Teenage Blues

[Shazmn]

Hi all,

Our beautiful girl is 13 months old and on and off since she was about 8 months has been displaying a weird form of resource guarding. For instance, yesterday I gave her a dentastik as I cannot give her bones because she goes nuts - a little like Jekyll & Hyde. Very nasty. Yesterday I gave her the dentastik and she didn't want to eat it like she normally does, she just sat in the corner of our lounge room and would not let anyone within 2 feet of her before she would growl, ears back etc.

I have an appointment with a dog behaviourist next weekend to address this problem but I just thought I would ask if any of you have experienced similar displays of this type.

Occasionally she will sit out in the backyard and watch every move I make - just staring - it is rather unnerving.

We bought her from a breeder who breeds for temperament (show lines) but this behaviour is baffling. The other issue is at times she will completely ignore my commands and other times is a perfect little angel.

We do obedience training every Saturday and she is great.

I am at a loss with this growling/guarding and was hoping someone could give me a few pointers on the correct way to address it.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Shazmn

[cavNrott]

I suggest teaching your dog the 'OUT' command by offering a treat of a higher value than the Dentastick when she is resource guarding. A good sized piece of BBQ chicken or a piece of cheese worked well when I was teaching my dogs this command. Offer the high value treat and praise with much enthusiasm when she drops the Dentastick to take the treat.

It's a valuable command to teach. My dogs seem to consider very dead, very smelly birds to be about the best thing they could possibly find but they do obey the 'OUT' command every time.

[korbin13]

I wouldn't give her anything that she considers of high value until the behavourist assessed her.

[persephone]

..i don't think it is 'teenage blues' - it is resource guarding ..and can be a big problem.I suggest getting an excellent and recommended person to assess this behaviour, and help you with management :)

if youCLICK here, you will find an older thread with ideas and discussion.

Glad you came here to ask ,before something happened that could lead to injury! :)

[cavNrott]

Of course consult a behaviourist if you feel uncertain about dealing with this or if you suspect there are more serious issues. Your dog is only 13 months old so it's best to deal with the problem while she's young. What breed is your dog?

My training method re resource guarding as mentioned in my previous post is included as a matter of course in my regular obedience training regime with my dogs. All my dogs respond to the OUT command.

One of my rescue Rottweilers did resource guard when she came to me. In time she responded to my training method and obeyed the OUT command. She would surrender whatever she considered to be her posession because she learned what I was offering was better than what she was guarding.

Edited to remove a number of errant commas.

Edited March 17, 2014 by cavNrott

[Nekhbet]

That's definitely not teenage blues. Resource guarding to that degree, I would also be calling your breeder. I agree with cavNrott the dog has to understand that there is no perceived loss of the object and hence stop the guarding. An out command and swap game to start is the way to begin high stress dogs without being bitten.

If you behaviorists insists on zapping or severely punishing your dog instead of teaching it how to deal with the stress it has just watch out. The reactivity too needs to be addressed but dont go getting your hands in there at all.

Edited March 17, 2014 by Nekhbet