Resource guarding

[Powertothepetal]

Oh goodness, so first of all I wasn’t there so I am going entirely off what DH said here..

So, 12 week old male chihuahua.
He’s pretty nervous but tends to recover quickly.

DH took him today to visit his mum (he’s been once before), MIL has two small dogs who are perfectly fine with other dogs who have met my puppy once before.

On arrival puppy was shaking but soon recovered and was playing with the other dogs and generally having a nice time.

MIL had put out three rawhide sticks; one for each dog (something I NEVER give to my dogs and would not have let him have had I been there but anyway)

My puppy took a rawhide and then took the other two rawhide off MILs dogs and when one of the other dogs came to retrieve it he growled at her!
Then growled at my DH who took the other two off him and gave them back to MILs dogs.

What do I do to stop this ever happening again?
I mean in terms of training, not ‘never let him have a rawhide’ because if this starts extending to other items simply not letting him have the offending items isn’t going to help...

While MILs dogs are ‘small’ they are still considerably bigger than my chihuahua and could really hurt him, my older dog being a large border collie it doesn’t even bear thinking about if she went for him and even discounting that, I don’t want a dog that aggressively guards possessions, especially as I have young children.

Please help

Oh also, my DH was very much of the opinion (as am I) he must not be allowed to pinch the other dogs things but MIL was very much ‘ah they’ll sort it out amongst themselves/discipline him if it’s a problem’

He is a little swine for nabbing my older dogs toys but it’s always been to get her to chase him, all very good natured and has always ended either in my dog not indulging him and just getting a different toy or a tug of war in which my older dog is victorious.
So based on this I initially suspected he was trying to instigate play/chase.
But if he’s growling that obviously isn’t the case.

Oh dear god.

Talking further to DH he says puppy repeatedly walked up to the other dogs and took the rawhide and DH repeatedly took it straight back off him until MIL told him to stop and that the dogs would sort it out.

He says he growled every single time his hand came near.

I feel fucking awful.
So angry and pissed off and worried.
Everyone warned me about this when I said I was getting a chihuahua.
Don’t get a chihuahua, they are barky, snappy, vicious little shits they said.
Aggressive with the children, other dogs.
My SIL chihuahua is a terror for resource guarding but i thought I’d prove them all wrong.

I have a lovely older dog of a ‘more difficult breed’ allegedly, I don’t baby dogs etc, it won’t be mine.

God I feel terrible.

I'm not a long life dog owner, our dog is only 13 months old but some things that stand out...

He's only 12 weeks old, he's nervous to the point of shaking and yet still put in the triggering situations. You probably need to move much slower with him to ensure he doesn't feel out of his depth and has to resort to guarding and protecting himself.

We never take treats /food away from our dog. It can cause them to feel protective and I don't blame him for growling, he doesn't want you to keep taking it! He's a baby and doesn't understand he should 'share', you shouldn't be punishing him. If our dog has something he shouldn't, we call him away with something of higher value and take the other thing away when he's gone.

Mixing him with lots of other dogs, on their territory is asking for trouble without proper introductions and building them all up to it.

Firstly, please calm down! He's 12 weeks old and was in a brand new environment with strange dogs and strange people. He was scared. He's not aggressive or horrible or a vicious little shit. He's a puppy who was very overwhelmed and frightened.

I don't think your MIL should have been giving out high value chews (especially not rawhide, but that's another story lol) to the dogs without separating them (or at least, without separating your puppy from hers). Your dog was, in his eyes, given this amazingly tasty treat, but there were two dogs (and two humans) there who represented a threat, so his response was to growl, snarl and warn you all to, essentially, fuck off, because he didn't want any of you to take his treasure.

There are lots of schools of thought surrounding how to deal with resource guarding, however the first thing is to stop giving him high value treats unless he's alone and will be left in peace - that's for safety more than anything else at this point.

Personally, I would get a behaviourist involved (speak to your vet for recommendations), so they can help you one on one, in person, and can come up with a plan that's specifically tailored to your situation.

People online will give you lots of well-meaning advice but resource guarding isn't an issue to mess with as it can very easily be made worse.

Best of luck!

He wasn’t nervous at the time.
He certainly was when he first arrived but when this happened he had been playing very happily with them.

I just feel awful.
We had a dog as a child who guarded and it was terrifying!
He went to bite my little brother in the face once.

We have 4 ddogs - it took training for them all to take and eat 1 treat only whilst letting the rest enjoy their own!!
Your dpuppy was in a strange and unknown situation in a different house....

He wasn’t nervous at the time. He certainly was when he first arrived but when this happened he had been playing very happily with them.

I suspect he was still feeling overwhelmed. He is a tiny puppy and he was put in a brand new environment with brand new dogs (who were on their own turf, so to speak), with new people (MIL) and he was then given a new, very high value treat.

His reaction is pretty normal - not desirable of course, but normal. He was scared he was going to have his treat taken off him (a fear which your DH and MIL confirmed) and he panicked and decided to tell you all off.

Imagine you were put in a new home with people of your species you'd never met, who were much bigger/older than you, and then two big people of a different species loomed over you, gave you something amazing and then tried to take it back. You'd be terrified. Which is how your little boy felt.

He's 12 weeks old and a tiny pup. He needs patience and training. Lots of it.

I hope he wasn’t feeling scared
DH said he definitely look it once he’s calmed down.

Also, if he was nervous, why deliberately go and steal the other dogs treats right from under their noses when he already had one for himself?

I’m not trying to be awkward at all here, I’m very grateful for advice, I just don’t understand why he would do that if he was overwhelmed and scared?

**definitely DIDNT look scared once he’d calmed down

It’s hard as I wasn’t there.
I literally just have DHs words to go on

You DONT need a behaviourist for this incident.

Most puppies have no idea at all about ownership, if they want something they will go and get it. Most adult dogs will give the puppy extra freedom because they are puppies. Hence you MIL's dog happy giving up their chews. As your puppy gets older the other dogs behaviour will change. The puppy licence will run out

I would also never give chews etc to all dogs in one location so that is the first thing to implement.

I would also get into the habit of approaching your puppy and just giving them a treat. For no reason just walk up to them and pop the treat on the floor in front of them.

Then if they do have something you want just calmly walk up to them pop the treat on the floor and as they are eating it remove the item.

However if your dog does get narky out certain chew etc I would not give them to them and would find an alternative. If they really love a chew I would make sure it is size appropriate for them to eat in one sitting and leave them to it.

Have a and no need to dwell on this.

Also, if he was nervous, why deliberately go and steal the other dogs treats right from under their noses when he already had one for himself?

I suspect it's because they were high value and he wanted them - puppies are like toddlers and have no real sense of boundaries, lol.

When a dog is overwhelmed, it's not a feeling that just vanishes right away - even if their behaviour changes to make them appear more chilled and relaxed, that underlying worry/adrenaline can still be present in their systems for a good while (as in hours or days) afterwards.

A dpuppy needs to learn manners op!! By being around other ddogs in supervised surroundings.. Your dpuppy was given free for all with other ddogs and food!!

Your dpuppy was given free for all with other ddogs and food!!
Quite!

I’m just a whirlwind of emotions really.
I’m upset that he felt stressed enough to respond in this way (I know I keep saying he was having an nice time which from what DH said it sounds like he was apart from the initial fear arriving but i know resource guarding is a fear based problem and don’t like my puppy feeling so uncomfortable), I’m pretty upset he was given rawhide when rawhide is something I’m very against and would never feed my dogs, the comments from others have been playing on me a bit too because literally no one was enthusiastic when I said I’m getting a chihuahua, they ALL tried to put us off saying they were snappy etc.
Then the horrible experiences with my childhood dog.
Oh dear.

Still, I’m very grateful for all the advice given and will take it all on board.

This was NOT a fear based problem. It was not a resource guarding issue. It was a puppy incident.

I have a 16 week old lab with me at the minute he would have done the same - he has not yet been stressed by anything in life .

Ah thanks Polly
I’m feeling much better about the whole thing and will make sure he isn’t put into that situation again