We have a shih tzus called TJ.. He is a rescue dog and was extremely aggressive when we first had him.  He is 95% better now thanks mainly to my wifes love and devotion.  However, tonight he was being very protective of a biscuit that he just wanted to play with and not eat.  My wife went up to him to wash his face as normal after dinner and he turned on her and bit her. My wife has spent the last two hours ignoring him.  Is this the best way to deal with him?  Please help/

Hi, your dog was doing something called 'Resource guarding', which is v common in dogs.

You can prevent it, but it's long and complicated and hard to explain how online.

You have a choice - you can try to avoid your dog and not approach it when it has something it might guard.  Or you can try to solve this behaviour, which is possible but will be hard work.

For an overview of how to solve it...

I think you should buy a book called "Mine!  A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" by Jean Donaldson.  It can be bought from Crosskeys books: http://www.crosskeysbooks.com/product_info.php?products_id=451

You could also think about seeing your vet for a referral to an APBC qualified behaviourist, who will come into your home and give you a tailor made plan for solving it.

Ignoring your dog, or punishing it in any way, isn't the answer.  In fact, some kinds of punishment can make the guarding worse, because the dog will think you are more of a threat and so it will guard even more....

Thanks for your very helpful e mail.  We will be trying to source the book you mentioned - there are several ares that could be improved!!!!  Once again thanks  Arnie Margaret and TJ

Two hours is too long for it to mean anything to the dog, but if your wife felt she couldn't treat him normally before then, fair enough.  Also, did the dog keep the biscuit?

Thanks for your reply Digger !!  No I managed to retreive the biscuit!!!  Thankfully everthing is back to normal now but we take on board that long term punishments dont really help.  Once again thanks  Arnie Margaret & TJ

My aunties dog is a little like this with her bones, as we found out when she came to stay with us, she didn't bite any of us but did growl when anyone went near her, she did apparantly go for my young cousin when he tried to remove her bone at home. So while she stayed with us we tried to do something about this as my GR thinks everthng is to share. My husband was the guinea pig as she seemed have a love for men so he would just remove the bone from her at certain times then praise and give it back to her eventually, i realise some people may think this is not the right way to solve the problem but she seemed to accept this.