Murphy becoming anxious/aggressive around dogs.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Murphy is a rather anxious dog, but otherwise friendly and well socialized to humans and dogs. He had started about 2 years ago to growl and bark at dogs that come near me or Bella and this has slowly escalated to him chasing dogs away from her and then humping her, I guess to show his dominance and ownership of her???
It has just gotten to the point of needing to separate him from other dogs that visit, and to stay hyper aware at the dog park so that I can step in between him and other dogs to walk him back away from the other dogs and to redirect him. I give a verbal correction and he does back away easily, however it is taking longer to get him to give up the barking and aggressive growling and it tends to excite the other dogs until I'm in a mix of barking lunging dogs. And other owners are appearing anxious around him and their dogs as well, from all the noise.
Im not sure what it is that is making him so uncomfortable and guarded now around other dogs and more unsure as to what to do about it. Is he getting more anxious as he gets older? Is he becoming more protective? Possessive? I feel bad for him because he used to play with other dogs and its now more waiting for whatever is going to set him off than it is watching him play.
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think this will be difficult to work with in a dog park because there's so much chaos and lots of "not so well balanced" dogs.  If you have a friend who is experienced and has a dog that is willing to work with you I think you could set up some training sessions to help Murphy through this.  I would take them to neutral territory and just let them start to play.  You need to show Murphy that YOU are claiming Bella....not him.  If he goes to chase away the other dog, step in front of Bella and back him off....just walk right into him confidently.  The second he turns his attention away praise and reward....treats for everyone.  I would always stop the humping...I'm not sure if that's dominance or just excitement.  Lots of dogs start that when they're in a highly excited state.  You'll have to follow him around to react at the first sign that he's starting to resource guard Bella.  I went through a stage with Murph when he would "resource guard" me.  That was difficult because the only way to cure it was to show him that when he behaved like that he actually "lost" me.  I would take him right to the car, and then go back to where we were with just Guinness.  After a few times he "got it". 

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Yes, I do have a friend and my daughter who have dogs that he is starting to do this with and I can definitely do this with them at least once a week. Yes, the dog park is too chaotic to try to do it. I think he would respond well to this, especially the treats if I catch him before he is in a full blown frenzy. Also my "Claiming" Bella is an excellent idea I hadn't thought of.
I just left my daughters house where there are 2 other doodles and Murphy always goes into his guarding mode with the newest doodle. I stayed very near as they played and he responded to my "Uh-Uh" when he started to growl and bark at the new dog as he got near Bella, and he stopped immediately and came and sat near me. But was in a rigid position, not relaxed, as though on guard. He does this with me as well, however, its hard to separate the behavior from resource guarding Bella or resource guarding me as we are all 3 always together and Bella does tend to stay very near me when other dogs are around. I will work on your suggestions and appreciate your response as I know you have dealt with just about every situation with your Murph. I very much want to help him get back to the fun, playful dog he was and relieve his anxiety. I thought we had most of his anxious behaviors handled, but I guess they can rear their ugly heads at anytime.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ned is our 'alpha' and protects the pack (probably includes us), sometimes growling at approaching dogs when we are walking on leash.  What I find interesting is that when we have him by himself and not with the other dogs, he NEVER displays this behavior.  Just for fact finding, does he do this if Bella is NOT there?

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

That would be hard to answer, as that rarely happens. They go everywhere together. It did however happen once at the vet when I just had him by myself. So again, I'm not sure if it's a possessiveness of Bella, or Me or the both of us.
I have had 2 training sessions at a park with other doodles. It is going well actually, and he is responding to my stopping him from humping. The first time I had to remove him when he did not respond to my second "Leave it" but I am staying closer to him to prevent him from the opportunity to do it to her now.
He is getting better at backing away when I walk into him and redirect him. At the first 30 min or so, he would just try to go around me. Then he realized treats were involved if he;d calm down and stay back. That worked like a charm.
So we will continue with Jane's advice as it is certainly working. We have a ways to go yet, but he has relaxed by maybe 10%. So we are headed in the right direction. Thanks for asking Nancy

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Hooray!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

:)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

You are definitely on the right path...I'm so glad to hear that Murphy is "getting it".  The redirection and reward when he complies is actually changing his "state of mind" which I think is so important.  Just be sure to keep your treats high value for a while.  He may test if the reward isn't more important to him than the behavior you're trying to change.  Great that you removed his when he didn't respond the second time.  So often I see people just continue to repeat the command and at that point the dog has lost respect and is just playing a game.  Keep up the great work!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Jane. I greatly appreciate your input. Treats have always worked well for all my training with my two as they are very food mptivated. Yes, changing his state of mind is important as is trying to prevent him from even getting into that state. So that is the direction I am heading in. I remember teaching "Come" and they got called once and the second time the leash was pulled in or I went to get them, so I'm going back to training basics.
Im feeling encouraged, but will keep at it. It was nice to see him just relax enough to walk away from Bella and I and go play with other dogs. That is my ultimate goal.

[Carol and Banjo]

Great news Sue.    Keep up the good work!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Carol. I will keep working on it!

[Deborah Brown]

My Charlie was the perfectly sensible well adjusted dog.  Then Wayne came to us.  Wayne was/is very fearful and Charlie took on the role of protector.  He knew Wayne didn't have good social skills and would run between Wayne and any other dog to keep Wayne separated.  It is an interesting phenomenon.  He also does the humping thing but not usually in a dog park setting.

The first thing I would try is to reassure Murphy that you have everything under control and he does not need to intervene.  He probably understands when you tell him things are OK.  We all say that enough to our dogs. You may need to leash him and keep him at your side while Bella meets new dogs.  If he can remain calm, he can join in the play.

You also may have to stop going to dog parks.  Or take the dogs separately.  Aggressive barking and lunging is self rewarding and the more he does this, the more comfortable he is with the behavior.  They say when dogs get very stressed, it takes a couple of days for the adrenaline and cortisone to wear off.  For some dogs they need a longer "cortisol vacation" where they are in a stress free environment.

I can tell that you and dogs like to be social but it will probably be best for you to only meet one or two dogs at a time instead.  Maybe over time, Murphy will see that Bella can handle herself and he can back off a bit and relax.

Oh.. and I just read through the other comments.  Jane is right on about claiming Bella!  Good luck!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Deborah, I'm sorry, I didn;t really clarify. I took them to a small park by our house that is not a dog park but no one is around for several football field lengths. My daughter brought her two doodles one day and a friend brought her two the next session. Murphy is particularily protective around one of my friends dogs so I wanted tobe sure I could get the behavior so I could work on it. I agree, dog parks are out for a long while until I get him more comfortable. I haven't considered the leashing, but it might be something to try.
Yes he definitely understands when I tell him "I've got this, it's ok" We use that at home a lot when he runs to the door or front window if someone is walking by. I like that he warns us, but also that he stops when I say that.
Do you think it has something to do with him wanting to protect her and he will learn in time that she can handle herself? No dogs ever really are aggressive to her during any of these outbursts, but maybe he is picking up something before I am and wants to stop it. She is very mellow and rolls over on her back very quickly if another dog even chases her.