Frodo is resource guarding.

His resource? Me.

He doesn't want Inky or Mollie coming near me when he is there (absolutely no issues with my sister or mom, just the other animals), and I'm not sure what to do about it, it's really annoying and I want it to stop before it escalates. Right now it is just growling at the other animal until they go away.

He is fine being with Mollie when they are eating, each mealtime I have the food and they do simple tricks/commands for pieces of kibble. This is more when I am on the computer and he is laying near me and one of the animals (mainly Inky) tries to come over for attention. I don't want to correct him for the growling and associate the other animals as bad and have it escalate, but I also don't want to reward the behavior.

In general he is also getting pushier lately, especially for attention. He will nose my arm/hand or bark at me when he wants attention (this can be when I just get home or when I just spent an afternoon walking and playing with him, so he's not being neglected) and if I tell him to knock it off or get off the couch, he comes back with double force. For this I have been making him wait to be invited onto the couch and cutting off all attention if he gets pushy. Frodo's thick, lol, so it may take a while for him to get it.

TIA

Kiba used to be like that, well still sometimes she is. If I am sitting on the couch, she is made to get off if she growls at the other dogs, then must wait until invited to come back up. If I'm sitting on the floor, or at my desk, I will get up and walk around, go in the other room and block her out.

Basically if she tries to guard me, then she doesn't get to be with me. So far its worked pretty well for us.

My only issue with this is that I am worried that his way of thinking in this scenario is "when the other animal comes close mom makes me get off the couch!" and his behavior will escalate because he will try harder to keep the other animal from coming close so that he doesn't have to leave.

Oh yes! When there's any pushy behavior, get up and walk away. Pushy = no reward. (your presence) Get up abruptly...immediately and walk away and ignore for a half a minute. Try again. Repeat as necessary. Quiet, non-pushy behavior = attention from you. Try to give a treat even, and attention quickly...before Frodo has a chance to get snarky. In the presence of the other dogs, good things happen. (your attention, treats etc) When the other dogs aren't around, lessen the amount of attention Frodo gets. (not for things like walks or training...not so extreme that he never gets any one on one from you) But for "exercise" purposes/training for stopping the resource guarding, practice these two swings from one extreme to the other...from dogs in Frodo's presence equaling rewards to dogs not present equaling boring. Be consistent, do it every time he pushes or is obnoxious without exception. He will stop trying eventually. If you give in even once, attend to him in any way when he's resource guarding, this will strengthen that behavior that you want to get rid of because you're putting it on a variable reinforcement schedule. That is what makes them keep on trying. Now, he will keep on trying for a time.....keep on with the program diligently and that behavior should extinguish...maybe a couple weeks.

Then watch yourself and how you interact with him so he doesn't regress. He might try again. Do some NILIF. Everytime he nudges you and pushes for attention, get up and walk away. Ignore. When he demonstrates behavior you like, that's when you give the attention. Use everyday type pleasures for reinforcers. When it's time to go for a walk, use that "wanna go for a walk?" for a reinforcer right after he's done something you like or demonstrated polite behavior. Does he want dinner? Don't just give it to him for free. Try to time it when he's being really "nice" about the other dogs around. Catch it quickly! It's almost dinner time and lookie there....Frodo has been pleasant for a while. I might as well get up and associate food with a good boy. LOL. So, with most things that he likes, be conscious of what his behavior is at the moment and save those things for when he has good behavior.

Kiba only is made to get off if she's growling. Other dogs can come over or jump up on couch, but she's not allowed to growl. When resource guards, is he just growling or going after the other animals? Kiba only growls, and maybe gets moody/snarky if its strange dogs at like a dogpark/trial so maybe my advice is not so great

Thanks Dober! I'll let you know how it goes. We are already doing some of that (all of his meals he works for, and all of them include Mollie being there), but at that point I think the food is a greater reinforcer than growling at Mollie. Who cares about me when there is food around? LOL

Just growling, which is why I want to stop it before it escalates to going after an animal.

Is this new to you?? He did it all the time with my roommate Bryce or I if we were petting him. He would keep snarking at Izzy or Jade until the went away or we crated him.

This is what I've done with Luna too, and it does work (as long as I'm consistent, LOL). Along with having to get off the couch if she growls at another dog, she also gets highly rewarded if she sees the other dog and does not growl.

I've dealt with two foster dogs like this. It seems to come on after puberty. First of all, Frodo cannot be allowed on any of the furniture or people beds. Not ever. Don't worry about being mean. Many many owners don't allow their dogs on furniture, especially big ones, it won't damage him emotionally. Give him mentally stimulating toys such as putting his food in a Buster Cube or something like that. Give him plenty of hard running exercise everyday.

If the aggressive behavior gets worse, you have a real problem on your hands. Although this may be a training and management problem, it may be neurological.

Guarding me? Yeah. He's always been a little guardy around Mollie with food, but I assumed that was because if he growled at her she would drop what she had and back off, so he learned how to get what he wanted from her. This is why I have been feeding them together. I think CP may have mentioned this going on in her house (the human guarding) and the only thing I could think of was that Izzy was top dog here before he left and with her gone his chance to guard surfaced.

Not quite sure why it hasn't been going on in the last few months and is starting now though? My new schedule is really the only change that I can think of in the past few weeks? Or that Ryan was here?

He is going to be 5 in January, I would think he ended puberty a long while ago.

I really would rather not because I know this won't be enforced by the rest of my family, if the getting up and walking away doesn't help then I'll consider it more heavily. Interestingly enough he does not guard when on my bed, only on the couch. Frodo and Inky both regularly sleep on my bed with me at the same time without so much as a raised lip.

Yep, he did some of that here.

Carrie's advice is excellent.

I think that's the main thing...if he doesn't resource guard or isn't being too bossy about it, being on the bed is fine. The point is, to eliminate the idea in his head that acting snarky works for what he's looking for. (attention or whatever. If the bed isn't a problem, then I wouldn't worry about it. But take advantage of other contexts to teach him that the things he likes are contingent upon his polite behavior.

Lyric went through a period where he started resource guarding me from Jose`. But it only happened in one room of the house....lol...the den, when I was on the computer. Otherwise, they were buddies. I didn't keep him off my bed because he couldn't care less if Jose` were on the bed or if we were outside playing or in the other parts of the house, he was just fine. So, I did "exercises" in the den. He was brought in and out, in and out over and over and was lavished with treats when he was in the room with Jose`. (Jose` was kept under a chair that had several cross rails on it, so he was fairly well protected) When he was taken out, he got nothing, no treats, no attention. I gave him the cold shoulder a little bit the rest of the time UNLESS Jose` was in the room. Within a couple of weeks, he seemed to think Jose` being in the den was a fine idea. LOL.

Yea, I wouldn't worry about him being on the bed or couch. When he was here he got guardy if he was near me, whether we were on the couch or if I was sitting on the floor with him or if I was at my desk and he was on the floor next to me. It had nothing to do with being on furniture.