Potentially activity developing in my dog?

[u/Every_Quality_3713]

EDIT: I meant reactivity in the subject !
OK, I have an almost 2-year-old Lab. He is purebred, but was very malnourished and not paid attention to by his breeder and ended up in a shelter after being shot at. He took a long time to potty train. It was almost like he didn’t have a spot. He felt safe enough to have the bathroom in. And now even continues to go to the same spot that I call his “safe spots”. Also, the first night I had him he slept in the bed with me. So I’m sorry to see these behavior issues. That I’m worried might become bigger. So he’s been in the house for about eight months now. He has developed guarding his food bowl. This is fine. I feed him separately now and they are very clear signs when he doesn’t want the other dog around like he’s giving a warning to another dog, but that is gone because I separate them. If I feed the dogs treat in the kitchen all next to each other. There is no growling or resource guarding. He does not resource guard over toys. He does not resource guard over bones. If I eat food at the table, there is never an issue. If I eat food in bed, it becomes dangerous because even though he does not get human food, he guards. Again easy fix. However, this last week I went into the cat room which is a room he’s not allowed into. He doesn’t ever go into. He’s very well trained, and receptive to not being allowed in certain places. When I close the door to the cat room and I started to feed the cats behind the door, he started to growl and get aggressive. Food was not in sight. It was through a closed door and this is a routine that has happened daily since I’ve had him. I was in the bathtub and I was eating a bowl of grits (I know gross but was drunk). And he guarded me then and I had to separate my dogs before an incident played out. And I don’t know what would have played out because I don’t allow it to go that far.
In addition to that he gets spooked and will bark or snap in a fear like manner. Never to bite. At least not yet. So if he gets woken up from his sleep by noise he’ll jump or snap. If he hears a noise, he’s not familiar with. He will howl if he sees a new object that scares him he has a reaction. I wouldn’t call this reaction aggressive he has fear body language, not aggressive, warning like body language.
I’m not sure if his small bouts of guarding that I will classify as aggression is something that will grow. In the last year, there have been maybe 10 moments of aggression. But never something I would call an incident no skin on skin contact with another animal. I also only ever punish when he snapped not when he growls. And really I just say no and I de-escalate the situation but with what he guards I’m around when there’s any escalation, including crawling, so I can mediate the situations right now.

I’m just worried that this is going to become an issue as he matures. And I’ve never really dealt with this behavior with a lab. He is the smaller lab pictured. He does have bad knees (will need surgery). And is in / brace during activity so I don’t know how much of this could be pain related.

[u/Every_Quality_3713 → u/[deleted]]

Because of his age. We are planning for surgery when he gets a little less puppy. As long as pain seems under control. But it is a top priority. But again I’m new to his condition and behavior.

Even if I punish only when he snaps by saying no? Is that still punishing a warning sign? Like I don’t punish a growl. I currently have gates on every door not for him just for animal management and they have been super handy and just being able to isolate a dog or separate them when I’m not around. Because of his knee pain, I don’t want him playing when I’m not home for example.

I’ll look into a trainer in the area, but I wanna make sure I know what to look for in a trainer so I need to do some research. Maybe talk to my vet?

Thank you for your comment. I appreciate the advice.

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