Guarding/aggression issues

[j12334]

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So, we have a 15 month old cockapoo who resource guards quite badly. It used to be long lasting chews and stuff he picked up on walks, he’s fine with his toys being touched and anything he knows is ours but will growl and snap over something of no value like a tissue. We can mostly avoid by not buying long lasting chews and a leave command on walks. Recently he’s started guarding our bed, but he never does it with me, only with my partner. He will sit on the same spot on the bed and if my partner passes he growls and will snap quite quickly. He sleeps in a crate in another room but has always been allowed on the bed with us at other times and we’ve never had any issues, and still don’t if we’re in or on the bed first and he comes up. It’s when he’s on there himself and my partner passes. He’s done it on the sofa too but this is only ever after he’s done it on the bed. We’re going to stop letting him in the bedroom but he can open the door so he ends up in there himself. Is this the best route to take? I’ve seen it in photos/videos my partner has sent me but seen it in person for the first time today and it’s scary. He growled, lunged and snapped for him but missed. He’s caught him once but wasn’t a full bite. He can do this then half an hour be cuddled up with him on the sofa as if nothing has happened. Any ideas why he wouldn’t do it to me/when I’m there? Nothing has happened with my partner and if anything he lets him away with more than me - could this be the issue and the dog is almost trying to be ‘the man of the house’? We got him together so it’s not as if he’s had to get to know or get used to him. I work 12 hour shifts and don’t want both of them to be uncomfortable in the house together all day. Sorry this is a total dump of information but I think I’ve included everything and would really appreciate any help someone could give! We’ve just had him neutered 5 days ago and our next step will be a trainer/behaviourist but I’m worried we’re not approaching it properly and making it worse

 

[JoanneF]

It's not the dog trying to be ”man of the house” or alpha or top dog - that theory has been thoroughly debunked and discredited, dogs simply don't think that way.

It may be to do with how your partner previously got him off the bed - when anything is being guarded (a tissue, a comfortable place) its a good idea to swap with something higher value like a piece of chicken. If your partner told the dog to get off the bed with no recompense, that might be why this is happening with him.

We have a thread on resource guarding and recommend a good book, it's here but please do get back to us with any questions or if you feel it isn't quite fitting your situation.

Resource guarding

I'm posting this as part of a series of helpful articles for common problems. If you have more information to add (or disagree with anything in this post) please do so in this thread, but if you have a specific question relating to your dog, please start a new thread. Resource guarding - Part 1...

dogforum.co.uk

 

[j12334]

We have told him to get off the bed with no reward before and he’s been fine up until now. But we’ve both done this and it’s only my partner he’s aggressive with. If I’m in the house he does it but not as bad, but if I’m not in he can sit there for hours and not go near him, doesn’t make eye contact etc then at other times be totally fine and loving towards him. My partner has for days been playing with him, training with him, giving him treats when he passes and nothing is changing

 

[JoanneF]

I'm not sure what you'd like us to say - do you think he shouldn't be rewarded for getting off the bed?

Does it help to think of it as him being rewarded for doing as you ask?

The concern with resource guarding is that it can spread to other things, and as your dog is half cocker, there's a predisposition to guarding in them as well, so it's something worth putting time and effort into now.

 

[JudyN]

I would very much reward him for getting off the bed, and think of it not as a command but a clever trick. If you've used 'off' in a commanding voice before, then choose a different cue. Encourage him to jump on the bed, then, with treat in hand, ask him to get off, tell him he's a clever boy and give him the treat. (Do this at a time when he's up for a game, not when he's ready for a nice snooze.) In the meantime, if you want him off the bed when he is settled, call him from the other end of the house and reward with a really good treat. Then he'll be keen to respond, and not suspect that you have an ulterior motive.

My dog had 'sofa issues' and ordering him off the sofa would have gone badly, but the method above worked really well - in fact if he heard my husband approaching the front room he would jump on his sofa purely so he could be asked to get off again and get a treat. Which was a bit cheeky, but we were all happy with the outcome

 

[j12334]

Sorry I think I worded that wrong. Since it’s started we’ve rewarded him for getting off the bed, but before it was an issue we wouldn’t really need to tell him, he’d just get off when he felt like it/followed us, when we did and he came down it was just normal so didn’t think anything of it. We never ordered him off or gave him in trouble for being on the bed, just didn’t think anything of it when he was getting on and off himself. I read mine by Jean Donaldson and have been doing a similar method @JudyN and he’s doing really well with me but with my partner he just ignores him and growls. He sits in the same spot at the corner of the bed and doesn’t let him pass, as soon as he’s in the room he growls

 

[JudyN]

How does your husband respond when he growls? Does he ignore him completely, or leave the room, for instance? I'm wondering if he could practise walking into the room, throwing your dog a treat, and then moving away. When your dog looks up in happy expectation at his approach, he can try getting just 6" nearer, and progressing gradually as your dog comes to see his approach as a good thing.

Though from my experience, management can be a lot more effective than training with guardy dogs, so you could simply not let him into the bedroom. The danger here is that this might stress him at first so he'll get to be (more) guardy in other situations, and this is a dog you really want to be relaxed.

Mine! is a good book, though I didn't find the lengthy regime of approaching from different angles to different distances worked for us - house layouts don't work like that, and my dog knew it was a 'set-up' situation anyway. But you might find that an adaptation of it works well for you.

 

[j12334]

At first he tried to get the dog to come to him because he couldn’t understand why he was doing it and thought something was wrong with him, which we get has probably made him worse so we’ve completely stopped that. Now he throws treats periodically, shouts him for a walk, or if the dog will have it he does the off/target/reward training from the book. If not he’ll just leave the room and the dog will stay in there. We have been not letting him in the room but he can push the door open so until we get a baby gate or something up he can go in himself. My partner thinks he’s maybe guarding the bed for me? I don’t know this is my first dog and I’m totally overwhelmed with the psychology of it all he seems fine if he isn’t in the bedroom and he wasn’t actually in there that often prior to this, doesn’t sleep in there or anything so I don’t think it would be a major issue for him, but I’m worried that blocking access to the bedroom was a kind of band aid solution, if this might work better I’m more than happy to take that route! I’m just so worried I’m getting things wrong and causing more issues I don’t know about

 

[JudyN]

Band aid solutions often are the solution. And once he's got used to the idea that the bedroom is out of bounds, then he won't have the stress of being on the bed when your husband goes in there. Similarly, my dog was not good at sharing sofas, but he soon learnt that he was allowed on vacant sofas, but not otherwise, which meant we could all relax!

Often, as much as we'd like to know what goes on in our dogs' heads, we just can't work it out and just need to accept that that's the way they're wired. Once I accepted that my dog would always have his issues and focused on managing them and avoiding dodgy situations, I actually found it a lot easier. There will always be things that go wrong, like your dog finding a dead rabbit on a walk, but you do learn to handle these too (in our case keeping away from other people until he's eaten the whole. darn. thing.

 

[Hemlock]

No need to put up a gate - just put a bolt on the bedroom door high up where he can't reach - as some dogs can undo bolts!

 

[j12334]

Thanks so much for your help! Oh god a dead rabbit we thought a gate because we have one on the kitchen door frame (it’s off the living room but with no door) so he knows that it means he’s not allowed in, but a lock could obviously serve the same purpose!

 

[JoanneF]

Sorry to lighten a serious subject but my dog isn't too possessive of things generally. Yes, he's snarfed down a slice of pizza he found and I'm happy enough to let him with something as relatively safe as that.

However. He says dead rabbits are for lightweights.

A couple of years ago, he found something on the beach that was sooooo dead, it was completely unrecognisable. And we see (and recognise) a lot of dead stuff. Nobody, and no dog, was getting near him to remove it. I didn't have industrial grade Marigolds anyway. His breath afterwards was rank and I won't even try to describe his poo the next day.

 

[Flobo]

All(or most of our dogs) have their ways and are all different, accepting and finding the way to manage with patience, positive reinforcement and consistency is the key. And importantly also, be kind to yourself, these things do take time.

 

[JudyN]

I could get into a conversation over whose rabbit was the mankiest, Joanne (this one was also on a beach, and very much sun dried), but it would be rather off topic. Suffice to say that Jasper's poos the next day were fluffy!

 

[Flobo]

Haha, yes I was resisting the urge to mention my large breed dog who found a very big rotten fish on the beach and then merrily noodled down the promenade ragging it, bits flying off everywhere, much to the disgust of the people trying to enjoy a walk! Thankfully he was with his owner at the time and not me, she just pretended she didn't know him!

 

[j12334]

My dog ate a starfish at the beach once. I was horrified I can’t even imagine a full animal thanks so much for everyone’s help I really appreciate it, he’s been good today it’s happened once my partner left the room and when he returned he was fine and has been since!

 

[JoanneF]

We really need a ”the most disgusting thing my dog has ever [verb]” thread!

 

[JudyN]

We really need a ”the most disgusting thing my dog has ever [verb]” thread!

I'm on it