Rescue Dog With Resource Guarding - New Owner

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I'm trying to help some new owners of a rescue Dachshund. Dog has only been in the house since Saturday but has nipped 2 members of the family as it has decided mother is her property.

Dog doesn't guard food or anything else and is lovely with the other dog but not visitors or members of the family.

I have told them to ignore the dog for 2 weeks and the mother is to put the dog in the laundry or similar the minute the dog starts any bad behaviour.

I have said they may need a behaviouralist as I don't have experience of this and they have children so potetially unsafe.

Does anyone have any other ideas? They really love the dog and don't want to return it.

[Alkhe]

What about making other family members do all feeding and interaction, including affection (when this is able to happen), rather than the mother? So that every positive thing the dog gets comes from another family member, and the mother ignore the dog completely. My view would be that the dog could then develop trust and affection toward other family members and stop associating the mother as a valuable 'resource', so to speak?

[Jigsaw]

A lot of rescued dogs seem to form attachments very quickly and I've found that this sort of behaviour seems to happen with some dogs in some households. I would be starting with stopping any lap or couch privileges for the moment and provide the dog with a bed or crate it can go for a comfy spot. If there is a particular time that this sort of event is more likely to happen eg when kids go to bed, put the dog in another room so behaviour cannot be rehearsed. I'd also suggest some Adaptil spray - family members can spray it on themselves, lasts about 45mins from memory. It might help

But best idea would be if the rescue group has a trainer or behaviourist that works with the group, the new owners should contact them and ask for advice. I'd be doing it sooner rather than later before a nip becomes a bite.