Amy bit my daughter
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| Your daughter was brushing her with what and for how long? Some dogs have low tolerance for brushing and sometimes we don't realize how hard we're brushing them. I was just wondering. I'm sorry but I don't remember how old Amy is. What do you mean by food aggresion? What does she do and with whom? The men that she is growling at, do they have baseball caps on? For some reason, men with baseball caps on seem to set dogs off. We need more information if you can give us more please. |
| Becky was brushing her with a pin brush, and had just started on her chest. The dogs get brushed daily, and thus far, Amy's been very happy for her turn to be brushed, often pushing Opal out of the way. Amy is a 4 year old rescue that we've had for only a few weeks. The food aggression is growling if someone is standing close while she is eating. It can be anyone--kids or myself. We can be just standing in the kitchen very near where the dogs eat, or in one case it was when I bent down to refill the water bowl that is between the food dishes--I bent over Opal to pick up the bowl. Other incidence that appears to be resource guarding include snapping and biting if we come near her when she has a treat such a rawhide chew. She'll also go after Opal if Opal has the exact same treat but Amy wants both. The men problem is the one that most bothers me, primarily because I asked specifically if she had any problems with men. Its any men. We have construction going on in our neighborhood right now, so there are workmen on 4-5 sites. She growls and snarls at them, she growls at people coming and going in and out of their own homes, either on the same side of the street or the other side of the street we are walking on. It can be construction guys in carhartts, or business men in suits going to their cars, or my favorite, the sheriff, who gets home about the time we are out walking. Hat, no hat--it doesn't matter. Before a neighbor can even utter a simple good morning, she's growling at him. |
| Sounds like you are indeed dealing with resource guarding. If so, I would recommend preventing something from happening with food or treats by putting food down in a separate area where the dog can eat in peace and then picking up the empty bowl immediately after they are done. And by not giving both dogs treats in the same room. They can each have one in a separate area but not together where trouble may happen. You might even try just a baby gate between rooms to give them a separate sense of their "space" or you could just not give them treats until you get this issue sorted out. Keep your other pet(s) and your child(ren) safe. That is very important! I'd also strongly recommend a consultation with a pet behavior professional. You want to sort this behavior out so you won't have to keep dealing with it forever. Resource guarding is a serious issue. You don't want it to get any worse. Linda Zimmerman |
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your opinion.  I discovered that Amy has two hotspots. I'm pretty sure that's why she bit Becky. One spot is on her front leg, and one on the base of her tail, and now poor Amy has been coned, and is being treated. I understand the action, I don't like it, but I know why she bit. Her ways of warning aren't as obvious as Opal's or the dog we had before these two. Its something we'll have to be more careful of. I also went on a hunch, and started feeding Amy a half cup more food per feeding. I'm not sure how much food she needs, so I started with the same 3 1/2 cups that I feed to the Opal, but Opal is 47 lbs and Amy is significantly more (~75 lb). Now that she's up to 4 1/2 cups a day, she has mellowed out at feeding time. We haven't gotten any big treats out for them since she got snotty with Opal earlier. I'll save those sorts of things for when I need to take Opal somewhere without Amy. I am waiting for a call back from a trainer now. Hopefully we can get this under control quickly. |
| Sounds like a good plan...you are doing well! I hope you can all get this figured out. Transitioning can be a bumpy time while a dog is figuring out how to live a new life. |
| Did you get the problem sorted-very interesting one as Sprocket went through a phase of growling at men-we started being more carefull with walks and customers-he had to go in the house which he didn't like as likes to "see what's going on". He now knows if growls goes in so the problem hardly happens now.x Allyson.x |
| We're working on the men problem by having somewhat unfamiliar men toss her a treat when she meets them on the sidewalk. She seems to be less scared and more excited with the idea of meeting men since sometimes treats fly at her. Since we were somewhat well recognized with Opal on the walking trails, we have some help with "strangers" being willing to take treats from the kids to gently toss to Amy and Opal. Except now, I've got to get Opal to stop trying to run up to people to mug them... I've also started taking food dishes away randomly during feeding times, giving treats, then returning the food dishes. This works a little too well, since now anytime I walk past the two while they are eating, they sit at attention and then look sad when I don't take their food away. I still haven't gotten any big rawhide chews out. The Man brought home some new deer antlers a while back (he finds them when he does field work) and the dogs have been so happy. |
| Sounds good |
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