DWBFC

Thanks for the reply. No improvement yet but we are trying. She doesn't have a blanket in the hallway now and we have put a crate in the kitchen for her. She will lay outside it but hasn’t ventured into it yet. The strange thing here is the fact that people she has known come into our house since day 1 when we adopted her are also a problem, we’re having to tell people just to ignore her when they enter the house and leave it up to her if she wants to come over for a stroke. At present this never really happens. She is a perfect and lovely dog for me and my partner. Seeking a good behaviourist to help.

Hi, just looking for some guidance from experienced owners. We recently (4 months) adopted a lovely 5.5 year old grey bitch who only retired from racing in December. We love her to pieces and she is lovely with us but there is a problem brewing that we need to get on top of ASAP. We laid down some good ground rules I think, she has her own bed in the kitchen, she comes into the lounge with us and has another bed in there when we settle down on an evening but she is not allowed on the couch and is never allowed upstairs so our beds are out of the question. She gets plenty of exercise with a morning 20 min walk and 1 hour plus in the evening which she loves. so the problem... and this has only recently started in the last month or so. She has access to the hallway and the kitchen on an evening and during the day when we’re out at work and often will choose to sleep on a blanket in the hallway, she has started resource guarding this space but never with us, this problem really only occurs with visitors to the house. From what I have read it's typical resource guarding behaviour of growling and then snapping at anyone who doesn’t back off! It’s also a bit hit and miss, 3 days a week we have a dog walker who comes in at midday and has done since the first week we adopted, this lady is lovely and gets on really well with our dog but now some days she is fine and others she will retreat into the hallway and growl if approached. Any visitors to the house such as family or friends or even workmen are becoming a real issue. We really don’t want to be trapped into not ever being able to go away for any period of time because our dog won’t allow others to look after her. As I said away from the house she is fine although always muzzled to be safe. She never growls at us and will allow us into her space without issue when on her beds but we are always cautious and don’t disturb her sleeping. any tips on how we stop this behaviour which is getting worse by the week? Thanks