# Willow bit me.



## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

So... we've been having problems with Willow. She is a nice dog most of the time, but she does have some issues that have cropped up as she's gotten more comfortable here. She has always had food aggression, like if one of the dogs went near her when she is eating she would snap and growl, but not actually bite.. well today Bishop had a toy he was chewing on and Willow charged him, snapping and growling and stole it from him.. then dropped it and walked away but would growl and do it again if he went anywhere close to it. A few hours later I grabbed her collar to lead her downstairs (where her and Bishop stay when I leave..) and she reached around and bit my wrist. It broke the skin but not so bad that I need stitches or anything. If you are holding food she will jump up and dry to snap at your arm also. 

I realize that I should put her away whenever there is any kind of food or toy around, but I have two young dogs that are always playing. I hate the idea of a crate and rotate kind of thing. I don't want to give her back to the rescue either but at this point I have no idea what to do.


----------



## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Oh no, Im so sorry to hear that. Could it be because she is a senior and gets annoyed by the young dogs playing? Sorry I cant offer any advice, I have never been in this situation before. Good luck with whatever you decide, Im sure it wont be easy


----------



## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Oh no!! I am so sorry. Wow. I wish I had some good advice. That's just awful. i hope you don't have to give her back, either, but you can't have a dog that is willing to bite you.


----------



## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

She doesn't respect you, or the other dogs. She's obviously showing a domineering tendency and needs to be corrected. She shouldn't be allowed to show that sort of personality to you or the dogs. Definitely need to work on food aggression and her possessiveness towards toys. 

I would start with simple things, like getting her to sit and be relaxed before she gets her food, and then taking it away from her and making her sit and wait for it. If she will bite you, you can be sure she would take a bite at your other dogs. She has to realize it's your food, your house and you are in control of everything in that house, food and toys included.

If you feel like you can't handle it then you should consider taking her back as the last thing you want is her turning on your other dogs.


----------



## Gally (Jan 28, 2012)

If you're not sure how to handle the situation it might be worth it to contact a professional behaviorist or trainer.

In the meantime what I would try:

1. Feed her in her crate. How would you feel if a stranger sat down beside you and started eating off your plate? Angry probably. I know I would be. Let the girl eat in peace.
2. Put her in a harness and let her drag a leash around. This way you never have to grab her collar as she's clearly told you she doesn't like that. You can calmly pick up the leash and lead her where you need her to go.This is just a temporary fix until you train her.
3. Train her basic commands, particularly: sit, stay, leave it, drop it, out of the room or go to your mat, come and off
When she gets fixated on a toy ask her to drop it if she hasn't already left it. Ask her to leave the room or go to her mat where she can still see you but is away from the toy. Pick the toy up and give it to the dog who originally had it. If she tries to get up, tell her to go back to her mat/spot. You need to communicate that it's not her toy to control.
Ask her to come with you rather than bring her by her collar. Ask her to get off the couch rather than physically move her etc.
4. Set up a space for her, maybe a spare bedroom or a place in the yard where she can go to get away from the pups. Even parents need some time away from their kids once in a while.
5. Institute Nothing in Life is Free - ie. anytime she wants anything whether is dinner or to go out the door she needs to do something for you first such as sit or down.


----------



## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

A lot of dogs don't react well to being grabbed fast by the collar, most of the time because they've been punished directly after that action in the past, you need to desensitize her to it. As far as the food aggression/resource guarding, you cannot allow her to practice this behavior, you know she's food aggressive so why is there not only multiple times of her having to snap at the other dogs, but also steal the other dogs goodies, what if one of them had reacted instead of backing off and a fight ensued? It is not difficult to avoid fights and issues while working on it, stop leaving toys around, stop allowing the dogs to approach and bother each other with food or toys. I have two resource guarders and my dogs will scrap seriously at the drop of a hat, the new dog has been here 6+ months and only recently has been allowed out with another dog around high value treats, before she would be gated in my kitchen or crated, I will not have my dogs bullying each other or starting issues, but I don't expect them to know the rules or abide by them without training first.


----------



## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Mikey has bitten me a number of times when I have grabbed his collar. 

I am just surprised that a basset can jump! I had no idea!


----------



## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I wonder if because she's a senior her hearing may be a little impaired and she didn't know you were coming when you grabbed her collar and she got startled. 
I know as my different dogs have aged occasionally they are just crankier than the youngsters and I know that sometimes they just don't feel like being messed with. Lily is just under 14 and she gets grouchier as time goes on and has little patience for Nat when she's playing and bouncing around. 
Madison my really old girl gets startled very easily because she's almost totally deaf now and she's always been bomb proof in the past.
I wish you luck in solving these issues and hope that you'll be able to get it worked out.


----------



## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Nah, her hearing is great. She goes for offleash walks and has a perfect recall from far away.


----------



## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

I have to agree with what others have said, just because she is a senior doesn't mean she shouldn't be treated like a puppy. Set her up for success right off the bat, if she is food aggressive she needs to be fed in her crate or in a room on her own, you do not want her actually attacking and causing damage to the other dogs! Also all toys should be put away, toys are a privilege and as long as you allow Bishop and Tess toy time alone no one will be hurt by this decision (Avery is allow no toys unless I say it's play time and he is a single dog)...

While I believe collar grabs are important not all dogs know how to deal with them. You an teach her to enjoy collar grabs by grabbing her collar at random times during the day an then giving her a jackpot of goodies, while your building the collar grab a solid touch is very very important. That way you can ask her to touch your hand anytime you need her to move, if you want her off the couch you won't even have to touch her, just ask for a touch far enough from the couch and she will have to move to do it. Use it anytime you need her to move, then se won't feel threathen and you won't get bit.

Finally if she can't behave while your eating you have a couple of choices, put her in a crate during this time, put her in a seperate room or train a solid "go to your mat" a place she will have to go and stay til you release her.


----------



## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

Resource guarding can definitely be worked with, I would hire a trainer/behaviorist to help you if possible. I generally like to approach the dog when he has something and give a treat. Eventually pet the dog while he has it, then get a treat, then eventually touch the food/object then give a treat, then take the object, give a treat, give the object back, etc. So the dog start to welcome your approach and handling of his things. Don't show the treat before hand, it comes out after you are already there/touching. But take it very slow if the dog might bite, you don't want to push that hard. Getting a dog to be okay with other dogs around their stuff is much harder, I'm not really sure how you'd go about that, until you come up with something I would certainly keep things picked up. Just make sure whatever you doesn't cause her to be aggressive towards you. Sometimes people recommend taking the toy away from the aggressive dog to show them they loose their toy for acting that way, but doing something like that could easily become dangerous for you and make the dog more worried about YOU stealing her things. 

A lot of dogs also have issues with their collars being grabbed, you can desensitize her to that and in the mean time use a leash, maybe get a slip leash so you don't have to touch the collar at all until she's gone through desensitization training. Here is a kikopup video on how to do that:
Dog Training Tip of the Day- Gotcha! - YouTube


----------



## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

How long have you had her? I had a foster who displayed food aggression - even bit me in the face once (didn't break the skin, but boy was I surprised). He also hated being groomed and would give warning growls before biting. As he grew to trust me, though, I was able to take food away from him and groom him without complaint. So it's definitely workable. It took a few months, but probably would have taken less time if I had been working on it actively.


----------



## brandypup (Jan 23, 2012)

Hugs...
I had a very posesive dog, Brandy. She wasn't posesive with humans, justt other animals. Although i did work with her to keep her comfortable with humans. (rewarding her for giving me her high prized stuff)

I do not knwo the answer in your situation. But let me tell you that I worked it through. Brand and I moved into another hosehold with another dog and a cat. I soon figured out we couldn't leave toys out. No one was crate trained in the house (this is before my internet days) I also couldn't leave food out...nor could I feed the animals together. So... branndy could jump a baby gate so we sectioned our room off with a baby gate. Bear the othe doog couldn't jump it and Max cat just didn't really care. I kept brandys stuff in our room with the gate up. 

But I still worked with her. She would all out seeminlgy attack any animal near her things. She was very good through with bite control and alll she would do was pin and leave no marks. (still effing scary) When we moved out we had several cats as I got into cat rescue. 

Bones learned to eat chhicken wings and RBM's from Brandy. I hadd 3 towles on the floor and all the kids got their meal and bones would watch brandy fro a distance. I was always there. I coached brandy easy.. wait.. and I always made sure no animals got too close.

Well to my surprize one day I turned aroudn and bones was in Brandys bowl with brandy! Brandy was frozen in place and I went and scooped bones up and removed her. I praised that dog to no end.
This may sound silly but I think what it was happened is that brandy new I wouldn' allow any other animals to infringe her space so she paintently waited for me. And that I ended up crating brandy when she did have treats, ect to keep her comfortable when I couldn't supervise. Sometimes even when i could. 

In any case I hope you figure out what will help. Me I just accepted it and worked around it to keep every one safe. Of course this wasn't human guarding at all. The whole dog journal has some great articcles thorugh on resourrce guarding.


----------



## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

hows willow


brandypup said:


> Hugs...
> I had a very posesive dog, Brandy. She wasn't posesive with humans, justt other animals. Although i did work with her to keep her comfortable with humans. (rewarding her for giving me her high prized stuff)
> 
> I do not knwo the answer in your situation. But let me tell you that I worked it through. Brand and I moved into another hosehold with another dog and a cat. I soon figured out we couldn't leave toys out. No one was crate trained in the house (this is before my internet days) I also couldn't leave food out...nor could I feed the animals together. So... branndy could jump a baby gate so we sectioned our room off with a baby gate. Bear the othe doog couldn't jump it and Max cat just didn't really care. I kept brandys stuff in our room with the gate up.
> ...


----------



## ciaBrysh (Dec 16, 2011)

Caty M said:


> So... we've been having problems with Willow. She is a nice dog most of the time, but she does have some issues that have cropped up as she's gotten more comfortable here. She has always had food aggression, like if one of the dogs went near her when she is eating she would snap and growl, but not actually bite.. well today Bishop had a toy he was chewing on and Willow charged him, snapping and growling and stole it from him.. then dropped it and walked away but would growl and do it again if he went anywhere close to it. A few hours later I grabbed her collar to lead her downstairs (where her and Bishop stay when I leave..) and she reached around and bit my wrist. It broke the skin but not so bad that I need stitches or anything. If you are holding food she will jump up and dry to snap at your arm also.
> 
> I realize that I should put her away whenever there is any kind of food or toy around, but I have two young dogs that are always playing. I hate the idea of a crate and rotate kind of thing. I don't want to give her back to the rescue either but at this point I have no idea what to do.


I do a modified crate and rotate, and honestly...it's not bad! 
You have three dogs...maybe Willow will feel more comfortable with just one other dog rather than all three at once?
My Willow is sort of touchy with other dogs..so I can totally understand where you are coming from. 
Can you just give your dogs "alone" time with their toys? It's probably just me being me...but I never have dog toys out when the two of them ARE out together...even before I ever had an issue. It is natural for a dog want to guard what is there, as long as they aren't doing it to the people then it's just ho they communicate. 
Anyway..I hope that since you are fostering her (she is a foster right?) you will advice the home to be single dog only, or quadruply make sure that the new owners are well aware of her tendencies...if she is a foster that is.


----------



## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

I have to wonder if this is why I'm not allowed to get a dogs I want from the shelter. Because dogs like this are labeled as single dog homes? What happens when the owner doesn't mind training that out of them? Nope, not possible, not even going to get the chance at a shelter. At least I couldn't convince them otherwise. 

I'm personally not against crate training. It is your house and willow is going to have to accept that. You've been given lots of advice on how to solve this. Hopefully you can get pass this problem with Willow. Keep us uptodate on how things are going.


----------

