I have been working your on line program for a few weeks and we have had great success with basic skills. The biggest issue we are experiencing at this time is what appears to be some guarding behaviour.
Our puppy is a 8 month old French Bulldog, female, spayed. We don't know a lot about her history before she came to us. We got her at approximately 5 months old. When we have guests over she doesn’t allow them to move around the house, she will aggressively nip at their feet and block their path. Also when she is calm enough that I allow her to say hello to someone and they are petting her, as soon as they stop and move their hands away she will again try to lunge at their hands.
It’s as if she become hyper focused on the person in the house. If I can I have been moving through training skills with her when the guests arrive, once she is focused on me and calm I will allow her to say hello.
I keep her on a training lead with guests in the house and this prevents her from being able to actually nip or bite.
She will calm down and even fall asleep with guests over but as soon as they attempted to move or get up to leave, the guarding starts. She seems to like other people but will only tolerate so much attention from them, I ask guests to simple pet her and say hello then ignore her, but I want to ensure by doing this I’m not making the issue worse. I use lots of treats and praise when she says hello and then comes back to me when I ask her too.
When we take her to other peoples homes, she has displayed the same behaviour but not to the same extent.
When we take her out for walks she doesn't react at all to other people or animals, I step off to the side and make her sit down while people walk by and when they are comfortable she is able to meet other dogs without issue.
Thank you for any insight into this behaviour.
Andrea Houtby
