Hi everyone, We have a three year old Lab-Border-Collie-Springer-Spaniel called Florrie. We've had her since she was a puppy and she's always been difficult (resource guarding and growling). For example we can't leave anything within her reach because she will take it - or stand over it - and guard it. She has bitten on occasion if we didn't concede. She has been to training classes since she was nine weeks' old and is well-behaved and compliant in many ways except for the resource guarding. She gets about two and a half hours of walks per day, off the lead in one of our large local parks. Pre-pandemic we took her to Sunday morning training and Saturday afternoon agility. We play with her a lot and someone is always home. At night, Florrie sleeps on her own bed in our bedroom. Because, historically, she has tried to jump onto our bed (and then guard it), she is on a lead which is attached near her bed. The lead gives her enough room to move around, have a drink of water, etc., but just near her bed. (If she didn't guard, I would happily have her sleep with us, but she takes up our space and growls and snaps if we move around or pull the duvet.) She used to sleep until 6, then more recently until 5. But lately she has started wanting to be let out of the bedroom much earlier (e.g. 12, 2.30...). When she's let out, she goes downstairs for a bit, but then comes back and cries outside our bedroom door. (We have a gate so that she can't jump onto our bed.) It's got to the point that my husband - who wakes to let her out or in - is hardly getting any sleep. I've suggested we no longer have her in our bedroom at night and ignore her if she cries outside but he says he wouldn't be able to ignore her. He wants us to get a kingsize bed so she can sleep with us. But I fear she would still guard the bed however big it was. Sorry for the essay(!) but I felt some background was needed. Please can anyone offer any advice? We love her dearly and would never give her away.
My first suggestion is to address her resource guarding with a 1:1 trainer at your home if you haven't already done so. A dog who resource guards shouldn't on your bed at all until the issue is addressed. Strong boundaries/structure need to be in place. Is she going outside when she gets up, or just another part of the house? I personally would not have her in the bedroom at all if she is jumping up/disturbing sleep etc.
Hi. We hired a behaviourist at one point - she visited a couple of times and then gave us email support for about a year. But a lot of the things she told us to do, my husband either didn't want to do, or would forget (he's the one at home with our dog all the time, while I'm at work). Basically he wasn't as good as I was about being firm, e.g. not allowing her on the sofa. So she's allowed on all the furniture and has completely wrecked our sofa by scratching, tearing and digging. We are talking now about again getting help from a trainer or behaviourist, but I'm still looking for a shorter term solution to my husband getting no sleep!
Is she crate trained? If not, crate training and having her in a crate in your room overnight could be an interim solution. Resource guarding and biting is serious - it’s important your husband understands that and follows through. I would consider limiting access to areas in your home that are causing issue by using gates. Have you ruled out any health issues/anxiety?
