10 month puppy showing agression or just teenager antics?

I have a 10 month old puppy named Barney who used to be the sweetest boy in the world! He is becoming a moody teenager and has started to become slightly aggressive to my older smaller male dog (who before recently was definitely the one in charge). In the past 2 weeks I noticed Barney starting to resource guard his favorite sleeping spots. Barney will be laying peacefully somewhere but if he sees my other dog approach one of his favorite spots he will run over and claim the spot for himself, growl, snap at the air. Oddly enough he is only doing this with sleeping spots...at least so far. He doesn't resource guard food or toys. My older dog is starting to get stand offish with him in certain situations and sometimes wont enter a room he is in to avoid him. However at other times they act fine together.

I've been trying to desensitize Barney with treats by having my older dog lay in Barney's favorite sleeping spots and treat them both. Also I will give a firm "No!" when he acts out. Is there any other suggestions when dealing with resource guarding/crazy teenager mood swings? I see some websites say since Barney is becoming an adult I should let them work out who is the dominant dog and others say no I should not allow this type of behavior from any dogs in my pack. Any advice from experience??

thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Bethany on May 22, 2018 at 10:55am

We went through this a couple of weeks ago with our pup who is nine months. She started growling at us and nipped us a few times when we tried to grab something she shouldn't have. For example, she was on the bed and she knows she is not allowed up there and was chewing on something and when I went to grab it, she growled and nipped me. Made me scared to approach her when she got a hold of things she shouldn't but I had to make her aware that I am the dominant one. (Not sure about having two pups though) She is the sweetest dog, but she was acting like a totally different dog. This happened a couple of times within the same two weeks. I just researched a lot on resource guarding and tried to teach her to drop whatever she had in exchange for a treat. We also put her in "time out" a few times when she lashed out, leashing her to a chair in the living room, so she learned not to do it again. We are still working on it, but she hasn't been aggressive since. Sorry I don't have much advice, but you aren't alone! I am sure others will chime in with great advice!

Permalink Reply by Doodlez on May 23, 2018 at 11:51am