[SammiMW]

I have a German Shepherd, Border Collie cross. He is neutered and almost 2 1/2 years old.
I have had him ever since he was a puppy.
Im 7 months pregnant and about 6 months ago my boyfriend moved in with us. All was fine until about 2 months ago.
My dog has become aggressive and I dont know what to do.
He resource guards like you wouldnt believe, and has outright attacked both of us over food, tearing skin and leaving bruises kind of thing.
Our trainer suggested not letting him eat from his bowl and only hand feeding him his food. Now he begs everytime we try to eat because he thinks he is entitled to any food in our hands.
This morning while hand feeding him he was snarling and baring his teeth at me even though I was giving him food.

Past that a lot of his aggression is not pointed only at me. He follows my boyfriend around like they are attached at the hip and seems to want nothing to do with me.
Im so heartbroken because he is my dog. But Im also totally freaked out because Im super pregnant and he is so aggressive towards me now. When he isnt ignoring me, hes growling at me.

 

[augusta]

Have you taken him to the vet yet to rule out any problems? It's possible that ongoing pain is keeping him on edge so that he lashes out.

 

[storms226]

Wow... could he have a medical issue?? That seems really sudden for that type of behavior. Can you think of ANYTHING at all that may have triggered the change? Did you accidentally trip over him one night, something like that?

 

[SammiMW]

I havent taken him yet. Its like 85$ just for the checkup and unfortunately, being off work due to pregnancy makes money really tight.

I dont see any changes other than the boyfriend moving in and me being pregnant, but he hasnt been having these issues for that long.

Part of me doesnt think its medical though because hes mostly only like it to me.
Like, he will bite either of us over food when his bowl is involved, but when hand feeding, my boyfriend can pet him and kiss his nose and etc and its no problem, I cant even ask for him to shake a paw without him baring his teeth at me.

 

[CoyotePro]

http://www.dogforum.com/training-be...guarding-causes-prevention-modification-7511/

Here is the resource guarding sticky in case you haven't checked it out already
The book it mentions (Mine by Jean Donaldson) is really good, I would suggest getting it if you haven't already.
What else has your trainer recommend you do?

(there are a lot more stickies here Training and Behavior Stickies they all have really helpful info and resources)