Affection Aggression?

[Sirocco_Nikki]

We are currently fostering a little grey mix with the intent of failing. However, I was petting the foster tonight and talking to dd when Nikki (resident 10 y.o. grey) walked up to us. The foster grey suddenly lunged and started barking at Nikki. It took both DH and I to break it up. No teeth came in contact but it scared the bejeebers out of me. It took a while for Nikki to stop trembling also. There has been only a little grumbling between the dogs but nothing serious. I was prepared for food aggression, sleep aggression, or space aggression, but not this.

 

I already had a meeting with the obedience trainer we use tomorrow. My biggest fear though is my 12 y.o. ds. He gets home 15 minutes before dh and lets the dogs out. I have been muzzling the dogs when we leave. However, it seems the biggest risk is when we are at home instead of away. It scares the stuff out of me though that ds might get in the middle of another episode.

 

Has anyone dealt with this before? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. She has been a great little girl. She has 12 y.o. Yukon playing chase in the backyard. She is sweet as can be with humans. I thought she might make a great therapy dog. She didn't display this behavior in her previous foster home. I feel sick.

[Sambuca]

Its called resource aggression. You are a resource. I used to work at a doggy day care and a couple dogs were like that. Id watch them carefully when they were near me and the moment they even looked at each other funny, id walk away from them. It stopped them iin their tracks, since what they were gaurding, was no longer there. As for your son, tell him to let them out as usual, but unless you are home to give none of the dogs more than a quick pat on the back. No petting, no treats, no loving of any sort.

[tuff]

Yes, she is guarding you from the other dog. I also have a resource guarder (husky) but she guards food, toys, me etc although it is now much improved. At the first sign of guarding remove yourself from the guarder. If she gaurds she loses the resource (you). There were probably warning signs that you missed as you weren't looking. It will often start as an evil eye towards the other dog or a slight stiffening. That is when I give the "ah ah" sound and get up and leave the guarder. On the other hand, when the guarder allows the other dog to come near you without a reaction, give all kinds of positive reinforcement with petting. Does she guard other items like toys or food? I'm sure you can work through this.

[Batmom]

What tuff said. Some walks and training together can help, too -- with muzzles for safety, to start out with. I cut slivers of hot dogs or fake bacon strips as those are easy to give through the muzzle when a reward is warranted.

[Guest Jubilee251]

We dealt with this a total of TWO times when we brought Jet, our second, home. Like everyone else else, Molly saw us as high-value and when she was getting affection, she did NOT want Jet nearby. All it took was for us saying "NO!" twice before she got the hint that the petting stopped if she got snarky. It scared me the first time as well, because they don't snark over anything else, but Molly learned super fast. Now we can nuzzle both dogs at the same time without any issues.

[Sirocco_Nikki]

Thanks so much for the encouragement and advice. I met with Joanne, the trainer, a while ago. She had much the same advice. However, she had an explanation for it I could understand. At her previous foster home, she was terrorized by cats. At my home, she is free to act like herself.....in other words, a teen-aged butt-head lab. She doesn't understand how the home environment works here and is testing her limits. Joanne was very encouraged that the foster did not try to use teeth. However, Joanne gave me some additional NILIF to use. We are going to do private obedience classes for two weeks and then start regular classes.

 

I want to make sure she has the best possible chance for the best possible home in case it is not ours.