ledge....


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

I don't have any advice for you but wanted to say that I'm sorry you are having to deal with this issue.
We have lots of extremely knowledgable folks here, including some great trainers. I'm sure they will have advice for you.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

I'd like to think my Bear is a success story. He is a resource guarder, and TBH I will always consider him one and will be vigilant to the day he dies. However, he hasn't had an incident in well over a year, most likely close to 18 months (he'll be 2 years old next month). 

Bear first started guarding when he was a young pup. We had a couple really scary incidents, one of which, he split my finger open over a carrot. I thought we were doomed. I thought my loving puppy was defective. I didn't trust him. The journey was hard and is never-ending, but we've made huge strides. Now he is to the point that he can BRING me the item he would normally guard, and is comfortable chowing down on his most favorite items (a PUPsicle) right next to me, with no tension or fear over the item. 

First, we purchased and read cover-to-cover a book called, "Mine!" by Jean Donaldson. It outlines step-by-step instructions on how to first manage, then desensitize the object until it is no longer guarder. This has been a godsend in our journey. 

If we think he *might* guard an object, I immediately and pre-emptively (without him even showing any signs of guarding), use my happy/cheerful voice and call him over to me and we go through obedience commands and routines. We reward him for his attention, participation, and obedience. Once we've got him with us, I put him in a sit/stay and I retriever the item so that it can be put away or disposed of. 

We NEVER interrupt his meal times. We choose to remove the dog (willingly!!) from the item, instead of approaching the dog with the item and trying to remove the item. The only time I've tried the "dominance theory" it just made things worse, so no "alpha rolls" or pining him down, etc. We trained "drop it," "take it," and "leave it" incessantly from the start, and we still practice it. We're actually working on "hold" now so he can start bringing stuff in for me, like my lunchbox or the newspaper, etc. 

The biggest thing I want to stress, is to NEVER leave your dog and your children alone together. Even without a resource to guard, too many things could go wrong. If we have company over, Bear is separated and fed away from everyone for both his peace, and my peace of mind. 

I hope this info helps.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I really think you should find a good behavior trainer and have them come out and work with you at home so they can see first hand what you are dealing with. It can be managed and improve, but this is something that you do need to start now seriously working on with guidance from a positive method trainer.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Don't panic. Puppies are born with the instinct to guard...it's how they make sure their share isn't taken from them. Some puppies are more inclined to guard than others. Trading is the first rule. Like Brave said, lure the pup away from the item.

When we had an issue over a glove, I thru Cheerios on the floor. He dropped the glove, got the cheerios and I let him pick the glove back up. Read: no threat from me. I repeated the exercise a few times. Then when he dropped the glove, I picked it up and GAVE IT BACK TO HIM....all good things come from me. We repeated the exercise like that a few more times..by now it was a fun game. I picked it up one more time but set it aside instead of giving back. He looked for it briefly on the floor and them moved on to something more fun.


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## AngieAvenue (Mar 17, 2013)

I'm en route to a success story with my dog. Things have gotten so much better ...but I'm not ready to say we have over come the issue just yet. 

We did a lot of trading at first and things were only ok. He guarded randomly and he was still having bad incidents. It was getting worse. I was convinced there was a missing piece, but couldn't figure it out. We invited our behaviourist over and set up some guarding scenarios and he was able to lend advice based on that. 

He left us a number of steps to follow and a plan based on our household. One difference in our practices was to not take anything from his mouth, to have him 'drop it' and then trade. We did two weeks (or more) of tethering and hand feeding. We traded EVERYTHING - even things we knew he wouldn't guard. This helped us get in to the habit of thinking to trade. 

The behaviourist said guarding is something which may always be a factor, but he was confident that we could get him to a point where he knows approaching is not a threat, and that because taking the item away leads to good things 99% of the time, that 1% of the time when we have to take something without trading, it wont be an issue. 

With the exception of mild growling once or twice, we haven't had an incident in several months and I am not fearful with him at all anymore. I know what we're doing is a method which is working. 

We still trade a lot, and I'm mindful of his red zones (he has a few places in the house where were seeing a lot of guarding - ex. chair in the living room) but I do think we're en route to a success story! 

My suggestion is to bring in a good behaviourist/trainer and get a plan made up which works for your family. Your dog is still a pup so there's lots of time to address this before it becomes a big issue.


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## Penster (Dec 28, 2013)

Hello

I feel for you as I know how it feels to be in this situation. Please know that as long as you follow the advice above from Jen and Angie things will get better but it will be a process where you have to be really consistent and aware of his behaviour. First of all try to remove all possibilities to guard. Whenever boo guards I am usually mad at myself because I 1. Shouldn't have let him get something in the first place (this I appreciate is hard) and 2. If he guards then I didn't handle the situation well.

We also try to just distract him, get a toy or call him over and then remove the item when he's not looking or trade. The worst thing you can do is reach down and grab it or chase him. Try not to be too hard on him either, this is instinct and some dogs have it others not. One thing I've learnt is it's not personal and for 99% of the time I have the cuddliest, sweetest dog ever. You will have a dog you can cuddle etc but remember to read his body language and to back off if he seems to be uncomfortable. In a weird way I think I love boo more because of his guarding, it's part of his little personality and whilst I hate it when it happens, when it doesn't happen I am ecstatic! He has plenty of chances to guard and doesn't, we see about 1 incident every 2 months now and it's just a reminder to us not to get lazy with the training.

Good luck and let us know how you get on. Just remember it's not the worst thing once you know how to handle and prevent it


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