# 10 month old growling and biting



## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

It sounds like Lucy is resource guarding. Resource guarders can guard different items and can escalate if they think their message/warning (i.e., growl, running across the room with it, standing over it) is not being heeded. Have you read the book "Mine"? It's a good starting place, but I would also recommend working with a trainer who has experience in this area.

Teaching trade me is a valuable tool to have, but you need to understand that if you force the issue with her, she may move beyond growling. In the meantime, I would manage the environment. How is she getting ahold of things like remotes, etc? I would start by moving things that could harm her out of reach. And understand that what they chose to guard may not make sense to you. I recently relinquished a dog that was resource guarding because it was becoming dangerous for my other two dogs. She started with toys, then dog beds, then food, rocks and twigs outside and eventually me. The worst thing to do (I learned) was to take the item away from them that they are guarding while they are guarding it. The message they receive is, "ok, I need to up my warning because they didn't learn that time". That was hard for my husband. He wanted to take the item away. If you can successfully call her away from the item with a high value treat and get her away from the item and then put it up, you may have more success. Good luck!

ETA: I would take it VERY SERIOUSLY if she has made contact with skin. This is a warning...and you need to pay attention to it. If you continue to take items away from her while she is guarding she will bite you. Dogs don't miss. If they want to bite, they will bite. There are no accidents. I would not look at it as rewarding her for guarding. You are trading items. And if it is something that can't hurt her, I would not force it. This is not a power struggle from the dog's perspective or respecting you as owner. In dog world, possession is all that matters.


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## Lucy428 (Dec 18, 2018)

Thanks for the response! I have not read Mine! yet but may start looking there. We do have her in obedience classes now and are in week 2 of 6. 

She does allow us to pet her and get close when guarding items but once she sense we might try, or do try, to retrieve item without performing a trade she growls and snaps her teeth. There have only been maybe 2 incidents where skin contact occurred causing scrape marks. Nothing severe thankfully but will try to be even more cautious in these situations and won't attempt to get items without performing a trade.

Do you believe walking her more could help solve some of this issue and possibly too much energy/boredom is the cause of her guarding? Currently she walks around a mile to mile and a half per day, tends to be closer to 2-2.5 on the weekend when more time is available.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

While I think that walking is always a good idea (if the dog likes it and tolerates it), I don't think it will impact the resource guarding. I'm not an expert, just did a lot of reading on it and worked with a trainer, before I made the decision to rehome the dog that was guarding. You can build trust with the dog and work on trade. I'm a firm believer in respect the growl. I would recommend working with a trainer, but you can also find a lot of information on this forum. I'm anti using aversive methods, but you may receive advice to use that as well. I'm not going to derail your thread with that. At the end of the day, you need to make the decision on how you want to approach it.

I do a lot of work with rescues and I can tell you that if she escalates to a bite, if you wanted to rehome her, you probably wouldn't be able to. Most rescues won't take on the liability. It's important that she hasn't bit yet. That shows she is exhibiting bite inhibition. My bias is to work towards building trust with the dog, managing the environment while I work through the issue, and then hopefully getting to a place where she trusts you and doesn't guard. But I would always keep in mind that she has the tendency. Relinquishing my last dog was the hardest thing I did, but I had to recognize that I wasn't the right home for her with two other dogs who were getting attacked. She couldn't relax and the other two were afraid of her. And as hard as we tried to manage the situation, someone inevitably made a mistake and left something down that she wanted to guard. If she's the only dog and there are no children, now is the time to work with her. I should also add, that it's perfectly natural for a dog to want to guard something. As humans, we tend to think good/bad. Dogs don't think that way. If the dog has possession of something, in their mind it is their's.


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## MomOfGolden (Jan 19, 2021)

Sorry posted on wrong thread.


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## MomOfGolden (Jan 19, 2021)

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