Resource Guarding Alaskan Malamute

Hi Shiloh's Mom!

Shiloh is only 3.5 mos and already 50 lbs?! Wow, she is already heavier than my adult dogs!!

I really think you should not waste any time about socializing him and also correcting his resource guarding behavior.

I understand how you are concerned that your puppy might hurt some dogs or people but it would be even worse if you keep your puppy away from them. It will be much harder to socialize him as he gets older.

When a dog has an access to something or somebody, he would think it is his resource and try to protect it or the person and he will get aggressive when the resource is being taken away. A good example is: you let your puppy on the bed and let him snuggle next to you and when he gets older you might no longer want your dog on the bed and try to move him. By this time the dog has already claimed the bed as his resource so he would growl or snap at you to protect his resource.

In order to prevent this from happening you need to practice tell your dog to get down from the bed many times with rewarding him. When you see your dog on the bed, instead of forcing him to get down, show some treat on the floor as you tell him "get down" so that he has to get down to reach the treat. If he does, praise him and give him the treat. Now you tell him to get on the bed and repeat "get down" practices. By doing this, he will learn that he gets a treat when he does what you ask him to do. This is an obedience training.

As for the food bowl guarding, don't feed him a whole meal in his dog bowl at once. Put about a half of his meal in the bowl. As he eats throw in a few kibbles or feed from your hand. Keep talking to him saying "Good boy". Pretty soon he will learn you are not trying to take his food away but giving himmore food when you are around. He will know that he does not need to guard his resources from you at least.

The most important thing when you raise a dog, I believe, is to build a trust worthy relationship in both ways. Once you and your dog can successfully build a good relationsip you can expand it to other people and other dogs. YOU have to be trusted by your dog first so that your dog will be relaxed and comfortable when he is with you.

I am sorry I might sound too strict but all the problems I see on this forum seem to me due to the lack of the trusty relationship between the owner and the dog. Resource guarding is a very common problem and you know why it happens? It is because the dog sees the owner as a threat, and the dog doesn't trust the owner. It is sad to think this way, isn't it?

You can teach Shiloh that you are not a threat to him by training based on positive reinforcement.

As for the muzzle, I don't know what to say. One of my dogs developed a fear aggression against big dogs and I was also told to put a muzzle on him. However, I didn't because I thought what he needed is self-confidence and muzzling him would work in the reverse way. I tried to comfort his telling him he is OK when he sees a big dog instead. He has gone a long way and he is now almost fine if he is loose (not leashed) in the dog park even if there are big dogs. He has learned to flight not fight.

Anyway, I really recommend you start positive training every day at the meal times and a few 15 minutes sessions. I am sure it will make a difference.

Good luck!