# WHY WHY WHY (He's got MANY issues)



## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

I think this dog needs about two hours of hard off leash running daily... you'd be amazed the difference it makes.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

ACC is right 45 minutes is OK for morning but he needs much more exercise. Free running if safely possible at a dog park or other off leash area will do wonders. Also when you walk him give him lots of thinking work to do like stopping, sitting, staying etc during the walk so he is exercising his mind not just his muscles.


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

AquaClaraCanines said:


> I think this dog needs about two hours of hard off leash running daily... you'd be amazed the difference it makes.


we do take him to the park which is fenced in but we let him offleash (when there are no kids) and he won't run or anything. We try playing fetch but I guess there is just too much new stuff for him and he's not interested. He does chase me around and on the equipment so I try to make is as much of an agility course as I possibly can for him and sometimes that will tire him out (its about a 25 minute walk to the park and we spend about 45 minutes there and then 25 minutes to get home) but usually I end up walking him another 30 minutes or so after we get home. Atleast I'm keeping in shape though:lol:!


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Are there other dogs? Can you take him to a dog park? My dogs are so much better after a trip there- though I have five so I bring my own "party" so to speak LOL


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

yeah we have another dog too that he plays with all day and she gets just as annoyed with him as we do at times. I know there is a dog park close by but can't find it for the life of me. The human park works good, as long as no kids are there we can let him offleash and as long as we are moving around so is he.

Thank you all for your replies!


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

Wow I was just answering your other post. At least you are keeping good humor about it. He really does need some hard activity in his life though. As far as the resource guarding that is something you are going to have to stop or you will have problems in other areas. There are really two types of guarding here and one is I am playing keep away from you and want you to play, but you have the second which is it is mine and you can't take it. He is being alpha on you which you can;t let happen. Not all trainers are alike you might try another trainer who uses the Nothing In Life is Free method to help you mater the dog.

Just a thought

Hooch


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I would find a new trainer if your not happy with the one you have.....


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## AndyFarmer (Jul 9, 2007)

Sounds like a chapter out of "Marley and Me"...LOL! Not to make light of your situation, but I believe Marley's issues were ultimately neurological. Good luck with your puppy.


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

We do use the NILIF methods for him. He sits before going outside, before coming inside (and we always get out or in before him), he sits before I set his bowl down and waits until I say ok before he eats. He's not allowed on the beds or couches ever (we never give him permission). He will jump up on them when he thinks we're not looking but we immediately tell him off and force him off if he's not getting off by himself (which usually he'll high tail it as soon as he sees we're coming back in the room).


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

Sounds like yo are doing the right things with him. If he barks/growls over his favorite resource take it away fome him even if someone is just walking by him. I wold try that if you haven;t already. 

Hooch


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## kerribear's golden kids (May 17, 2007)

It sounds like you are doing ALL the right things here with this pup.
1st you have to remember he is a PUP, 2nd you do need to take away all of those bones and things he is resourse gaurding ASAP.

Do not give him anymore le-way. He is trying to tell you he is the boss and you cannot have that. Do you know anything about him from where you got him from? Did he have to fight for bones & such with them? This may be why he is doing this since you also have another dog, that could turn into something bad...Take away the bones! 
My dogs do not get them any longer as sometimes it caused fights, I know it may be harsh but if they don't have them, they don't fight over them.
Keep us posted...


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I wont let mine have them outside of there crate..... this way theres no chance of them fighting


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

There are a few different thought processes on resource guarding of foods he considers important....like bones, treats, etc.

One is to give them to him to enjoy alone...or in the crate, and don't let anyone mess with him while he has it.

Or the other is to take them away and keep them away forever.

The third would be to try to desensitize him to you taking it. Take it...give it back when he's being nice. Take it again a little later....give it back when he's being nice. That way he learns that you aren't taking it from him forever and begins to trust you more. Don't let the kids do this......and don't have him somewhere he can lunge if they walk by. Teach the kids to leave the dog alone when he has a special bone, etc. It IS safer to have him crated or in a separate room....away from any potential accidental meetings with children while you're doing this.

We have a lot of dogs. We don't give things like bones, chewies, etc. Too much probability of chaos. 

However, in the past, we did give bones, etc. We'd give them to the ones who could and would get along in one area. They'd chew in peace. If we had one who was "grabby", we would give that one his/her chewy in a separate, alone place......and only when all were finished would we let them back together.

But, we do give small treats, etc. Those are doled out when they're sitting...each is given by name.


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## Brinkleysmom (Dec 17, 2005)

TheHooch said:


> Wow I was just answering your other post. At least you are keeping good humor about it. He really does need some hard activity in his life though. As far as the resource guarding that is something you are going to have to stop or you will have problems in other areas. There are really two types of guarding here and one is I am playing keep away from you and want you to play, but you have the second which is it is mine and you can't take it. He is being alpha on you which you can;t let happen. Not all trainers are alike you might try another trainer who uses the Nothing In Life is Free method to help you mater the dog.
> 
> Just a thought
> 
> Hooch



I agree with Hooch and Mary on this one, especially with maybe changing trainers, especially if you are unhappy with the one you have. Also like the others have said, get him to a place and make it fun for him to run. Have you tried the Chuk It yet?? Brinks loves it.


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

> Sounds like yo are doing the right things with him. If he barks/growls over his favorite resource take it away fome him even if someone is just walking by him. I wold try that if you haven;t already.


Yeah we have his bones and stuff up but I am so worried without his bones to guard he'll move onto something like toys. I keep those up to unless it's playtime though as well but I didn't want him confusing a stuffed animal of my kids as one of his toys and biting them for playing with a toy that was their's to begin with.




> Do not give him anymore le-way. He is trying to tell you he is the boss and you cannot have that. Do you know anything about him from where you got him from? Did he have to fight for bones & such with them? This may be why he is doing this since you also have another dog, that could turn into something bad...Take away the bones!


We don't really know much about his background. He was from a really large litter though and at first we were told he was a golden mix but than when we contacted the people to ask a question about his mother they sent pictures of both his mother and father and they are purebreds. When we picked him out though he wasn't the one that came bounding to us he came up to us quickly but wasn't all in our face like most the others. He was the smallest male of the bunch though.





> The third would be to try to desensitize him to you taking it. Take it...give it back when he's being nice. Take it again a little later....give it back when he's being nice. That way he learns that you aren't taking it from him forever and begins to trust you more. Don't let the kids do this......and don't have him somewhere he can lunge if they walk by. Teach the kids to leave the dog alone when he has a special bone, etc. It IS safer to have him crated or in a separate room....away from any potential accidental meetings with children while you're doing this.


That is what I have been doing starting tonight (actually probably while you were typing this). I gave him a raw bone and let him get into it than started petting him and praising and then asked him to drop it (which was a little more difficult but he did it) I than gave him a treat, picked up the bone, gave him a treat, and than gave it back. I always give him bones now in his crate because of this issue he has but he still growls mainly at my children if they walk by his crate while he has his bone. I got a few growls today but I gave him a sharp no and removed the bone for a minute and than gave it back to him.

I didn't know if maybe I should just let him growl as long as he's in his crate he's not going to hurt anyone but still it makes me nervous. He isn't aggressive with his kibble and I even have my 1 and 1/2 year old son help hand feed him the kibble.



> Have you tried the Chuk It yet?? Brinks loves it.


No, my husband is beggin me to try it because he's sick of touching slobbery tennis balls but I was afraid it was a waste of money, maybe I'll have to pick on up this weekend.


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

The desensitizing works well. He's still young enough to learn that you're not going to "steal" his food. 

Coming from a large litter, he may have gotten bullied and pushed off his food. That wouldn't be unusual. I wonder if the people supplemented because the litter was so large? He might have gone hungry, fairly often, so he's learned to resource guard.

Sometimes the smallest of the litter does this out of self-defense. Usually while with the littermates, it doesn't work, but once they get to a human household, and you show fear......they discover it DOES work. Then it gets worse.

I feel it's all about trust. It's a learned behavior, and can be changed when he learns to trust you.

Just be careful of giving all those treats when you take the bone away. Only give a tiny tiny little piece of something (quarter sized) or you'll have a FAT dog by the time you get finished LOL.

And also.....if another dog is around, DO NOT give him any bones or chewies or special "treats". He WILL guard them to the point of fighting. This could go on for life. So beware.


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## z&mom (Oct 7, 2006)

Ardeagold said:


> And also.....if another dog is around, DO NOT give him any bones or chewies or special "treats". He WILL guard them to the point of fighting. This could go on for life. So beware.


Good point! Z does not guard resources from me, I could easily take anything out of her mouth without much protest from her, whether it is a bone or rawhide. But she clamps down hard on high valued items when there is another dog around. I learned this the hard way (she snapped and drew blood) when I tried removing a rawhide from her in the presence of my sister's schaunzer.


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

> I learned this the hard way (she snapped and drew blood) when I tried removing a rawhide from her in the presence of my sister's schaunzer.


Oh Yikes! I really meant fighting with the other dog....but I guess it could carry over to a human too, if the dog is a serious resource guarder.

I have one that resource guards toys.....from the other dogs. But never in this lifetime would she snap at me, even if they're an inch from her prized posession. 

At first her growling made me nervous...and I'd stay away, afraid to take the toy to "shut her up". But then I got ticked off one night and walked over and said "STOP it" loudly and firmly. I reached over and took the toy. She wasn't growling at me........she was growling at a dog about 20' away when it would move (I believe it was asleep...and rolled over LOL). She'll let me take anything, at any time. Or any human for that matter. A dog is a whole different ballgame. I've seen them come close to see what the heck she's guarding, and she's in their face in a shot...snapping, snarling, acting stupid. We have a good bunch. The look at her like she's a lunetic and walk away.

She even does this to our 125 lb Newf....the ALPHA female of the group. (Molly) Molly stands there and stares at her. It's pretty comical, but it wouldn't be if Molly was to get annoyed at the behavior. It's been going on for 3 years now....so I'm not too worried. LOL


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Our puppy has seperation anxiety if we even leave the room. We had his crate in our bedroom and it had to be next to the bed so he could see us but our trainer said no we had to move it out of the room so we put it in the kitchen. The barking is almost getting better at night (probably about an hour of barking and complaining coming from downstairs). 

If we leave the house and crate him he howls, barks, scratches at his crate, eats his crate bottom, and has almost choked himself in the door of the crate trying to get out once (we have since bought a plastic crate but now he has started eating that one too). We exercise him 45 minutes or so (go for a walk and to the park and running around and play on the slides and stuff) before we leave but that doesn't help. We give him chew bones and kongs stuffed with peanut butter but he completely ignores them as soon as he sees the door is shutting. We can hear him throwing a fit from the driveway. Our neighbors so far are understanding (they also have dogs) but I'm afraid they will not remain that way.

*** I would start with physical sep. when you're home, for instance, teaching him to be on one side of a baby gate while you're on the other. Set up lots of opportunities for him to practice this when you're home, with the goal of him being okay on his side of the gate when you're anywhere else in the house. It has to be something that you practice often. Can you set up a video camera to see if he's carrying on the entire time or just for the first 15 mins or so? In severe cases of true SA, sometimes there are anti anxiety drugs that can be beneficial to help get the dog over the initial "hump" of learning to be away from his primary attachment figure, but it's best to work with a qualified behaviorist if at all possible (by that, I mean a certified veterinary behaviorist). Your vet can help, too, but they usually only give Clomacalm (sp). Oh - make sure you don't repeat the same pattern all the time when you leave. SA dogs know probably the last 10 things you do and in what order before you leave, and the first sign of the first thing (say, putting on your shoes before you grab your purse, the keys, etc.) starts to set them off. Important to keep them guessing.... switch up your routine. Also, leave and return quickly often so he never knows if you walking out the door means your gone for hours or just 30 seconds. ***

The next problem our puppy has is resource guarding. He is not food aggressive with his kibble you can stick your hand in his bowl, pet him, move the bowl around, pick his bowl up, anything and the most he will do is eat faster no growling or snapping. ]



*** Actually, eating faster is preliminary to a guarding freeze, lip curl, growl, snap or bite, so he actually IS showing early signs of guarding his food bowl. Rather than walk up and try and pet him, etc., start by just casually walking past him, say nothing, and toss a wonderful treat (think chunk of cheese) down next to his bowl. Do this for several days - until such time as he starts to look at you in happy anticipation of your approach and the forthcoming cheese. THEN you can start to pet him, etc. before you toss the treat into his bowl. Dogs guard things b/c they think our presence near them = a threat. We just need to change that association. ***


The problem is with bones or anything he sees as an object of higher value than his kibble. He has growled at my son for just walking by him while he had a bone. He always dropped it on command for me or my husband and we could pet him while he was chewing on his bone or anything. Now we have started giving him raw bones a couple times a week and he has even started growling at me because I was petting him while he was chewing on it in his cage. I'm considering not giving him anything other than his kibble ever agian but I want to fix the problem not just take all the toys and bones away.

*** I personally would stick with lower value bones like Nylabones. Raw bones are VERY HIGH VALUE and can trigger guarding behaviors in many dogs. If you have to feed raw bones, do a similar exercise to what I suggested for the food bowl, working at whatever distance is far enough so as not to elicit a growl from the dog. Gradually, you should be able to come in closer w/o getting the growl, etc. I would strongly suggest staying away ego based confrontations and the idea that he should never growl at you just because, etc. When we try and handle the problem that way, we run the risk of backing the dog into a corner where he decided his only recourse is to REALLY fight back. In case we failed to notice, our dogs are carrying a semi-concealed leathal weapon in the form of their teeth. We owe it to them and to ourselves to avoid making them feel like their only choice is to turn to or escalate the violent display. * * *

I guess that's about all the big problems I can think of right now. He does have a trainer come once a week but she's not doing anything! 

*** Not all trainers are created equal! Does this trainer know about the aggressive incidents? Is she experienced and comfortable in dealing with aggression? What are her training methods? Again, I think it's really important to modify aggresson using positive methods vs. corrective, do-it-my-way-or-else methods. Violence begets violence. We often work with aggressive dogs for whom corrective training only served to make the problems worse, so I feel strongly when I say I know of what I speak! ***


He's a very smart boy he knows sit, down, stay, up sit (go from a down to the sit position), high five, shake, wave, and roll over. I'm having fun teaching him tricks and he usually starts one new trick a day. I'm just so frustrated with him as it has always been a struggle with him since we rescued him. He is very high strung and hyper and it's driving me crazy.

*** Good for you for teaching him so much already! That desire to learn can help make behavior mod much easier! Additional exercise is a great idea, too! ***


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

Thanks flyingguizini! I'll have to try that stuff you mention. 

I knew that eating faster was sort of like resource guarding but didn't think it was that bad. Our other dog will wag her tail if we pet her or anything when she is eating she doesn't care.

The problem with him is ANY bone he guards we used rawhides which is when we discovered he had issues than gave him a bullystick on day with the same reaction. I'll probably just cut out raw bones all together though and give him bully sticks at night and work him him. What I tried doing in the past is I would play fetch with him and hide treats in his ball so he thought it was fun to "drop it" but unfortunetely that only worked with the ball.

Yes our trainer does know about his resource guarding. She uses the NILIF method of training and she basically thinks he's a very dominanting puppy and I am a very lax trainer which makes for a bad combo and I need to get more firm with my training which I have been doing since she started coming to the house.


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