Hi there, I have a 5 year old 20 lb jack russell terrier/poodle mix (basically a mut) named Pretzel and my wife and I got her from an animal shelter back during Covid in 2020. She was 8 weeks old when we got her. Right from the jump, she had some severe separation anxiety (for obvious reasons) and we couldn’t leave her for more than 5 minutes without her freaking out. After thousands of dollars and countless training courses, sessions, etc. she now can be alone for a very long time (8+ hours). We also had paid for professional training for simple commands, recall training and resource guarding.
Now, 5 years later, my wife and I have a 2 year old daughter, and ever since she was born, my wife has severe anxiety about having them interact and God forbid leaving them alone together. We separate the house off now that my daughter is walking and they basically never interact. Throughout Pretzel’s life, all other training aspects have gotten better, however the resource guarding has continued, despite trying to train this out of her. She’ll get items she’s not supposed to have like socks, tissues, human food, and my daughter’s toys. She’s never bit anyone, but gets quite aggressive, hides under tables and beds, and shows teeth when trying to retrieve the item. She’ll growl at first, then when you try to go in for the item she’ll snap. We’ve never attempted to grab said items, we more lure her away, out of fear she’s going to bite.
All of this said, this is all a huge point of contention in our household and it’s been causing so much stress over the past two years. My wife has been clamoring for her to be re-homed, but I on the other hand am continuing to stay positive, trying to work with her every day (it’s discouraging) to get this resource guarding in a spot where she can interact with my daughter and our family. I honestly don’t know if this is something that can be solved. I’ve read countless articles, sites, watched videos online, etc. and we even talked to a dog behaviorist recently (the previous training was basic training before we had our baby) thinking that it might help, and it has not.
The problem is, if a trainer is in the house or if we take her to a trainer offsite, Pretzel is on her best behavior and it’s tough to get her to learn how to not resource guard. She’s extremely treat oriented and will do anything for a treat. My wife and I agreed to not spend more money on this issue (as I mentioned she’s over it completely), and we’ve already spend thousands. We have agreed to pick this topic up again at the end of October and if she’s not trained by then we have to talk about re-homing her.
I guess I’m reaching out here to see if anyone dealt with something similar (e.g. resource guarding in dogs and having small children, etc.) and if there’s hope for Pretzel in our household. I don’t really know know what to do at this point than to give in and send Pretzel to a house that doesn’t have kids. She’s a great dog otherwise it’s just this resource guarding issue. Thanks!
TLDR: I have a dog with resource guarding and also a small child under 2, wondering if there’s any hope for her or if this is something that can’t really be fixed.
Now, 5 years later, my wife and I have a 2 year old daughter, and ever since she was born, my wife has severe anxiety about having them interact and God forbid leaving them alone together. We separate the house off now that my daughter is walking and they basically never interact. Throughout Pretzel’s life, all other training aspects have gotten better, however the resource guarding has continued, despite trying to train this out of her. She’ll get items she’s not supposed to have like socks, tissues, human food, and my daughter’s toys. She’s never bit anyone, but gets quite aggressive, hides under tables and beds, and shows teeth when trying to retrieve the item. She’ll growl at first, then when you try to go in for the item she’ll snap. We’ve never attempted to grab said items, we more lure her away, out of fear she’s going to bite.
All of this said, this is all a huge point of contention in our household and it’s been causing so much stress over the past two years. My wife has been clamoring for her to be re-homed, but I on the other hand am continuing to stay positive, trying to work with her every day (it’s discouraging) to get this resource guarding in a spot where she can interact with my daughter and our family. I honestly don’t know if this is something that can be solved. I’ve read countless articles, sites, watched videos online, etc. and we even talked to a dog behaviorist recently (the previous training was basic training before we had our baby) thinking that it might help, and it has not.
The problem is, if a trainer is in the house or if we take her to a trainer offsite, Pretzel is on her best behavior and it’s tough to get her to learn how to not resource guard. She’s extremely treat oriented and will do anything for a treat. My wife and I agreed to not spend more money on this issue (as I mentioned she’s over it completely), and we’ve already spend thousands. We have agreed to pick this topic up again at the end of October and if she’s not trained by then we have to talk about re-homing her.
I guess I’m reaching out here to see if anyone dealt with something similar (e.g. resource guarding in dogs and having small children, etc.) and if there’s hope for Pretzel in our household. I don’t really know know what to do at this point than to give in and send Pretzel to a house that doesn’t have kids. She’s a great dog otherwise it’s just this resource guarding issue. Thanks!
TLDR: I have a dog with resource guarding and also a small child under 2, wondering if there’s any hope for her or if this is something that can’t really be fixed.
