Category: Top Dog

My puppy sleeps in the kitchen, we have a gate that keeps him in. It’s the only place in the house with hard wood floors so he can’t eat the carpet.

Last night while my puppy was asleep my girlfriend was putting a box away next to the gate. He woke up and got extremely aggressive and broke through his gate. My girlfriend tried to close the gate and in the process he got out, and started biting her hard. He bit her thighs, her shirt, her hands. I was in the shower so I ran out with just a towel on to try to help. While trying to diffuse the situation I got bit in the arm. He took a chunk of skin out of my wrist. I was able to grab some treats and throw them to the other side of the kitchen and he ran to eat them. After he finished he ran back to the gate to growl and try to get back over.

Is this normal? I know puppies are bitey but I think this is too far. We’ve had similar instances in the past, but this was far worse than anything else we’ve dealt with. It happens now about once every 7 days. When we first got him we worked on crate training, every time he’d fall asleep we’d put him in the crate. About 2 months ago he started reacting to us closing the crate. He’d get aggressive and snarl and bark while it was being locked. After it was locked he would lay down and go right to sleep. Since then we stopped locking the crate because he would go in voluntarily and sleep throughout the day. We’ve been good with enforcing naps, we play with him 2 times a day for an hour or so and try to take him on walks if he’s willing. It’s been raining so he hasn’t been too eager to walk.

He’s not reactive to other dogs or people, he loves meeting and playing with dogs. He loves meeting new people. He only ever seems to turn on my girlfriend and I at night.

Is there hope? Can this be trained out of him? Or is this a lost cause?

I love him with my whole entire heart and want nothing more than to help him live a long and happy life, but I don’t know if this is something that can be worked through or not.

He’s my first dog and I’m so sad cause I see everybody else with their dogs, and they’re good well adjusted and gentle dogs.

My mind is all over the place right now and I don’t know what to do.

This might be a "no, duh" kind of thing but I was pretty stunned (I cried) when my 5 month old golden did her first bit of real resource guarding this Monday, last night and then again today. I do think this is situational and possibly related to stress/overstimulation/being overtired, but I'm also wondering how to prevent this from becoming a pattern or an issue.

TL;DR: Puppy seems to only resource guard in specific circumstances where she may be stressed/over-stimulated/overtired (and when presented with extremely high value items (bones) but that's not part of this). Read on for more context, but if you're going to give advice or comment, please read the whole post.

I want to preface this by saying; we do not take her things from her. Or even safe things from her. The only time she's ever had things forcibly taken from her are when they're dangerous for her to have. Besides those instances, even if I do take something from her, if it's safe for her to have I give it back. And 99% of the time, she's okay with me taking stuff, to the point she lets me put my fingers in her mouth to remove things.

The first time was immediately after bath time. Every time she gets a bath she gets a licky mat with kong cheese and peanut butter. She was perfectly fine in the bath, if not a little uncomfortable because, well, it's a bath and she's a puppy. She's not afraid of the bathroom (even though she only ever comes in this bathroom for a bath). No issue in the bath – she even jumped out of the tub and left behind the lick mat willingly. I moved it out of the bath so I could continue drying her off and she went back to licking it on the bathroom floor.

She let me towel her off just fine. It was when I tried to move her head a little bit so I could pull her Seresto collar back over her head that she growled and snapped at me. She's never had any issue with being collared or harnessed in any way. I fully undid the Seresto collar so I could put it on like her buckle collar, and she growled a bit at me but continued to lick her mat. I put her buckle collar on also and the same thing happened; just a growl of displeasure but was not distracted or particularly aggressive.

I think that's fine & not unreasonable. Baths are stressful for a scent focused animal. If she can't handle having a lick mat on the bathroom floor anymore, that's fine, she'll just have to deal when I finish drying her off. These two most recent times are worrying me a bit more. The reason she had a bath Monday was that we were driving to visit family for a few days on Tuesday (12 hour drive if you include stops and whatnot). We have practiced with her in the car for long drives and she typically just sleeps most of the way, but she has toys/chews in her seat with her if she decides she's bored.

Anyway, we arrived at the family member's house we're staying at and they didn't have time to puppy proof. There were little bits of interesting things and different crevices for a tired, stressed young puppy to find and eat. The vast majority of things she found, she allowed us to take out of her mouth. Also, my in laws are…. loud and our house is very quiet, so she isn't used to so much noise.

That was until we had been there for a bit, and she was digging in the couch cushions and found a dirty sock. I was sitting on the couch cushion she was digging in, and did not see what it was she had found. She hadn't even had it in her mouth when I went to grab it, but she mouthed me and growled (didn't bite, just gently held my arm in her mouth and complained at me). I was and still am willing to chalk this up to over-exhaustion, excess energy, and excess stimulation (Family member's yorkie was walking around and she makes a lot of funny noises because she's old. This was also our pup's first time meeting family and staying overnight in an unfamiliar location). We worked through some crate issues with her last night and she did eventually start to go into her crate willingly and slept in it all night (she is crate trained in our house, and willingly goes in to sleep/rest, but I guess it didn't transfer well into the new location)

Today I knew she'd have excess energy since she didn't have an outlet the day prior. So when we woke up, we went to the park and she got some running in, between breakfast, travelling to the park, dropping off fiancé, travelling back from the park the whole ordeal was probably 3 hours. Immediately after the park, we drove family member's fiancé to work, and family member came along. They both sat in the back with her, petting her and cooing over her while she draped herself across them. Fiancé gets out of the car, and family member is still in the back seat with puppy. Puppy realizes that family member is sitting on a jerky treat nobody had noticed and begins trying to dig it out from under them. Family member moves their arm over puppy's head to see what she was doing and puppy growls and mouths their hand in the same way she'd done to me the night before.

Am I right in thinking this behavior is likely due to stress/over stimulation/over tiredness? She's also been having a hard time settling in our family member's house and again, putting her nose in a bunch of places it doesn't belong. This also seems much more severe than the resource guarding she's exhibited in our home w/ regards to ultra high value bones, which we trade her for and never remove from her mouth forcibly. During those instances, she does whale eyeing and gets stiff, maybe grumbles a bit but it rarely progresses beyond that.

Things we do/have done to prevent resource guarding;

• I often give her little treats and praise when she's chewing on something she's allowed to have (cardboard, empty bottles, toys, sticks, etc).
• We trade for things we know she won't willingly/easily give up.
• If she has something we don't want her to have, but she won't swallow/isn't dangerous (socks) we make it into a "keepaway" game and play-chase her, eventually trading out for a toy
• We don't mess with her when she's eating. We've never played in her food or taken it from her. Same with treats/licky mats/kongs/etc.
• We've played a trade game during training classes where we hold a medium value treat to her mouth to chew, and then offer a higher value treat, and praise/reward when she switches targets.

Hello everyone, my 5 month old puppy has always been very sensitive and scared of things such as motorcycles weird sounds and sudden movements which I believe is common for puppies. However, one night she was in my room and it was pitch dark so I had my iPhone flashlight shining to the ceiling to see my hands better. She saw the gigantic shadow on the ceiling and got so scared and now ever since then she constantly looks at the ceiling and goes under beds. I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this, anything helps or advice thank you!

Has anyone used this for your Golden Retrievers to protect their hearts and extend their lives?

What do we think about people walking their dog in graveyards. Is it a common thing?

It's driving me crazy. We've got two great dogs. But my wife watches a lot of QVC and just in general believes everything she reads/watches.

First it was Farmer's Dog. We got the first batch and both dogs hated it. We mixed it in with some kibble, and they pick at it. But it's SUPER expensive. So I cancelled that.

Now she's on to Lone Wolf Ranch by Chuck Norris. Now on principal, I'm opposed to ANY celebrity wares (cookware, gadgets, food, etc). She insisted that "Chuck said" that the kibble we get is over processed, burnt, no nutrition junk. So we paid the $90 and got 3 small 24 ounce bags of food. That's 4-1/2 pounds for $90! The dogs inhaled it. They love it. But I'm reading (about both FD and CN) that it's in some cases dangerous and the CN is super high in fat (which explains why they love it).

What and where can I get the real scientific facts on dog food? What's good and what's not good? It's a $30 – 40 lb bag from Costco just as good as anything else?

I want to stay under $1.50 a pound for a 40lb to 50lb bag. Have three large dogs. Pickiest dog tends to like smellier food. I was looking at Beneful Salmon or 4health Salmon and potato.

Hello,

I have a Yorkshire Terrier who’s 9 years old who is going blind. It’s been incredibly tough on me, but I know that for dogs it’s not their primary sense. Hearing and Smelling are. I also know that it’s more difficult on the owner than the actual pet themselves, so I am just adjusting.

He is still active and surprisingly was able to navigate his walks very well, even pulling me with his leash. It’s like he hasn’t missed a beat! He has bumped his head on walls and other things which is expected. He still knows where his food and water bowls are and is able to use the doggy door pretty good out into our backyard.

Please tell me your best blind dog success stories, and any helpful tips as my little buddy and I navigate this new way of life! Cheers to you and your little puppers! Thank you!

alright pup owners, looking for your favorite subscription boxes. looking to get my little nephew (dachshund) a subscription boxes for christmas. i would actually prefer one that doesn’t have just toys. maybe some treats, grooming items, accessories. drop your favorites below please!

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.