MissThomas

This is so helpful, thank you. I'm going to refer back to your advice regularly as she gets older. Management makes perfect sense and we've been doing similar when she's at the park (making sure we recognise when she's getting tired and taking her home before she gets grouchy with other dogs), as does your point about trigger stacking. We'll make sure to avoid situations that encourage her to guard or feel like her personal space is being encroached upon. It'll be tricky because she loves people and attention so much, but if there's another dog there we'll have to be firm about it. I assume it would help to reward her when she doesn't react negatively in these specific situations as well. To your point about people not asking permission to pet a dog - I've found children are much more likely to politely ask to pet my dog, whereas adults are more likely to just go ahead without asking. We've even had to pre-emptively tell people not to pick Ripley up because so many people will just do it without asking! So strange, I'd never just pick up a stranger's dog without permission. And they never even do it properly, they always pick her up awkwardly and she struggles to get down. We've had to become very forward and adamant about not allowing people to do it. As you say - we need to be an ambassador for her. Thanks so much for all your help. Claire

Thanks for your reply Adrienne! She gets on well with other dogs in most instances, she loves to meet and play with them, both with and without the other owner. She does resource guard toys and treats around other dogs, to the point of darting away from them or growling. She did once get into a fight with another dog who was trying to get a treat I was giving to Ripley. When she is tired or overstimulated (for example when we've spent too long at the park) she is more likely to become growly or fighty with other dogs. But 90% of the time she gets on well with dogs. She gets on extremely well with people, with or without pets, loves meeting them and getting attention. She even pulls on her lead to go to people and is fine with them looming to pet her. She's never had an instance of being aggressive with other people, though she still might dart away if she's resource guarding something she's picked up off the ground. The instances of guarding other dog owners has only happened on the lead, since they occurred whilst out on walks. The dogs were also on leads at the time, and I was also nearby. I should point out that she doesn't do this in every interaction with other owners/dogs, it's something she's started recently. She does exhibit some leash/barrier frustration on occasion. She does startle, when there's a sudden sharp sound or if she's woken too suddenly, but she's generally not a nervous or anxious dog. We meet the same dogs/owners on our daily walks and many different ones at the weekends when we take her to the dog park. The instances where she guarded other owners occurred with dogs/owners that we see regularly and she knows them very well. The toy/treat guarding takes place with most dogs, whether she knows them well or not. On our twice daily walks she typically will meet 2-5 people that she interacts with, some she sees often and others are complete strangers, and they are always positive experiences. The only times she's shown signs of aggression towards other dogs are as I stated above: when guarding, when tired/over stimulated, and sometimes if the dog is smaller than her she can get pushy with them. The only people she's ever shown aggression to have been my partner and I when we've tried to take something away that she's guarding, like a dangerous object, poisonous food, or another dog's toy. Many thanks, Claire

Hi, your website is an incredible resource and so helpful for a first time dog owner. We have a 6 month old Jack Russel called Ripley. She has some resource guarding issues with food and objects that we're currently dealing with, but this post is about something that has appeared recently and we're not sure how to tackle it: If another dog owner is giving her attention and their dog comes close to her she'll growl or snap at them, even when they're not showing any aggressive or agitated behaviour. It seems like she guards the person stroking her even though they're 'not hers'. She doesn't seem to mind me stroking other dogs though, not to the point of growling or snapping anyway. Any insight on how to address this would be very much appreciated. Claire