# Newly-developed resource guarding



## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

Hi everyone. So in the past couple of weeks, Gus has developed a resource guarding thing directed ONLY at me! He is 15 months now, and has never guarded anything before, however on three separate occasions in the past two weeks, he has growled and even snarled when I tried to take away a treat. My husband has tested him, and he will not do this to my husband.

I have ideas on how to work on this, both from the forum and other sources, but it kind of hurts my feelings that he's suddenly developed this behavior torwards me only. My only thought is that maybe it is because my husband has been taking over primary exercise duties (since I am kind of sidelined with pregnancy) and he is spending more "quality" time with my husband? Any other thoughts? Is he just for some reason starting to not respect me as a "pack leader" any more? I am just confused as to why this behavior has seemed to come out of nowhere...

Up until this point we really thought that Gus would never hurt us (although he has been aggressive with strangers) but now I am starting to not trust him around me, and it really sucks (for lack of better words).


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

They pick up on subtle things like who is kinder and treats them most. In the dog world it is actually a weakness. 
Men are a little more military like in the way they deal with the dog.

My clothes, socks are not chewed on but my wife's are a fair play. She is soft and kind, I, on the other hand actually was the one who taught him basic obedience... just a thought.

Are you afraid of Gus, even a little bit? When he guards do you pull back and give up? He picks up on subtle body language. Next time, practice taking away items from him. Have him focus on the item, give it back, throw it and have him fetch, take it away with confidence, it's yours, after all. It's a fun game... 

 At this point when a command is given, it should be followed through, at least, most of the time...It will get better but you may need more courage to handle the dog. Not rough or angry, just naturally calm, confident. 

I know medium sized dogs can sometimes be hard, rough and heavy dogs but they need to be handled, touched, engaged with confidence and love (no treats, please).


Julius


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

JJ - as RBD has posted so many times - Who is the leader of the PACK! Spend a week or 2 1on 1 - that means when your husband gets home little or NONE contact with the PUP - you feed - U correct - U love - U take the the pup out - seems silly - but at the end of a hard time - your baby knows where his place is in the pack - if does not work the first time - try & try again - a alpha pup needs to be put in it's place - not the pups fault - just how it is !


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

As REM has said, take charge. Make pup earn everything from you. He gets nothing unless he earns it. A sit, a drop, a stay or whatever your thing is. He gets nothing from anyone but you and you must also take things away from him. When you do, a growl, snarl or snap from pup is responded with an instant correction by you to him and the item removed. This is one area where my normally holistic training approach gets chucked out the window and a swift and decisive correction is given when any of that type of behaviour is exhibited. Nothing physical, as a Vizsla does not need physical force. Just a swift and harsh NO is normally all that is required and remove the item. Then give it back later and try again. Any growl, snarl or snap once again is given a rapid correction and the item removed.

I know this flies in the face of my normal positive re enforcement approach, but it is one area where I like to act more like a dog than a human.


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## Mischa (Feb 17, 2010)

Great info here, and it's nice to agree with Data and Oz for a change! 
A dog that growls at me ends up on it's side before it knows it, but that approach isn't always necessary.

The most crucial part of it all is to be calm and confident as datacan said.
He's at the age where they start to test you, and you'll want it all sorted out before your baby is born.

Seek out info on NILF dog training. Nothing in life is free. 
It's a great way to curb many issues that can occur.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Being pregnant and being tired go hand in hand. My oldest is 32 and my youngest is 16. Its easy to start slacking on commands when you start your morning being tired. 
He needs to have his boundaries re-instilled with and by you.
Try and stay calm but in charge anytime he acts out. Yelling or showing fear is not a option.


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

I am guilty of slacking off with him due to be tired lately. Probably goes hand in hand with him starting jump up on me in excitement too - I haven't been great about discipline, and my husband is better. We do the nothing in life is free, and I feed him dinner by hand every night (he is not possessive of his food). I have also been trying to be better about making him wait and let me go through doors first. I guess on weekends I'll try to do most of the work with him too and see if that helps. (my husband gets most of the day on weekdays with him due to our work schedules). 

When he growled at me this latest time (it was a bad one) I didn't physically hit him but I got really mad - he knew that I was upset. I took the bone and threw it away, and sent him to his crate. He sat in there and sulked (with the door open) while I went to bed in another room. He didn't leave the crate, didn't cry, didn't make a peep, so I'm pretty sure I made my point. So far this week, I haven't given him any treats or special bones unless I am holding onto it while he's chewing it (and he is fine with that). 

We are both also working on taking stuff away, although its weird because I have ALWAYS worked on this from day one since it seems to be an issue with a lot of Vzislas, and I wanted to make sure the problem didn't develop!


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## Oquirrh the V (Jun 24, 2011)

My boy has also growled at me when I've tried to take a bully stick away from him. I realized I was scared when I approached him.... I didn't want to get bit. My boyfriend could take anything away from Oquirrh without him growling. Then instead of being scared I would "storm" over to him in a very dominate way and I would get growled at again. I had to teach MYSELF to be calm and assertive - Cesar Milan. It's all about figuring out your mood, what you are sending the dog. Also, why give him a treat if you are just going to take it away? I understand there are times that you need to take things away from your dog. I'm finding it's much easier and more effective when I don't overuse my "power".


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

jj, I had this issue with my male dog. He started around the same age, and more-so with me than my husband. The trainer said male dogs are more likely to try to do this to female owners. We worked with a trainer and the main thing I learned was the I needed to be more of a leader. I began posturing and raising my voice (not a yell, but a deeper voice) etc. and giving him a lot more commands etc. 

If I wanted to take something from him or move him off the sofa, I would use my body and subtly force him out of the way by claiming his space. It's been 6 years since then and it's so much better! Very rarely (once or twice a year) he will still growl at me or bare his teeth at me if he doesn't want to give up what he has or move from where he is, but I don't back down or act scared. He KNOWS now he cant get away with it. He is pinned in a down and forced to stay that way until I release him. I truly don't believe he will hurt me. I know he's just testing me.


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## NeverGiveUpRAC (Aug 27, 2012)

I had this problem with Cole!

The NILF thing did work eventually. He learned respect. Try the trade method if you are worried he will really hurt you. Get a treat and trade him for whatever he has...then give the item back (if it's a bone or something) pet him good boy and do it again. He learns that it's not a bad thing if you come over to take things away. It may also soften his mindset a bit. Which I think will be good for a dog around kids. 

I make Cole sit for EVERYTHING! 

At the moment when he has something, try being calm and walk over to him with a soft voice and start petting him till he rolls over and then if you can trade for a treat. Give him praise for dropping.

For me, if I got too "strong" with him...he would lash out. Almost as if he thought he had to protect himself, just by my tone of voice. And then things would escalate. Try not to let it become a habit of him growling or showing teeth. Distract him from what he is doing and treat him for being respectful. Hope it works out. I didn't like being afraid of my own dog.


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## Lincolns Parents (Aug 6, 2011)

I have always been firm with all our dogs. Iam the alpha of our pack. (Wife) Im always the leader and a VERY confident person around the dogs which they can sence. I dont have any problems with any of them except when im not around to be that leader then things can get a bit out of hand. Lol

There has been some great advise given by others....

Best of luck.


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

I respectfully disagree with NeverGiveUpRAC's advice re: a soft voice and petting him til he rolls over. Sounds like it worked for him, but I'd say that is not the way to handle a dog who resource guards. You need to be firm, in my opinion. I also don't think trading a good option. You're letting the dog win in these scenarios, not showing him who's boss. Like i said, if that worked for NeverGiverUp, that's great, but I wouldn't try it.


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## NeverGiveUpRAC (Aug 27, 2012)

Yes, I did not mean NOT to be in charge and command respect. I absolutely agree that is the way to raise a dog or anything for that matter. Lol

I just wanted to throw it out there, that things can escalate if the dog is feeling attacked or is fearful and THAT is when people get hurt. 

Actually, just yesterday I watched The Dog Whisperer tell an owner dealing with a small dog's resource guarding and he explained that when the owner went into disciplinary mode, the dog didn't trust her because she didn't recognize that behavior as normal leader behavior. 

I totally agree though, with being firm. I think with some dogs it just doesn't work as well. Eventually, I am hoping Cole will learn to trust me and do as I say. Its a relationship that needs to build. 

All of my softer suggestions are just to avoid injury...lol

Great advice too on taking over all responsibilities for the dog.


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## jjohnson (Nov 9, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice. I think the point is to be a leader, but not a violent or aggressive leader. I just read this article posted by the puppy school we took Gus to, and I think these methods are the same as what would be suggested by our behaviorist (been meaning to call him!) 

http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/resource-guarding/

I don't want to challenge him, because recent studies have shown that this leads to increased aggression in dogs that are already displaying aggressive behavior. I reacted poorly the first couple of times (spanked him once, yelled) and I think that escalated it the next time around. We'll work on me being better about being a leader, and work on him learning that when humans take his stuff "good things happen", and see how that goes.

I know there are multiple opinions on how to approach this, but I'm going to stick with the classic counter conditioning thing that was taught at our puppy training and by our bahaviorist for now.


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## NeverGiveUpRAC (Aug 27, 2012)

Haha I think my dog had more issues to be honest lol

When I got him he was just entering adolescence and came from a home that paid no attention to him whatsoever. Good or bad. He was out of control in a LOT of ways. They admitted to punching him in the face when he would puppy bite and whatever else. They had him from 9 weeks until 5 months, very formative weeks i think. He would flinch when we touched him for a while. He didn't cuddle us or kiss us until recently. He didn't trust humans and I think that is where his problems came from. That, and lack of rules and structure. 

Yea...its taken a while to get to this place. I had read to be firm and strong but that just made him worse. Everyone was saying the same thing so I wanted to share my story. It sounds lie they know how to be leader if he listens to hubby haha but maybe she needed a different approach.

i really wish I could have gotten him at 9 weeks. I WOULD have been in control from day one.


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