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Human Aggression in House ... Guarding Behaviour

895 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  storms226
My ACD mix has developed a really bad behaviour... house guarding. The only time this is displayed is when people who aren't my husband or I come in the house. She will bark, chase after, jump, and has bitten (actually a nip, but still a bite). Outside of the house she can be wary of some strangers, not all, but she allows people to approach and pet her, and as soon as that happens all her doubt is erased and she becomes a wiggly, jumpy, love happy maniac. She really is a lover of a dog.

But in the house....

I have another dog who I know she picked this up from. Riley is a house guarder too, but he's much more passive about it. He will threaten and bark but never get close enough to bite. Ember is smaller than he is but has much more courage. I'm really worried she actually WILL bite someone hard enough to hurt or draw blood.

Also, I've recently started to have her sleep in the bedroom with everyone else instead of her crate. It's only on the days that she will be crated during the day while we are at work, as I don't think it's fair to crate her during the night and then again during the day. However, the past two nights we've done this she has charged the door growling when my husband comes in the room. The first night I think he woke her up from a deep sleep and she actually almost bit him until she realized who it was. The second night she charged growling but then realized it was him before escalating further. If keeping her crated for bedtime is recommended I will continue to do that... I honestly think she might prefer sleeping in there anyway, though she does do very well sleeping overnight in the room - she stays in one place the whole time.

Can someone please direct me towards some things to do to help train her out of this? What do I need to start with? We JUST finished very basic obedience, fyi, and have a long ways still to go with that. Ember is very independent.
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I've decided to pull in a professional for assistance, but now I'm being met with difficulties there.

The first trainer I was referred to (who I've actually heard a lot of good things about) works for a training center that is no longer operating, and no one seems to be able to provide me with contact information for her.

The second trainer came highly recommended and had worked with a friend's dog with similar, if not worse, issues. When she finally got back to me she told me that she no longer works with aggression cases.

I decided to go back to the place where I went with Ember for obedience training, and the administrator told me that they do not do house visits for these types of cases anymore, and that I would need to bring my dogs to the facility.

I'm just getting so frustrated. Both dogs are completely different outside of the house. In the house is where I need help. I need someone with experience to come and observe what is happening and give me pointers - see how the dogs respond and tell me if it's working or if I need to tweak it. Bringing them to a facility to see a trainer is not going to accomplish this, as they are not in the environment that is producing the behavior. It would amount to me just reading and watching videos, which is what I have been doing.

Just venting.
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