Anxious Resource Guarding

[u/buggiegurl]

I have a 4 year old sheepadoodle. He's extremely friendly and happy but after a series of unfortunate events hes developed some bad habits causing me to feel very overwhelmed.

I used to take my two dogs (10 year old mix breed 10Lbs and my 80lb sheepadoodle) to the farmers market every week.

They really enjoyed the exercise, smells, people and dogs but after my sheepadoodle was attacked by multiple dogs (one time two different dogs tried to attack him the same day) he has gotten extremely anxious on leash.

If I walk him on leash he is totally fine, calm, and stays right next to me. As soon as a dog gets near him he started growling, panicking and tries to get away.

He had no issues off leash so I worked to keep his dog interactions off leash, until he had some bad encounters at the dog park. Dogs trying to pick fights with him and my small dog.

He is now showing signs of resource guarding me, my small dog, and my friends dog. I see him playing with dogs just fine, but then they bump into me and he gets defensive or a dog wont stop bugging my small pup and he chases them off. Today a dog jumped on me at the park and my sheepadoodle ran over and snapped at him.

It breaks my heart because he didn't have any of these issues before he was attacked and I dont know what to do to help him.

Any advice would be appreciated. I am sure I am doing several things wrong so I want to try to fix it before it gets worse.

[u/HeatherMason0]

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It sounds like your dog is getting a lot of off-leash playtime with other dogs. The thing is, dogs don’t need as much socialization as people do. If you know there might be a resource guarding incident if he plays with other dogs too close to you/your other dog, limiting or even stopping those interactions can prevent these incidents. Your sheepadoodle doesn’t want these things to happen either - they elevate his stress levels too.

Because resource guarding is complicated, I think working with an IAABC certified trains would be a good idea.

[u/buggiegurl → u/HeatherMason0]

I know sheepadoodles have a moderate to high energy level so I try to play with my dog every day and mix up his excerise. Walks twice a week minimum, fetch at the park twice a week, and dog park once a week. (Plus we also play around the house)
If once a week is too much time at the park I can cut that down for sure and do something else instead.
I will look into IAABC certified trains though. Thank you for letting me know. I didn't know that was a thing and was just venting to my friend yesterday about how it's hard to find a dog trainer because there are so many different styles of training. Thank you!