# How to deal with guarding me



## MzChristine (Aug 30, 2012)

Casper has been with us for almost 2 weeks. I am the one who wanted him but the two kids and hubby were fine with another pet (we already have one little dog, Max, and two cats) I pretty much do all the regular pet care. Kids and hubby will take the dogs out, pet and play with them when the dogs go to them but not really seek them out. They also do their best to follow any training rules I have going on (no people food, make them sit before petting etc) 

We all have been doing positive reinforcement and I am reading up on clicker training.. if Casper behaves badly (jumping, pulling on the lead, barking when in his exercise pen) we ignore the behavior and praise when he does what we want. Example - jumping on our legs - he knew how to sit so I tell him sit and ignore until he does, then praise and pet. He is smart and does it quickly (and the jumping is much reduced) I also ask him to jump and put his feet on my leg (up Casper) and then when he starts to go back to all fours say off.. he is already doing it when I ask up, and off and we practice.

That was just to let you know what tactics I'm currently taking... 

the problem is that when my teens or husband approach me to hug, he starts barking and jumping and trying to get in between us. Currently we ignore, then tell him to sit, when he does, I have the kids/hubby praise and pet him. He listens but it is not reducing the behavior and I'm not sure what else to do. I am thinking that the kids and hubby need to help more with training so he sees them as a source of good things (like me) instead of competition, but I'm not sure if that's the right tactic plus the kids really aren't that interested and are busy with schoolwork etc. Luckily he is small but I believe a dog is a dog no matter what size his fur suit and always picture if the behavior would be appropriate if the dog was the size of my in-laws rottie. 

I have never dealt with this before even though we've had several dogs... but we got them as puppies and of course the kids were much more interested even though I was still the one who did all the training and care. How do I handle this with Casper? I do NOT want him to turn into a stereotype :afraid:


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

It sounds as if you are on the right track, but perhaps you need to set up some specific "humans can hug without help from dogs" training. I think I would take every opportunity to make light, quick contact with family in passing, ignoring any interruption by Caspar completely. At the moment his barging in gets rewarded with attention, even if it is not direct attention from you, or a "No!" or "Down!" - if the contact is so brief he hardly has time to react, and then everyone turns away from any misbehaviour, the reward is removed. Meanwhile he gets lots of good stuff for settling quietly on his bed, keeping all four feet on the floor, etc, etc. As he gets better at ignoring the impulse to join in hugs (which must look a lot like a game to a dog), I'd gradually build up the time. It shouldn't take too long with such an intelligent little dog, and you will all enjoy the quick cuddles (unless you have an 11 year old son, of course!).


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## MzChristine (Aug 30, 2012)

We are working on it... the barking is a bit less by the end of the day but it sure is amazing how high such a small little dog can jump straight up into the air!


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## MaryLynn (Sep 8, 2012)

This happened to me too the other day, my husband "play" tackled me (so he could hold me down and tickle me  ) and Gryphon plowed right in between us and tried to push the husband away. 

I wasn't able to do anything about it that time because I was just startled by his behavior, but now we make sure he gets used to human to human contact WITHOUT the puppy being in the middle of the group hug lol.


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

This doesn't sound like resource guarding at all or he'd be whining and perhaps also growling and grumbling, giving hard stares, rapidly blinking, and other stress behaviors.

It sounds like he wants to get in on the loving. Like he wants to be a part of it too. Sounds like he thinks it's a fun game.

You need to teach him that four feet on the floor is MUCH better than jumping up, and that jumping up, no matter how excited he is, doesn't pay off UNLESS you've invited him to. You don't want to set him up for failure by allowing him to jump. The goal is to catch him before he does it, when he has all four feet on the ground. I would probably put off encouraging him to jump off on you until he has impulse control down. Then you can work on jumping up when you ask. Right now, it might confuse him. (I'm not a big fan of putting _everything_ on cue with a shut off. Sometimes it can make things worse and confuse dogs.)

He needs to know exactly what you want so he won't do what you don't want.

I'd check out Kikopup's video for this. 




And you can proof it. Especially when other people want your attention. Either get a third person to reinforce him BEFORE he gets a chance for jumping up, or do it yourself but make sure you don't bonk heads with anyone. You can also use a remote treat trainer. It's called a Manner's Minder. Can be pricey though but they're useful for a LOT of different things.

Reward him with your attention when he's being polite and has waited his turn.


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