Dog protects owner and other humans from dogs

Hi there

It sounds like your Shih-Poo has taken over the dominant role in the house, and therefore feels the need to protect the rest of 'his' pack against other dogs. You will need to re-establish yourself as the alpha dog before this aggression progresses any further.

There are a few things that you can incorporate into your daily routine to re-establish yourself as the alpha dog. These include insisting that you walk ahead of him through doorways and when walking on the leash, and feeding him after you have finished your own meal. You must ignore him if he comes up to you for attention, as he has to learn that attention from you is earned and not just given out whenever he wants it. Before you pat him or play with him, give him a command, such as 'sit-stay' so that he will see that your attention is a reward for good behavior. This will act as an incentive for the future. If you are playing a game with him, make sure it is you that chooses the toy and when you decide that you have had enough, take the toy away with you so that he realizes that it is you that controls playtime. When you first come home, you should greet the rest of the household first before saying hello to him, which will help him realize his place in the hierarchy. All these things can be incorporated relatively easily into your normal daily routine, although it will require some patience and perseverance from you. He may struggle initially as he sees himself as the alpha dog and therefore being in the submissive position to you, who he sees as a subordinate, is distressing. Soon, though, he will settle into his new place in the hierarchy and should become a more relaxed dog, as he has been relieved of the stressful role of protector.

When out on walks, if he goes to growl at other dogs, call him back towards you. If he does not listen to you straight away, go and put him on the leash and take him home. It will not take him long to realize that he will have to bear the consequences if he is not obedient.

If he behaves in this way when dogs come round to your house, you should take him by the collar and lead him away to a 'time-out zone'. Don't speak to him or make eye contact when taking him away, so that he is getting absolutely no attention from anyone at all. This place should be quiet and free of distractions, away from other people and dogs so that he can be left completely alone. Leave him there until he calms down and then make him obey a command, such as 'sit-stay', before releasing him from the 'time-out zone'. If he misbehaves again, do exactly the same. He will soon learn that that is not the way to get your attention, in fact it will lead to complete isolation instead, which is not what he wants.

It is also a good idea to set aside some time each day for a bit of obedience training, which will not only improve his obedience levels but also the relationship between you. You may find this easiest to do with one dog at a time, so if you are going to do this in the park, you could leave one dog at home for a short period of time whilst you work with the other one.

I hope this helps and all the best with the training!

Hi Jazz,

I wonder if your Shih-Poo is more like a people dog and likes to hang around with people, rather than dogs?

What I see in your post is that your dog is trying to guard you, your Yorkie, and other people from other dogs. In order words, he can handle one dog at a time but he gets nerveous and confused when there are more than one dog around his valuable resources (you and your Yorkie). It is like he has a bone that he doesn't want any other dogs to take away from him (sorry, I am not saying you are same as a bone).

Does he show any guarding behavior with any of his toys or foods?

What you might want to do is to walk around the dog park on your own. Go pet other dogs, talk to other dog owners, and take your Shih-Poo to other people and have them meet your Shih-Poo. This way, he will get distracted from his "guarding behavior" and pretty soon he will realize that he doesn't need to guard you and your Yorkie.

I hope this will help

Hi kjd,

I am not 100% sure because I am not the owner of the dog or I haven't seen how he was actually acting but I just thought that Jazz's dog might have been the kind of dog that just LOVES people and not very fond of dogs...

>Are you saying it is only a coincidence that he is protecting the other people?

Things that look like a coincidence to us people can be not a coincidence from dogs point of view; there can be a very good reason to this too, for example, Jazz was talking to another dog owner and the Shih-Poo thought the other owner was a part of his resources. This is all based on my assumption that he is a very people oriented dog.

One of my dogs Noah loves people and he likes to come up to strangers and ask them to pet, pet, pet, more pet and more.... He would not mind if there are 20 people at our home all at once, however, he can never be able to handle 20 stranger dogs in our house. He would go nuts! He doesn't mind if a person sits right next to him on the couch, but he would show his teeth if a stranger dog gets on the couch next to him. If it's a small dog, he would just get off the couch.

Another example is one of my foster dogs always guarded my bag that I use only for going to the dog park or walks to my friend's house. The bag had no treats , or anything I can see valuable to the dog (Rosie) in it. However, she always sat next to the bag to guard it and didn't let even our dogs and Oliver (cat) get close to it. I once saw her snapped at Oliver that tried to look into the bag. I realized that the bag was so special to her for whatever reason. I even moved the bag around from one place to another in my friend's yard and she just followed the bag and didn't play with my dogs.

Again, my last comment is based on my assumption and I just wanted to throw in a different point of view

Hi kjd, MaxHollyNoah:

Right you are he is definately a people dog. You hit that part on the head. When we go to the park he definately visits all the people for affection, and for the most part ignores the dogs. He has one dog he has grown accustomed to, and thats it. Otherwise he spends his time protecting me, and yes at home even toys, chews from my Yorkie. It is not a coincidence that he protects other "new" people he meets at the dog park. I think he just gets in that mode and because he does appear to prefer people, it does not seem to matter what "person" he protects, even from their own dogs.

I have tried walking around (and mostly do that when I am there), but it has not changed in 6 months of going to the dog park. Even if I am walking and dogs come near me or the person I walk with, he is in protect mode. I have even tried having him "sit" and then I give affection to the other dogs that come to me. He allows it for a second, but not without the teeth showing, and has never become comfortable enough with it. He usually jumps up my leg if I ask him to sit...as if he wants me to pick him up. You were also correct in saying that the more dogs around me the worse it is for sure. He does not hesitate to go at them big or small, 2 or 6. I do worry about one of them coming back at him one day and him getting hurt over it. He did start a squabble one day with the Yorkie with us. We had 6 big dogs around us and my Yorkie got really nervous and was growling and drooling, so he went on guard and one snap from the Yorkie got him rowled. 3 of the bigger dogs then started at each other becasue of the tussle. It was scary!

I guess I am just curious on how he became that way? I do not have alot of people in my home (but when I do he is 100% great with it). I have never had any other dogs in my home so cannot speak to that...but would guess it would not be a good scene. I also banter with the idea that he may think he is the alpha dog, but I like to think he listens well outside of this circumstance. Is it possible for a dog to act alpha sometimes and not other times. He seems alpha in this action, but yet will lie down and watch my Yorkie eat supper and waits until the Yorkie is done before he will eat. Seems he gives way to my Yorkie out of respect to the "elder" dog. Normally I would say the Shih-Poo is higher in ranks in the house, but he does not always act that way.

Still confused and would like my dog to play and have fun at the dog park (instead of being the protector). He does sometimes appear to want to have fun with other dogs. If they get actively running about he sometimes will chase them about or so feet as they pass by, then stop and return to me. He is not chasing them with aggression...he seems to want to join in the fun, but never does (except with the one small dog (Yorkie-shih-tzu cross) he has grown fond of).

Thanks for everyones help and suggestions. If you think of anything else....I am listening and willing to try anything.

Hi Jazz,

I understand how you feel but I think dog parks are just too much for your Shih-Poo. It is rather stressful for her and it can work backwards, in other words, he might get more and more aggressive to other dogs.

Your Shih-Poo is just simply not "socialized" with dogs. He probably didn't have much opportunity to meet and play with other dogs when he was younger.

I would not force your dog to handle chaos of dog parks. Instead, you might want to socialize him with very friendly and confident dogs one on one basis.

I think dog training classes are very good for him. In the classes I take with my dogs (I keep taking classes after graduating because they love their one-on-one attention from me as well as treats!), there is a practice to have your dog "stay" while you go pet all the other dogs one by one. Each owner does this so your dog gets petted by the other owners and their dogs have to sit still.

There are a lot of things that dogs can learn by waching other dogs' behaviors. That will also encourage your dog to let you pet other dogs. He will soon learn it's not a big deal since other dogs are letting their owners do that and they even get treats!

Socializing unsocialized dogs should take baby steps, never flood them with too much at a time. Good luck