Resource Guarding...please advise!

Hi! Sorry havent been on here for a long time!! I've been so busy with the wedding (getting married), moving, starting new jobs, etc that I just haven't had time! But anyway, things are settling down so now I will be able to post more often. :) ANyway, i have some questions. If you remember i Have a German Shorthaired Pointer named Heidi who is an only dog and 7 years old. She is VERY well trained and very obeident; however we seem to have problems with resource guarding with other dogs. She has not been around very many dogs in the past few years, and that is where it has seemed to pop up! :( She is very good with me, she will give me whatever i ask of her and she wont resource guard (cept with feet; which i am working on and she is getting much better with that :D). But i brought her over to my inlaws home for Easter and they have 3 small Yorkies. She is fine with them, just ignores them, cept when they try and bite her and attack her, then she growls and trys to protect herself, so i just wont allow them near her. However, ive noticed that when they start to come near her when shes getting petted (even with walking by) or near anyhting she growls low in her throat. She has had problems in the past with resource guarding and I have always removed the problem, such as toys etc from the situation. Now I would like to bring her to agility classes and dog parks now that ih ave the opportunity to (we didnt have those where i used to live), but i am worried that she will try and bite a dog. Last winter she bit our cat because it got too close to a bone (which was promptly removed from her permanently). I called a trainer in Hopkins MN, and she told me about a book called "Mine!" by Jean Donaldson. It talks about resource guarding, and she suggested we do a private consultation. Has anyone heard of that book and does anyone have any advice for me in order to help with the problem? I already do the nothing in life is free program with her and shes not allowed to sleep in my bed! Advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Mind if I tag along? I also have a guarding/aggressive problem with Molli that I have never been able to solve and it's just gotten worse. Did you find that book to be useful at all?

No problem!! I have not had a chance to read the book yet! I just heard about it today, and I would have to order it offline, which i have to wait till we get paid again because we had alot of expenses this month (new tires my wisdom teeth being pulled, stuff like that). But i am very interested in hearing what people say.

This problem can manifest even with dogs that have been well socialized throughout their life. Your dog is obedient and cooperative with you so it's not necessarily practicing ranking with the owner. However, 90% of the time dogs practice ranking with one another is through possessing different objects, even if the object has a low reward value - just so they can show the other dogs who will be the top dog.

If your dog has formed too much of an exclusive bond with you it will see other dogs and people as a threat to the attachment between the two of you, and will guard you. It seems like the dog has got it in its mind that any toy or bone you give her is hers and she takes the liberty to aggressively protect it from any other being. This is inappropriate pack behavior and needs to be corrected before it becomes aggression. The correction needs to be delivered the moment your dog begins to stare at someone waiting for eye contact. The level of the correction also needs to match the level of intensity and drive of your dog.

As a dog trainer I've worked with this problem numerous times. I recommend keeping your dog on a leash while she is around other people and animals. Watch her very carefully. If you notice stiffness in the body or staring deliver a correction. Don't be harsh or angry with the dog but just grab her attention. She'll be happy to cooperate with you as long as she understand what you want from her.

"The correction needs to be delivered the moment your dog begins to stare at someone waiting for eye contact. The level of the correction also needs to match the level of intensity and drive of your dog."

Wait... what? Correct a dog for waiting for eye contact from some one? Personally, I like my dogs to be focused and excited and watching me. I don't want my dog to be afraid to look at me. :confused: Also, does this mean that a dog like a Border Collie, a breed who ALWAYS has intensity in their eyes, should be walloped extra hard? Ugh.

"If you notice stiffness in the body or staring deliver a correction. Don't be harsh or angry with the dog but just grab her attention. She'll be happy to cooperate with you as long as she understand what you want from her."

WHY do you have to correct a dog to grab their attention? There are countless other ways to distract a dog and divert their attention without involving pain and possibly creating a whole assortment of other problems from giving those corrections.

Correcting a dog does not tell them what you want from them, it tells them what NOT to do. You're telling your dog "don't look at other dogs like that", "don't give other dogs a warning growl", "don't make eye contact"... or I'm going to hurt you. Additionally, what makes you think that the dog has the cognitive ability to realize that you're correcting them for being guardy, rather than them just associating the correction with being around other dogs period? Resulting in not just resource guarding, but full on aggression. I suppose the aggression wouldn't surface if you really, truly affectively keep your dog in a shut-down mode. But who wants that in a dog?

"Mine!" is an amazing book! Jean Donaldson is great. Fozzie is naturally a very independent, self-sufficient guardy dog. He was like that from the moment I adopted him. He will always let me take anything from him like Heidi, it's so much easier to deal with human food guarding, because you can hand feed and trade, while you cannot do that with other dogs. First, set her up for success. DO NOT leave out anything that she can get posessive of with other dogs. In a controlled situation with Heidi leashed and other dogs leashed nearby, feed her yummy treats and praise her. Make it clear that the other dogs are not allowed to take the treats that she's eating. Slowly do this closer and closer to other dogs, and break her off completely (by walking away and putting the treats away) if she seems stressed or tense at all. Eventually work up to feeding her treats with one hand while feeding another dog treats with the other. I've done this with Fozzie, very successfully! He can lick the same plate as any of his dog friends without giving a hoot.

As far as going to the dog park, do so during a quiet time of the day and don't offer her food or attention for now. Just let her interact and socialize without feeling the need to protect you. Don't sit down, walk around and body block her/walk away from her if she gets protective of you.