My 22 month Leo has started to guard me from big dogs. I am in a wheelchair and have been for 4 months. He hasn't shown any aggression before to any dogs, and has NEVER shown aggression to people, thankfully. He is fine with most dogs and will happily play puppylike behaviour, but giant breed dogs he is wary of. There is a particluar St. Bernard puppy he has suddenly gone off, and seems frightened of. He avoids eye contact with it, tries to hide behind me in the chair, growls under his breath if it comes near, and even snarled yesterday. This puppy seems to show no signs of aggression, no dominance, its not an "in your face puppy", so I can't understand this dislike for him.

At first I thought it maybe the size of the puppy (6 months old and same size as McCartney), but when I went over to a taller, much bigger 10 month Newfie he was absolutely fine, tail wagging, wanting to play etc, so now I am unsure about the size thingy .

I was thinking of the guarding issue because it has only really started since I have been confined to the wheelchair, and he doesn't do it when someone has him away from me and a large dog approaches him, but he will do it when someone else has him near me and another dog comes to me.

A monster of a boxer came over to us yesterday, about 10-11 months old, and built like an out house! It's also one of those dogs that are really in your face and leap all over you. It leapt all over myself and McCartney and he was completely fine with it all, he wanted to play and didn't bat an eyelid when it threw itself all over me.

My questions are: Am I right about the guarding/ possessive behaviour? How can I try to prevent it? I've tried to distract with food by making him "watch me, sit, paw etc", he's not really a dog for toys, but I'm afraid that I am rewarding his "bad behaviour". I've tried to ignore him when he's hidden rather than fuss him, when in the dogs presence. I've tried shouting when growling, I've tried just turning his head so he can't see it? I'm now running out of ideas.

Any advice?

> He avoids eye contact with it, tries to hide behind me in the chair

This doesn't sound like guarding, it sounds like fear. He could be feeling a little less confidant or fearfull becasue you are in the wheelchair at the moment (if you are feeling a little vulnerable, it may well be passing to the dog) or it could be an age thing?

Either way, shouting at him if he growls will not do any good (can confuse him/re-enforce his fear by you 'joining in' with him/make him frightened of you etc...). Distraction is good, but if he is showing the behaviour you have mentioned above, I think it wise to show him he has the 'flight/avoidance' option by simply moving away from the other dog (he may feel less able to move away due to you being in the chair?) , at least that way, he doesn't feel he has to growl so there it's less likey to cement the habit. Rewards for all wanted behaviour that he shows, this can be verbal praise, a pat, or treat (or mixture of them).

I'm sure somebody will be along with some more thorough advice soon.

mastifflover has made some valid points for you to chew over.  She's very good at "thinking dog" instead of thinking human!  :-)

> (he may feel less able to move away due to you being in the chair?)

Now I wonder if this might be a key part of it as he is so young, and therefore somewhat edgy. My guess a little bit of guarding, but a lot more being unsure? Perhaps not trusting you to move him away from any issues if he feels uncomfortable? Not because of wheelchair.... I have a feeling adolescent dogs are not yet sure of things in general so they may get in there first if they aren't sure if the handler will take control. (Just a musing on my part; I'm still learning too!).

Hiya,

This doesn't sound at all like him being possesive or guading, it sounds entirely about him bein afradi of a particular or particluar dogs (inappropriate guarding can be fear related)  but this doesn't sound like it in the slightest.

It isn't a great idea to shout at him for growling, as he sounds afraid and the growling is just expressing that, you want to address the cause of the growling which is the fear rather than the symptom which is the growling.  You also risk him associating you shouting with something he is already afraid of so therefore reinforcing to him that he is right the appraoch of that particular dog is not a good thing.

Also not a good idea to turn his head away, it's not very nice to know there is something scarey right near you but you can't see what it is doing or if it is getting nearer you.  I'm not really bothered by spiders, but if I see a biggie in my living room and it suddenly darts under a chair near me and I can't see where it's gone then I get into a bit of a paddy :-D  Much more comforting if you can see the thing that worries you if you are in close proximity and know where it is and what it is up to.

I wander is it possible that he has knocked himself on the wheelchair or caught himself when they have been playing previously and hurt himself and therefore associating this/these dogs with having been hurt so then worried about their approach while with you in the wheel chair?

It's so easy for dogs to generalise when it comes to fear, they don't generalise well with anything that we want them to but when it comes to fear it happens very easily, so one negative experience and that is enough for them to suddenly  think all approaches from a certain dog or even a certain colour of dog while he is with you in the confinement of the wheelchair is a negative thing.

It is also possible that he's going through a fear imprint stage, with some breeds it can happen later than others and during this time dogs can get worried by things that didn't bother them before and get spooked by something more easily.

If you know the owner of the dog that he's worried by could you ask them to help by keeping thier dog at a distance away that he is comfortable with.  While they stand keeping their dog occupied then you can feed your doggie some high value food rewards, something like roast chicken.  Everytime he looks at the other dog (which should be in a calm way as the othe dogs should be far enough away that your lad isn't scared) then say good an immediately give him the reward.  Then gradually decrease the distance - keep this extra special treat for pairing with the resence of this other dog so that he can start to associate him with something really good.

I would work on building iup positive association with other dogs generally just now so the keeps thinking the dogs that he isn't bothered by are great and builds confidence with the one that he's worried by.

He sounds lovely and I'm sure he'll be back to his normal self in no time :-)

> At first I thought it maybe the size of the puppy (6 months old and same size as McCartney), but when I went over to a taller, much bigger 10 month Newfie he was absolutely fine, tail wagging, wanting to play etc, so now I am unsure about the size thingy <IMG alt=confused src="/images/confused.gif"> .
>

An additional thought here, it's probably less to do with the size of a dog and more to do with the demeanor of the other dog. Buster naturally oozes self-confidance, this along with his size, tends to bring out defensive behaviour in other dogs, he doesn't show any active 'dominace' behaviour, but his personality if very over-powering, despite not acting 'in your face', it's a bit hard to describe, but you can 'feel' his presence very easily. This could be what is effecting your dog, if he is a little unsure of himself (due to age, a negative association with your wheelchair etc.) it will be intimidating for him. Confidant dogs (generally mature mature, well socialised dogs) don't have a problem with Buster.

I'd imagine a St. Bernard would have a similar 'feel' as Buster, but Newfies should 'feel' a lot more 'happy-go-lucky'. It may be a bit more easy to understand if you think of the 'feel' of a Bulldog, despite the much smaller size (compared to a giant breed) they will 'feel' very imposing.

It can help keeping this in mind as you will be able to pre-emp his defensiveness a little easier. Breed charateristics can have a big bearing on how other dogs react to them.

Thanks everyone, I'll try these things. I was worried that what I was doing would imprint it further into his head. He is more or less great with all dogs apart from this St. Bernard puppy, oh and dogs with blue eyes, which I can imagine would look intimidating to a dog. Luckily we rarely see one anyway. Do you think if I let him play with his "girlfriend" a bulldog near the St. B, it will help him to relax a little, or would this be likely to create more problems?

> Do you think if I let him play with his "girlfriend" a bulldog near the St. B, it will help him to relax a little,

As long as it is at a distance that he is comfortable with, then yes, a great way to build up a positive association :)

OK, I'll try that too. He's in love with his girlfriend, as long as it won't do him any harm