We have an 11 month old yellow lab named Reba that is very smart, and has tons of energy. The trainer we had gave her a 12 on a scale of 1-10 for hyperactivity.... She is very possessive and try's to keep our other dog Joey away from food or my husband and I. Lately they have been fighting so bad Reba actually drew blood on Joey's neck yikes!! Joey our 12 yo Beagle was not very social to begin with so I think Reba learned some of this aggression from him. Her hair stands up and she circles around him ready to pounce if he growls at her, Any insights??
Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear that there are problems between your old boy and your young girl. Trying to keep Joey away from food sounds as if she could be resource guarding and husband falls within the same category - does he feed the dogs? Resource guarding can be overcome with training but it can be slow progress, but without knowing fully what is happening it's hard to really advise. I would consult a behaviourist to find out the problems and work on a plan to resolve the issues, particularly if the dogs ate becoming aggressive and fighting. Hopefully other members with more experience will also provide some suggestions
Hello there and a very warm welcome to the forum. I have deleted the two other identical posts you made, so you get all the replies to your query in the same place. Best wishes, Julie
I can move it if you want, but I do not think it will matter. You post here will show up on the side bar of recent posts, and on all the members' new post listings. It's quiet at the minute because most people are based in the UK and are asleep (although we have some US members and a growing number of people from Australia and elsewhere)
Hello and welcome! One thing to do would be to feed them both separately, if you are not doing this already. Let them both have peace while they eat, in separate rooms behind closed doors if necessary. Is the fighting always over food? I'm not sure from your post but it sounds like Reba is also possessive over you and your husband? Resource guarding can be lessened to a great degree, I did it with my labX we "inherited" when he was around 9 months old. I used clicker training to do this, to deal with resource guarding over toys. For the most part he is pretty good about that now. He also had some issues with food, but it seemed like as he got more relaxed and settled into our home he felt better about that as well. However it is not advisable to try to keep taking food away to teach him that you are "boss" or anything like that (not saying you are doing that, but that is sometimes given as a solution to food guarding). That will only make Reba even more aggressive around food, which is perhaps what is happening with her and Joey. But it is hard to tell exactly what is happening without actually seeing the interactions, which is why a good behaviourist can be invaluable sometimes.
