[Ksquared]

Hi, i am new to the forum and this is my first post.

I am looking for help to find a rescue in the NJ area who will rehab and rehome my 6 mos old Goldendoodle puppy.

We got him from a breeder at 8 weeks old. The resource guarding started immediately, though it took us a few weeks to realize what it was and bring in a trainer. As a young puppy, he did not like to be touched or lifted and would growl, snap and bite at the kids if they approached him. This developed into guarding toys, bones, or any human food he could "steal" from the kids/counter, etc. We worked with the trainer on how to make trades for more valuable treats and sharing. His most valuable items were taken away from him and only given to him when he would be in his crate and we were going out. unfortunately, his guarding is inconsistent and he started guarding different items and worse, me. Once in a while he will snap at the kids when they come near me.

Our trainer recommended making an appointment with a well known aggression behavior specialist who came to our home to observe him. Afterward, she recommended rehoming him and said he is not the right dog for a family with 3 young children.

Unfortunately, the breeder will not take the dog back. After the aggression specialist had a lengthy discussion with the breeder, the breeder has reluctantly agreed to help find him a foster home, but I am not confident that will happen, so I am reaching out to this forum for help. The breeder feels that my family created this behavior in the dog. I believe it is instinctual, and notified the breeder in the first few weeks of owning him that something was not right.

On a positive note, the dog is well behaved 80% of the time. He is housebroken and never has accidents in the home. He is leash trained, doesn't pull or try to run away. He has commands such as sit, stay, down, etc. When he wants to play and snuggle (on his terms), he can be loving and fun with the kids. He plays well with other dogs and is friendly to guests in our home and people he sees on walks. I do believe he can be rehabbed and he will be an amazing dog for someone without young children.

We are heartbroken over having to let go of our dog. We all love him so much and want to see him live a happy life in another home. We cannot bear the thought of him living in a cage in shelter or being put down.

Please only respond with recommendations of someone who could take him. Our decision is made

 

[Chas]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I can't help on the re-homing but I wanted to say that it sounds like you made the right choice in a tough situation.

If in the future you want to try again this is great place to get advice about what to look for in breeders and rescues.

 

[Ksquared]

thank you so much for your kind response! We now realize we purchased a dog from a puppy factory. A very hard lesson learned and we will certainly reach out to this forum in the future to help us find the right dog for our family.

 

[Chas]

Having done a quick google these rescues look like they'd be worth checking out:

Adoptable Oodles in our Oodles of Doodles Rescue

» Surrendering Your Golden

I don't know if the second takes mixes but it would be worth checking out they seem to run a good program.

 

[DracoGSD]

Many people, especially ones with multiple dogs, kennel feed and do not have toys. They wouldn't even know if the dog is resource protective because they never put them in that situation.

My dog was the exact same way from 8 weeks to 1 year. Less so with toys but he HATED being kissed on the face or lifted. He went from puppy terror to sexually frustrated young adult, then he had a prostate issue and I had to neuter him. A few months later he was a great dog! He would be upset if I picked him up still, but I would hospitalize myself if I did anyway because he is too heavy. He will growl a little over a full bowl of food but will not attack. He is extremely protective of bones and raw food, but I kennel him when he is given those things. I grew up being told to NEVER touch a dog when it is eating, it simply isn't the time for affection.

I give my dog privacy when eating, which takes about 10 minutes of the day. I can sacrifice 10 minutes a day when it means that the other 23 hours and 50 minutes he is amazing and loving.

I'm not saying don't try to rehab him, but that's a long process and your desires results are the biggest factor, I personally was only aiming to get my dog to tolerate my presence when he is eating, so I stopped there, as I do not desire to pet him when he eats.

 

[Moonstream]

Many people, especially ones with multiple dogs, kennel feed and do not have toys. They wouldn't even know if the dog is resource protective because they never put them in that situation.

My dog was the exact same way from 8 weeks to 1 year. Less so with toys but he HATED being kissed on the face or lifted. He went from puppy terror to sexually frustrated young adult, then he had a prostate issue and I had to neuter him. A few months later he was a great dog! He would be upset if I picked him up still, but I would hospitalize myself if I did anyway because he is too heavy. He will growl a little over a full bowl of food but will not attack. He is extremely protective of bones and raw food, but I kennel him when he is given those things. I grew up being told to NEVER touch a dog when it is eating, it simply isn't the time for affection.

I give my dog privacy when eating, which takes about 10 minutes of the day. I can sacrifice 10 minutes a day when it means that the other 23 hours and 50 minutes he is amazing and loving.

I'm not saying don't try to rehab him, but that's a long process and your desires results are the biggest factor, I personally was only aiming to get my dog to tolerate my presence when he is eating, so I stopped there, as I do not desire to pet him when he eats.

While it is really commendable to encourage others to work with resource guarders, and while most resource guarding is manageable, I would be really careful giving this kind of advice to people over the internet.

Forwards/aggressive resource guarding in an 8 week old puppy is extremely unusual behavior. A puppy who resource guards at 8 weeks should 100% absolutely not be in a home with children. Especially multiple children. Especially multiple young children.

This does not sound like the kind of "put some management in place and it will be OK" resource guarding that so much resource guarding ends up being.

To the OP- this forum is probably not going to be the place you find a new home for him, but I wish you luck and commend you on realizing when a dog is an unsafe and unsuitable fit for your heart. And I empathize- rehoming a dog is tough, even when their are good reasons.

 

[DracoGSD]

While it is really commendable to encourage others to work with resource guarders, and while most resource guarding is manageable, I would be really careful giving this kind of advice to people over the internet.

Forwards/aggressive resource guarding in an 8 week old puppy is extremely unusual behavior. A puppy who resource guards at 8 weeks should 100% absolutely not be in a home with children. Especially multiple children. Especially multiple young children.

This does not sound like the kind of "put some management in place and it will be OK" resource guarding that so much resource guarding ends up being.

To the OP- this forum is probably not going to be the place you find a new home for him, but I wish you luck and commend you on realizing when a dog is an unsafe and unsuitable fit for your heart. And I empathize- rehoming a dog is tough, even when their are good reasons.

Just dumping a dog on someone else seems just as risky. I gave the advice based on MY experience, I stuck with him and bared his bad behavior and ended up with a great dog. The OP wanted advice, I gave mine based on my experience. You can give yours, or you can put down others as you chose to do, but putting me down doesn't help the OP's situation. I'm not going to tippy toe and pretend my experiences aren't valid simply because I might offend somebody. Seems you prefer putting others down instead of producing your own advice.

 

[Rain]

You're best bet to safely rehome him is going to be finding a reputable rescue organization. If you explain your situation, what you have tried to resolve the behavior, how you have called in more then one behaviorist / trainer, and that they gave you the advice to rehome her since she is not safe to have in your home, they will hopefully either take her in, or help you find her a home.

I do agree that since she is so unpredictable with the resource guarding it will be very difficult to work through, and be a safety concern for your children. While you still have her you may want to consider purchasing a baskerville muzzle https://www.amazon.com/Baskerville-2-Inch-Rubber-Muzzle-Size-5/dp/B0051H45GC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487616994&sr=8-1&keywords=baskerville+muzzle and muzzle train her muzzle training her https://muzzleupproject.com/muzzle-training/ and have her wear the muzzle when she's around your children as an added safety precaution. The baskerville muzzle is a basket muzzle and allows the dog to pant and take treats while wearing it, but they cannot bite. If you go that route tell your children to NEVER stick their fingers through the muzzles holes.

 

[Ksquared]

UPDATE: I am pleased to report that we found a forever home for our dog, Wesley. An amazing couple nearing retirement took him in. They do not have children/grandchildren and their dog was instant friends with Wesley. He arrived at their home with training guidelines from the two trainers we worked with. I am confident he will be well cared for, loved and lead a happy life.

THANK YOU to those who responded with support. This has been a heartbreaking experience and I appreciate your compassion.

I do not feel that I need to justify my decision, however I do have a few comments:
- The dog does not guard his kibble/meals....ever. That is not part of the issue
- His guarding is inconsistent, sometimes he guards, sometimes he doesn't. The items he guards varies often. It is very hard to predict if and when he will guard something or not.
- He was beginning to guard me more frequently. No child should grow up with a dog who growls when the child goes near his mother or tries to sit next to her on the couch.
- The dog was able to steal some cake from our kitchen. He ate the entire thing before anyone realized and then guarded the crumbs. When my daughter went to see what was on the floor, the dog shot over to her from another room, bit her, puncturing her skin, drawing blood and leaving a bruise for over a week. The scary part was that the dog did it again to my son a minute later. When my son heard my daughter crying he came up from the basement to see what was going on and the dog ran over, bit my son, also puncturing skin, drawing blood and leaving a bruise. The puppy was 16 weeks old when this happened and he was guarding crumbs that were 10 feet away from him.

On a final note, I think this writing assignment my daughters teacher sent home from school sums up our 3 1/2 month experience with the puppy pretty well.

Translation: I have a puppy. His name is Wesley. He is crazy. He bites me a lot. 100 times. It hurts so much. Like a shark.

 

[Shandula]

@Ksquared - Kids are hilarious.

I'm sorry you had to go through this, how heartbreaking. Not all dogs are good matches for our lives, and young kids plus this dog seemed like it was not going to work out.

I hope you have better luck in the future, maybe when your kids are a little older?

 

[SusanLynn]

I am very, very pleased for all of you! As a fairly long-term member of this Forum, I can tell you that just about everyone here will feel that you've made the right decision to rehome your dog for your family's sake and your dog's sake. An older couple nearing retirement without grandchildren is the ideal home. You've done well.

Most everyone has read my stories, but I also rehomed a dog that was a resource guarder. Three years ago, I adopted two unrelated dogs from the same shelter. One of them began resource-guarding me against the other dog to the point where we were all under constant stress. I dearly loved and adored that dog, but he needed to be the only dog in his household. He's now living with a close friend of mine. I cried a lot of tears of disappointment, but he's thriving in his new home, and I'm very happy with the dog I kept.

I'm sure that a dog is in your family's future. You might want to consider an adult dog from a rescue group. And, I might suggest that you enlist the help of your trainer to make sure that the next dog (or puppy) you bring home will thrive in your household.

Again, well done!

 

[Chas]

That's great!

 

[laurameghan]

That's amazing!!!! One of out most difficult fosters recently got a new home after the same sort of situation. She has been returned 3 times for being unmanageable...even after living in a behavioral rehab center. The senior whom adopted her is so pleased. In 1month she came to visit and was a completely different dog. The environment really can make all the difference.