BarbaraGeer

Thanks for the quick reply. This is our 3rd rescue and we are familiar with the “honeymoon period”. That’s why we weren’t too concerned when she guarded her toys the first day or so. We were encouraged by how quickly she responded to training “drop it”. It takes treats but she is improving every day. She does not guard her food at all and is very relaxed eating when we are near her. Even to put our hand in food dish. I don’t blame the shelter. They saw a beautiful mild mannered pup who liked everybody and was easy to get along with. That said....they told us that they had not had any time to play with her. She had been there for two weeks. They said she was an owner surrender and had lived with a 3 year old child. (Right now i wouldn’t even consider allowing my 3 year old granddaughter to be around her). They said she was surrendered because owners apartment complex would’nt let her stay. You are right.....a foster could have provided some much needed information. To answer a few of your questions: The first incident happened in late afternoon. I had been sitting with her in the grass in our yard. She was very relaxed and enjoyed a belly rub. When we got up and started walking around is when the first incident happened. Later that night, my husband got down on the floor and were playing......this was not rough and tumble play..... just laying around together while watching tv. A few minutes later we went outside again....my husband and I and Gemmy. That’s when she did it again. This time we were pretty easily able to redirect her after a few seconds just by telling her to sit. She immediately calmed down. We decided we couldn’t play at her level (On floor or on ground) anymore and have not since. Yesterday it happened twice after just walking in the large fenced yard on a potty break. This morning started by walking around and then we tried a little leash work. We have done this every day with no problem. There were no toys around during any of the episodes. She wears a nylon slip type training collar on walks (at this point she is a good loose leash walker)but was not wearing it during any of the incidences. She was checked out thoroughly by the vet the day after we brought her home. I did mention her guarding toys but vet thought, as we did, that was probably due to her just coming into our home from the shelter and we could most likely work through it with time and patience. She has improved greatly. We have been able to get close to her face since day one with no problem. Took her for her first nail trim yesterday and she had everyone falling in love with her. very friendly to staff and no reaction to the husky also being groomed. That’s why this whole thing has me so shaken. Unfortunately we don’t have a behaviorist anywhere within an hour from our home which makes this even more upsetting. She’s wonderful most of the time.........just not sure if we are the right people for her. My heart’s pretty much broken. I appreciate you taking the time to respond Thank you, Barb

We adopted Gemma 3 weeks ago from a shelter. She is an approx 1 year old pittie mix. Extremely well behaved first two weeks. Had kennel cough and wasn’t feeling well. Much more energy as started feeling better. Walks well on leash and is nonreactive to other dogs at a distance (no actual meet and greets as of yet), people, bicycles, etc.. She is great with the “watch me” command, sit, down, wait...... the perfect dog......Until she gets a toy.....very aggressive resource guarding. We Have been working with her...we don’t play tug type games.....stop playing if she’s growling and have used the “trade” method of having her “drop” toys. Pretty good success. She is learning to drop toys, rocks, Etc when we tell her to. thought we were doing real well but 3 nights ago while we were walking in our yard she suddenly started running at me and grabbing my wrist or shirt....growling and barking. I was so startled and said “NO”. This didn’t help ...I turned my back on her and she continued running around me jumping and growling/barking and trying to grab my arm. I knew that pushing or grabbing her could escalate things so I folded my arms so that they weren’t an easy target.... then she wrapped her front legs around ny ankle and started biting my shoe.....not fooling around...really biting my shoe! I tried to just stand still and ignore but she wasn’t quitting. I can usually redirect by telling her to “sit” and “watch me” but she was not responding at all At this point i tried to walk away.... but she continued to bite my foot. After what seemed like forever but was probably just a few minutes i told her to sit again and she did at which point she became her sweet self again. I’ve had dogs for 35 years....never experienced anything like this. The next day i was able to anticipate her starting this behavior and was able to distract her without it escalating to badly but last night She did it again with no warning. Even more aggressive....Biting and shaking my feet (shoes) and pulling on mu shirt. This morning we were doing leash work ....working on the heel command. (I did not have her training collar on....just regular collar). She was paying attention and doing great. There was no pulling or strong corrections on my part at all. Very calm. All of a sudden she pulled out of her collar and started barking and growling at me...then Ran at me, jumped and grabbed my wrist....no broken skin but definite marks and more aggressive than the other incidents. Ran at me several times growling/ barking and grabbing at me. Once again she eventually responded to the sit/wait command and i was able to get away. Today she lunged at my face. I am at a loss, sad and thinking that we won’t be able to keep her. Afraid for her to be around our grandkids or even an occasional dog sitter. she gets two walks a day.....We play fetch and frisbee several times a day, she gets part of her food in a KONG, snuffle mat or other food puzzle....treats on lick mats iIve never been scared of any of my dogs.....gotta be honest she’s starting to scare me. Any suggestions would be appreciated