Dog resource guarding me - worse now I’m pregnant

[Moonlightmad]

I have a Cavapoo who is well natured and easy going. We noticed a few months ago that on walks he would show resource guarding behaviours if we went to pet another dog. He would get jealous and jump up at them and snarl.

At Christmas we went to visit family and brought the dog to stay. We stayed in an air bnb but visited my in laws who have a dog. Our dog was constantly on alert making sure their dog didn’t approach us and if it did, our dog would growl and snap at them.

I’m 15 weeks pregnant and feel he even worse with resource guarding me. For example if my partner gives me a kiss he will bark. Today my nephew was over visiting and my dog gets so excited and jumps allover my nephew (we have a trainer coming out next month to help us with this). Due to our dog being so excitable, I sit him on my lap to calm him down when we have guests. My nephew was on the couch too and stood up on the couch (he’s only 2) and leaned in to me and our dog snarled and lunged at him. He was close enough to have made contact but he didn’t, it was as if it was a warning. I was so upset by this as you can imagine.

I have reached out to a few behaviourists in the area as I’d like to resolve this behaviour asap but the waiting time is 2-3 months. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice in the mean time please? Thank you

If you can’t get one now could you contact eg rspca and ask do they have someone who could come over and help? Agreed definitely have no children near the dog

Your dog thinks he is the 'pack leader' in the household. No sitting on lap, be tough with him, it may be difficult at first. He's protecting his pack, someone needs to get through to him that he isn't the boss!

@tootrueblue bang on!👍

@carerneedshelp pack theory is not bullshit

Er yes it is. Your dog doesn’t think you are a dog. So you don’t need to be the top dog . Even the person who came up with the theory now admits they got it wrong.

Op's dog is being bossy, he thinks he's the dominant 'entity'
..same difference

Er no. That just shows a complete lack of
understanding of the situation. Challenging a dog displaying resource guarding is likely to escalate the situation. And could well end with someone being bitten.

It's pretty normal when you're pregnant to be honest to experience this. I imagine it will improve once baby is here.

FWIW one of cats was like this when I was pregnant - nearly took ex husbands eye out 😂

How was it once baby arrived? My dog acts exactly the same as I worry about when baby arrives too.

It was fine at first but as soon as baby was on the move he wasn’t great unfortunately. We keep them separate a lot of the time, it’s just safer for everyone. I hope that when our son (now 20 months) is older they can live happily together