Just over 2 months ago we adopted a Japanese spitz mix (not 100% sure of the mix). He is around 18 months old and generally he's an awesome dog but he has some really weird issues and as I'm a new dog owner and my partner only had guard dogs when she was young we're a bit lost in how to deal with it.

He has a bit of a difficult history. He was given as a gift from boyfriend to girlfriend. The broke up, the girl said she couldn't live with him as he reminded her too much of her ex (I know....) then she gave him to another family who have 2 kids. It sounds like they weren't really set up for having a dog and the kids were rough with him. They gave him away as I think he bit one of the kids, he was then fostered by my partners sister and finally we decided to give him a proper home. I have only managed to find this backstory out through really pushing and I think there's probably something else going on that the previous owners are embarrassed about.

The normal thing:

He's a resource guarder. Generally it's only with food, and not all food, but if we give him his bowl he gets super growly if you walk anywhere near him, the same with his favourite big treats. I understand this is kind of normal behavior for many rescues and we're working on tossing him high value treats etc to help him with this. He definitely got better with it so I'm not too worried about this part. I think we have it under control mostly. However he did take a snap at a friend of mine (and broke skin) when my friend didn't realise he had a treat under him and approached him from behind. So that was a bit of a worry for me as he drew blood and it's not something I've ever really seen any dogs do before (While I didn't grow up with dogs, most of my family did)

The weird thing:

He has this weird thing that happens once every couple of days where he will come to us on the sofa, or near the bed etc. He will lay there for a bit, seemingly nice and content, often physically touching us. Then randomly he will just look up and start growling and bearing his teeth. I don't really know what to do as it's him who has initiated the contact, and he loves to sit on/ next to us most of the time. I have looked for patterns in when he gets growly but there doesn't seem to be any. He's not sleepy, he's not got treats, he often not even being touched. He has chosen to come and be next to us and seemingly randomly start getting aggressive.

Does anyone have any ideas of where to start with it?
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JoanneF
JoanneF
Super Moderator
Joined Jan 10, 2020
5,139 Posts
#2 · 8 d ago
Hi.

First, resource guarding is a quite natural behaviour, animals are hard wired not to share as their survival is based on keeping what they have.

And, it has only been two months, so it is early to expect his behaviour to be normal.

I wonder though, if he is resource guarding the sofa. It might be best not to let him on the sofa at all. He might be a bit conflicted, wanting the contact with you but also then wanting to guard the sofa.

So if you don't let him on the sofa, have a super-comfortable bed for him and reward him heavily for using it. Make sure it is not in a high traffic area of the house so he isn't disturbed. When he comes to you for attention, I'd also use the five second rule. Stroke him for five seconds (some dogs prefer you avoid the head) then stop. Only if he initiates further contact by nudging you or similar, continue for another five seconds then stop again. Continue only for as long as he keeps asking. That gives him control and in turn that will build his confidence around you because he knows he can make it stop at any time.

There is more information on resource guarding here.