Golden Retriever 8 months....resource guarding

[Eliza22]

I have a beautiful golden girl. She's 8 months old now. We've done puppy classes and are working toward our Bronze certificate for obedience so, basic "early doors" stuff.

Her stay/recall is good when there is no one else around to distract her, otherwise she just ignores me and is off after other dogs. We have a big problem with guarding. Not all the time and often over the daftest things. Today, she had found a strip of parcel tape and was prancing around the lounge with it sticking out of her muzzle like a long tongue. I went to remove it off her gently and she went for me. This also happened at the weekend. A fellow dog walker in our group put down a plastic bowl for water. My golden pup picked it up and when I told her to "drop and leave" she did so but...the guy reached down to pick it up and again and she went for him. Full-on teeth, snarl and scary "I'm going to rip your hand off" noise.

I'm getting very worried. She's so, so good. She IS only a baby but I don't trust her.

Our trainer gave me some exercises to do and she responds well but then, as I say, right out of the blue she'll have a real "go" about a piece of garden wire she's sourced.

She gets a good "free run" walk in a field in the mornings with other dogs and two pavement walks - one mid afternoon and one in the evening. Also, gets played with and bits of training in the day. She's comes in the car with me etc so, she's well "socialised" iykwim

Any help appreciated.

[Shriek]

that 'but don't they all' comment ^ was in response to your 'butter wouldn't melt comment' - it looks a bit harsh on its own.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Eliza this can be fixed with good effective training and I like learn to earn that Vet suggested. I have been involved with a case, also a GR who had been allowed to develop very serious resource guarding due complete failure to do any training with him. He was rehomed to a committed owner who stuck religiously to learn to earn he is now a super dog who you can do anything with ( take blood samples etc).

[LilCamper]

This isn't aggression though, this is resource guarding which is a fear based behaviour.

[Cheerfulmarybrown]

This could be a straightforward issue to deal with BUT do not take any advice from people that have not seen the situation in real life or just dog owners on a random forum.

I would insist on the first trainer I contact to be an APDT member - if this is out of their specialism they will say and have a more qualified behaviourist to refer you to eg apbc

[ClaraMabel]

Hi Eliza,
I realise you posted this a LONG time ago (and maybe won't see this comment), but find myself in a similar situation to what you describe so am wondering how things worked out with your girl's resource guarding?? Did she grow out of it (with training of course) or was it an ongoing problem?
I have a 5 mth old golden girl who is so sweet and follows all training cues perfectly 95% of the time, but then seems to have brain pops out of the blue and ferociously guards the most ridiculous item (stick, piece of paper, whatever!). She even bit my 6yr old son last week when he inadvertently went near her and 'her stick'.
I've done a load of reading and even have a behaviouralist coming next week so am working on the problem, but having read your post it made me wonder how things went with your girl.
If you read this, I'd love to hear!
Thanks,
Clara :)

[MissKittyBeaudelais]

Hello Clara

To be honest, she’s 5 now, and I would not trust her around people and especially children When she has something she loves/wants. I personally can remove anything from her but, as I say, I tell others not to.

We went to see her “mum” two years ago and it was obvious where the guarding had come from! When we first saw the mumwith pups, she was feeding and looking after them. We collected her at 8 weeks and mum was very gentle. However, on our last visit she was growls about giving stuff up, even with the breeder. Personally, I’d not have bred from her. We had our girl spayed after that. I’m making her sound like a monster. She isn’t but there’s something of the wolf about her behaviour. We’ve done loads of training. It’s ongoing and for life. A one to one trainer may help. It may not, and, I don’t have young children in my household.

We love our girl. She’s a lot of fun. Her recall’s good now. She’s a lovely companion and follows me everywhere 😊. Wouldn’t be without her. One trainer did give me some valuable advice though, he said “remember, she IS a dog, an ANIMAL at the end of the day”.

Good luck to you.

[MissKittyBeaudelais]

Sorry....nearly 4 😊

[MissKittyBeaudelais]

Here she is ....

[Racvac]

@Eliza22 I came across this post with interest as I am having the exactly same experience with my 9 month old Goldie. I know this is ages ago but I'd be really interested to know how it turned out for you and any tips you can give. with hindsight?🙏🐾

[Hoppinggreen]

Hi Rac I was on the thread too and me and Eliza swapped emails and last I heard it was all going well for her. We also had some issues so I hope you don’t mind me replying
Firstly it’s apparently not that unusual for Goldies, although I have had them before and not come across it. Unfortunately our boy came from a puppy farm (no idea at the time) which may explain it. We found Ddog was much worse with DS than the rest of us.
You need professional help, Goldies have a big softy reputation. It’s largely deserved but they are big powerful dogs and that needs to be respected. We did get help and put things into place and now Ddog is absolutely fine and never resource guards at all. He sometimes looks a bit uncomfortable if he has something but he will bring it to me to “share”. I can give you a few tips though
Don’t take anything away, get them to bring it to you for a swap.
If they look uncomfortable back off and again let them come to you
Even if they aren’t guarding something ask if you can have it and swap or take it but then give it back
Don’t show too much interest in what they have, if Ddog has something he shouldn’t and won’t drop it I say in a sing song voice “I don’t want your silly xyz” I am going to go to the fridge for some cheese instead. In fact Ddog drops things now if you just say the word cheese
Don’t force anything, even affection, let them come to you for cuddles etc.
We also had to get DS to work on his relationship with Ddog, Ddog just saw him as a potential rival for things. They are good friends now
Anyway, that’s what we did and it’s worked but as I said get professional help, you have a big dog with big teeth and it’s needs to be properly managed.
Hope that helps, please feel free to message me if you want

[Racvac]

@Hoppinggreen thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and it's so nice to hear someone who doesn't just say "but she's so cute" or "no-one has the perfect dog though". We've had a trainer once but I think we'll probably try someone new. Thank you for the tips also, we will definitely try them!

[Hoppinggreen]

You’re welcome
I would suggest a behaviourist rather than a trainer. We found ours via the vet but she also worked for Dogs Trust to rehab dogs with issues and really knew her stuff.
I have just been having a minor FB argument with someone who suggested all dogs should be given bones and I said that I wouldn’t due to previous guarding. It would probably be ok but it was one of ddogs trigger points so I think it’s better to avoid it.
As for your dog being cute I bet she is but that’s the problem, people dint see beyond that - I have had to peel toddlers off my dog while a parent looked on fondly. No way they would have encouraged it if he had been a Rottie for example
They look like teddies (and largely are) but as I have said they are big powerful dogs with big teeth too
Best of luck, feel free to PM if you want