Post by Jewellz on Apr 8, 2016 16:37:33 GMT -5
I don't know if any of you know anything about dog behavior or whatnot but if you do I could use some help, but otherwise I just need to vent...
So I have 3 dogs, a miniature Dachshund who is female and almost 9 named Rio, a Chi/Terrier mix that is almost 6 named Irish, and a 4 year old Plott hound mix named Harlan.
Lately in the past couple months I have noticed Harlan going into "guard mode" whenever Rio or Irish investigates the coffee table or sometimes at feeding time when they get too close to his "corner." I feed them all in different locations, Harlan is in the far corner of the kitchen, Rio is in the nearest corner, and Irish is in the living room right next to the coffee table because he has to be near me and he almost never eats all his food so then we pick it up and leave it on the coffee table. Well, some time ago Harlan started eating it the next day off the coffee table but now he thinks that anything food or toy-related on the coffee table is his and when the other dogs sniff or look at the coffee table he gets all alert and stares them down, sometimes he even whines or barks. He does this while he's laying on his couch from like 6 feet away. (Yeah we have a whole couch that is basically his super-expensive dog bed.) He does almost the same thing with feeding time. Since his bowl is closest to where I dole out the food to all the bowls he stares down Rio if she gets too close to his feeding area while I am portioning out the food. She doesn't even care she's just doing the happy dance like 'yay food soon.' And Irish waits in the living room so that isn't an issue for him.
I think this is kinda resource guarding but I'm having trouble finding anything to help me because it isn't actual resource guarding since he does it from a distance and nothing is in his possession, yet. He also doesn't growl, he sometimes whines or barks but I don't like how stiff and alert he gets and I can easily imagine it escalating into something worse.
And just about an hour ago he snapped at Irish when Irish tried to jump onto my lap. Harlan usually sleeps in the living room while I am on the computer but sometimes he comes and lays to the side of me/at my feet, today he was doing that, so Irish had to go around him and when Irish was about mid-air Harlan just whipped his head up and snapped at him. I don't know if he is now guarding me or if he was just caught off guard from sleeping and instinctively did it, but regardless I really need to get rid of this distance guarding thing because its a little scary considering he has 60-70 pounds on my two other dogs and could easily kill or severely injure them.
So I have 3 dogs, a miniature Dachshund who is female and almost 9 named Rio, a Chi/Terrier mix that is almost 6 named Irish, and a 4 year old Plott hound mix named Harlan.
Lately in the past couple months I have noticed Harlan going into "guard mode" whenever Rio or Irish investigates the coffee table or sometimes at feeding time when they get too close to his "corner." I feed them all in different locations, Harlan is in the far corner of the kitchen, Rio is in the nearest corner, and Irish is in the living room right next to the coffee table because he has to be near me and he almost never eats all his food so then we pick it up and leave it on the coffee table. Well, some time ago Harlan started eating it the next day off the coffee table but now he thinks that anything food or toy-related on the coffee table is his and when the other dogs sniff or look at the coffee table he gets all alert and stares them down, sometimes he even whines or barks. He does this while he's laying on his couch from like 6 feet away. (Yeah we have a whole couch that is basically his super-expensive dog bed.) He does almost the same thing with feeding time. Since his bowl is closest to where I dole out the food to all the bowls he stares down Rio if she gets too close to his feeding area while I am portioning out the food. She doesn't even care she's just doing the happy dance like 'yay food soon.' And Irish waits in the living room so that isn't an issue for him.
I think this is kinda resource guarding but I'm having trouble finding anything to help me because it isn't actual resource guarding since he does it from a distance and nothing is in his possession, yet. He also doesn't growl, he sometimes whines or barks but I don't like how stiff and alert he gets and I can easily imagine it escalating into something worse.
And just about an hour ago he snapped at Irish when Irish tried to jump onto my lap. Harlan usually sleeps in the living room while I am on the computer but sometimes he comes and lays to the side of me/at my feet, today he was doing that, so Irish had to go around him and when Irish was about mid-air Harlan just whipped his head up and snapped at him. I don't know if he is now guarding me or if he was just caught off guard from sleeping and instinctively did it, but regardless I really need to get rid of this distance guarding thing because its a little scary considering he has 60-70 pounds on my two other dogs and could easily kill or severely injure them.