Resource Guarding?

[Dame Aussie]

Hi all,

Just wanting any advice on a new behaviour I'm a bit worried about....

Lili has just turned 6 months, she has stopped biting except for sometimes when playing she will mouth, never hard, and when this happens we say no and walk away. She is attending obedience and doing very well, has no problems with aggression towards other dogs or people. When it comes to food, bones etc there’s not a problem. I can take a bone or toy off her and all she will do is tug for it back sometimes.

However, on a couple of occasions at night time it’s a different story. I first noticed this one night, we were in bed and Lili was lying on the floor in the bedroom, I heard her chewing on something and reached down to take it off her and she shot forward at me, she didn’t bite or snap but just moved quickly as if to scare me away, I thought maybe I’d just given her a fright but now this has happened on a couple of occasions.

The other night she was laying near an electric plug so I bent down to turn it off just in case she decided to chew on it in the night….As I bent down to reach for it she shot forward again and snarled at me , her muzzle touched my hand but with no teeth. This only seems to happen at night, in our room, in the dark and over things that normally she couldn’t care less about!

Is this resource guarding??

Thanks all

Edited December 2, 2008 by Aussie3

[luvsdogs]

I'm not sure, it could be. Maybe its time to have her sleep in another room. I've sometimes been tempted to have Tilba sleep in my room but have resisted, thinking its not fair to her if there are times when she can't be there. It reminds me of the story that the breeder of April told me when we 1st went to look at her litter. She had a male border that was hers & he used to sleep on their bed. After a while he would bark at the husband when he came into the room. It escalated to the dog growling when he went to get in bed.

There are lots of things you could try. Like practice taking things off her by swapping with something that's safe for her to have. It's not a good idea to take away a dogs food but rather stand with them while they eat & add some tasty treats to the bowl.

I had a small resource guarding incident with Tilba the 1st time I gave her a chicken wing. She grabbed it & took off to eat it. I read that if you keep a hold of the food it still belongs to you. It's when you let go that the dog sees it as his. I did this & she is now fine with me handling her food.

[leopuppy04]

Aussie 3 - it could be, not enough info to say for sure - but you can never do any harm with practicing some resource guarding training

PM me if you like

[Leema]

I don't know if it's resource guarding, but it sounds like she is bite mapping - whether this is because of resources or something else I don't know...