Resource guarding out of control

[Margaret Rauwald]

Hi,

After reading some of the comments on resource guarding, thought I'd join and post mine as I think it goes deeper.  Our adorable golden doodle, Mollie started resource guarding at about 6 mo. and is now 17 mo.  I have a wonderful trainer who Mollie has done puppy, advanced and agility training and did quite well. She recommended the book' MINE'. I do the trading exercise all the time and let her know I'm the boss and shouldn't growl or nip; however I'm not even sure anything will help at this point as it's gotten way out of control. She growls and nips any time I try to take away something/ anything she shouldn't have even with a good trade.  this has expanded to anything she doesn't like me doing such as trying to keep a cronic ear infection clean and dry or trimming her nails. She has bitten me badly once where I almost needed stiches and I currently have bandaged hand because I tried taking away a pencil she was eating.  Otherwise, she is very sweet and loves to be with any of us in the family as well as any one she meets.  She gets along well with all other dogs and loves to play!  Everyone loves her at 3 different doggie day camps she sometimes goes to for play or overnight stays. The groomer even loves her and hasn't had a problem.  Prior to Mollie we had a wonderful Bouvier, named Comet who was so much easier even as a puppy and we never had problems with her.  

I'm wondering if we may have not have gotten the best puppy from the breeder?  After extensive research I felt I had found a wonderful breeder, but when we picked up our puppy they were very reluctant to have us meet the parents. After insisting, they finally brought out the mom, large poodle who was very dirty and had very crusty disgusting eyes and didn't seem friendly.  The dad they said was indisposed with another female.  It was a shocking visit, but the puppy was so adorable (however came home with fleas) and 2 references I called couldn't say enough great things about this breeder.  the other two never called me back.  I wish I knew the owners of the other puppies from this breeder so I can see if we have related problems?  My husband thinks we should find Mollie a new home which I think would be very hard with her problem so I'm at a loss.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and post your comments and suggestions.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Sandy, you have certainly put in a lot of effort with Hattie.  Congrats for sticking with it!!

[Margaret Rauwald]

Sandy,

Thank you so much for your in depth reply! I'm so impressed with all the responses I quickly received. I have a call into the trainer I have used to discuss several of these options from this site as well as getting her into more obedience training.  I got very angry with her a couple times and also tried slapping her on the nose and she just became more viscious and wanted to bite my head off. Mollie needs constant training and I have to be more diligent which is sometimes hard with my very hectic family schedule.  I'm committed to give it all I have now and will keep everyone posted. 

[Donna K & Quincy]

I really have no experience with this but the only things I can suggest is to be extra vigilant in keeping things away from her that she might guard, using a muzzle when you are grooming her and give her absolutely nothing for free. Also I would hand feed her everything she gets so that she knows she is dependant on you. I hope you can find a solution, Mollie is a beautiful girl who deserves to be safe and happy but so do you. Good luck.

[Margaret Rauwald]

Keeping things away is a challenge unless I keep her crated or secured in a small area which maybe I should start doing again.  She goes up on the counters, shoe racks etc. and takes things. She gets angry even with a napkin or candy wrapper the kids may have used.   When she got a hold of a large wedge of parm. cheese when I preparing dinner, there was nothing that would have stopped her. I keep her leash now so I can grab with less chance of getting bit and quickly let her know I'm not pleased. the muzzle is a good idea and I'm going to work on all the other suggestions I received including keeping her dependant on me for everything. THx again.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

No advice, Myla does this sometimes, mostly if she gets woken up or startled. Good luck and I hope some trainer can help you out. Please don't trade her in, you guys can work through this.

[Carol Brand]

This is why I'm not a fan of the trading thing.  I know people say it works, but in my experience you will eventually run up against something the dog doesn't want to give up even with a trade.

 

But you have more than just resource guarding going on.  She has learned that she can scare you into stopping what she doesn't like.   This is a dangerous, slippery slope.  I've seen dogs graduate to biting their owners every time they don't get their way.   I agree with Nancy.  I think a hard core, old school training program like Koehler Method is for you.  I know that Nancy has had great success with it.  She can talk more about it, but it sure sounds like it turned her dog around. 

 

 

 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Hi Margaret, I am sorry for your trouble with Mollie, I am sure it is overwhelming and upsetting.

I read through the comments and can honestly say that I didn't know to what extent Sandy and Nancy had this issue.  As you can tell they were/are willing to try anything and do. It seems that you are doing the same by reaching out and hopefully their wisdom can help you through and change things for the better.

I do want to say this, we had a dog, Zach, that ended up being a dog that was very difficult. He started out as a great puppy we rescued at 5 months, he was a poodle mix. At right around a year he changed, it was like a switch. He no longer liked other dogs, and he bit one of my cousins at a family gathering, we suspect the food and commotion around made him nervous. Regardless we already loved him. After he bit our daughter when she startled him awake one day my husband thought we had to give him up. It was breaking our hearts, after thinking about what might happen to him with another family we realized we could not do that. Eventually we learned what we needed to do to co-exist with our guy...never try to take away food, never let anyone pet him, this was hard cause he was fluffy and cute and people would never believe us that he was mean and capable of biting. He really never bothered anyone as long as they didn't bother him. We couldn't bring him around other dogs, he didn't like them and there was always was a battle.

Zach always loved his family, especially after our daughter was more an adult size and not a kid size in her teen years.

All of this sounds ridiculous I am sure but Zach ended up getting pretty mellow in his formative years and ended up being a very cuddly dog. He lived to be 15 and fought through cancer, kidney failure and bladder stones.

I wonder now, if there had been a DK back then and a place for me to learn like here if his earlier years would have been different. You have a great resource here, please utilize the knowledge these pages hold.

I wish you the best of luck, Mollie is beautiful and you all deserve the best.

[Margaret Rauwald]

Thank you! Everyone is so caring andI'm so glad I found this website.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I guess when I had to re-post I didn't state that I didn't have this problem with Ned and Clancy.  Neither really has any serious issues.  I prefer this type of no-nonsense training that depends upon praise and respect. What we did see when we went to the classes were the other dogs in the class who were all adult rescues with big time issues.  A couple of those dogs ended up changing to personal one-on-one training from our trainer but the progress I saw the others make was amazing. Their owners were truly committed to their dogs and put in lots and lot of hours as well as seeking specific techniques for their dog's individual problems. Some of those techniques were rather stringent and were taught to address a serious behavior problem - especially when you consider the alternative...

What I was trying to say was that KMODT is fine for 'normal, ordinary dogs who need obedience training, it is a very successful teaching for off-leash competition, but it also can address serious behavioral problems.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Hoping that Adina will chime in here because she has a lot of training contacts across the Country and can hopefully share some contacts with you that might be able to help.  Also, the DRC has some good folks in your area of the Country and can hopefully make some recommendations for you.  Obviously the best thing for Mollie would be for her to learn good behavior and not have to be re-homed.  If you are willing to devote the time and effort, I'm sure they can help you find someone to help you with Mollie's issues.  Please keep us posted on how it is going.

[Bonnie and Kona]

I am so sorry you are dealing with this very difficult behavior. I know others with more experience and training will chime in. I just wanted to say that we had a dog that was very sweet but when he thought he was the boss, he became incorrigible. We had to start back at the beginning with crating him at night or when we left the house, nothing in life is free kind of training...where he had to perform to get any privilege and could not proceed us in walking through doors, etc. He was no longer allowed on the furniture or received extra loves just for being cute. He was never allowed on the bed again. It finally changed his behavior to the point that he was only crated at night and was allowed back on the furniture. We got him at 2 1/2 not a pup. I cannot remember when we ended up with the issues and had to revert back to the crate. I hope you get some good advice that helps you through this. An aggressive dog that thinks he/she is in charge can be very dangerous. Hoping for a wonderful resolve to this problem for all of you.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Sounds like the episode of Dr. Phil that I watched while on the treadmill this morning.  It was on Little Mean Girls.  Parents of 4,5,& 6 year old girls that were out of control.  Bottom line from Dr. Phil was:  Strip their room down to the mattress and a blanket and pillow.  Everything else is GONE!  They have to earn each and every single thing back by good behavior.  He said it will be 2 steps forward, one step back:  3 steps forward, 4 steps back etc.  Not a quick process, but an effective one in the end if you stick to your guns.