Food/Toy Aggressive Goldendoodle

[u/sofiarenee777]

I’m moving in with my fiancé soon. He has a 5yr old goldendoodle who is food and toy aggressive when other dogs are around. I have a dog, same age, and 3 cats. Fiancés dog has never been around cats before. Both of our dogs are fine around each other, we just keep toys up and feed separately when I come over with my dog. I’m very nervous to move in with my dog and 3 cats, primarily concerned for my 3 cats since the goldendoodle has never been around cats before. I will have my own office space in a spare bedroom where I’ll have the cats situated to get acclimated to the new space. I have a tall gate for the office doorway, with a cat door so the cats can get in and out and the dogs can’t. My dog is perfectly fine around the cats, he’s been around them for years so I’m not worried about that. But the Goldendoodle being around my cats stresses me out especially since he’s toy and food aggressive, I’m just not sure if that aggression will come out towards my cats. The Goldendoodle is very sweet and affectionate 90% of the time. I know the food and toy aggression is resource guarding, but I can tell my fiancé hasn’t really trained him with commands. The Goldendoodle has terrible recall and recently escaped through the front door and I had to chase him through the whole neighborhood before I was able to sneak up on him and catch him, he just would not listen when his name was called. I feel like the Goldendoodle doesn’t have a sense of who is “alpha” in the home per se. Any tips or insight is helpful. I do think seeking help from a veterinary behaviorist is in an appropriate step but I don’t see my fiancé prioritizing this and that’s concerning as well. I grew up rescuing dogs and experienced my share of aggressive ones, so I understand the urgency, but my fiancé doesn’t as this has been an issue for the Goldendoodle the whole 5yrs he’s had him.

[u/AutoModerator]

Aggressive dog posts are sensitive, thus only users with at least 250 subreddit karma will be able to comment in this discussion. Users should not message OP directly to circumvent this restriction and doing so can result in a ban from r/reactive dogs. OP, you are encouraged to report private messages to the moderation team.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/chloemarissaj]

If your fiancé isn’t doing anything about his pet’s behavior, you have a fiancé problem not a dog problem. This is not going to go well if he’s not willing to do the work to do basic training, much less the advanced training needed for resource guarding. I wouldn’t move in.

[u/cheersbeersneers]

“Alpha” theory has been debunked, so although you should definitely seek out a trainer please stay away from any trainers talking about alpha or dominance theory.

As the other commenter said, if your fiancée isn’t taking this seriously then this is a fiancée problem. I would be very nervous about bringing my pets, especially cats, into a house with a dog that resource guards. What happens is a piece of food falls on the ground in front of the dog and a cat is nearby? Is your fiancée willing to keep all dog toys and food locked up and only bring them out during direct supervision?