# Guarding me when not necessary/Eye contact



## angienmilah (Jun 27, 2012)

Hi there,

I have a 9 month old female GSD named Milah who probably the past 2 months has started guarding me--even with people she knows. I socialize her as much as I can and she loves other dogs but has always been a little hesitant (fearful for lack of better words) with humans. Every Sunday I take her to my parents house and she knows all my family very well. She will sit on the floor in front of me when she is not playing and when someone comes really close to me, say to bend down by my face to show me something, she will lunge up then step back, she doesn't bite but is threatening like she would I guess. I tell her no and try to get her to sit back down but she doesn't listen well when she is already in protective mode--she just stares the other person down waiting for them to make eye contact with her...This leads me to my other issue with her, she recently has started to hate when people look at her for more than a few short seconds--ONLY once again when I am close to her. She will bark a high pitched bark when someone stares at her for even a very short time and then gets ready to pet her or something--and again these are all people she even knows and only when I am around her. If I'm not in the room she never has any of these issues that I am aware of. The other day my aunt also was petting her and Milah was acting like she was loving it then the second my aunt stopped and started to walk away Milah did her high pitched bark and kind of lunged then stopped herself right away. I have great control over her EXCEPT once these situations arise she already is in protective mode--she WILL stop when I tell her to stop but still continues to stare down the person, waiting for them to look at her again or come closer to her where I then can see it in her eyes that she'd do it again. I want to be clear that her behavior is not consistent either which makes it very hard for me to figure out why she is doing it or how to correct it. The same person could do the same thing thirty minutes earlier and she is fine, then thirty minutes later she may have an issue with it (getting too close to me or looking at her "too long"). Now I know you're going to want to know about obedience---we have done the general puppy classes when I first got her, we work on obedience every night, go on walks, I take her to the dog park, she occasionally goes to doggie daycare, I socialize her as often as I can, etc. She is very good and obedient with me except for an occasional major puppy distraction every once in awhile when I am working with her. She's had her joints checked just in her general puppy check-ups and doesn't seem to be any issue there. Hopefully someone knows what's going, why she is doing this and/or can give me pointers on how to correct this behavior! Much appreciated!!


----------



## KindnessCounts (Jun 27, 2012)

I'm sorry you are having this problem with Milah. I have a 5 yr old GSD that has similar issues. Duke is definately protective of me and always places himself between me and any company we might have. I hope someone has suggestions. Recently, Duke got away from someone else and he tried to herd a boy on his bike and grazed the boys leg. So I have that issue as well. I have only had Duke about a month. What I am doing is a combination of things. I have the discipline and affection down but Duke needs regular exercise. I am committing to walking him daily or every other day. I am taking him to a long trusted trainer to work on his issues. He knows basic obedience and so do I so I am trying to get him in a novice class and later agility or tracking. I am getting a referral to a place that will let him herd animals. Plus on the weekends I take all my dogs out to run. I have ordered a back pack and have made arrangements to "deliver" water bottles to a neighbor about .75 miles away. This will provide him with a job. Then the next time we will pick up the water bottles and bring them home. I will be working with my dog trainer but I am open to any ideas on how to help him not be protective and not herd bikes or motorcycles etc. THANKS!


----------



## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

This sounds more like resource guarding than protection. Also high-pitched, as far as I know, is a sign of fear.
She perceives the eye contact as a threat and gets frightened, then becomes fear aggressive. 

You need to follow through with corrections to make her understand that this is 100% not acceptable. Physically touch her and make her look at you when she continues to try to stare down people. 

Waiting to see what the others have to say.


----------



## SDChicken (May 6, 2012)

For our dog we would have to send him away from us when he would try and posses me. (get between me and whatever/whoever, dog/person, he wasn't sure of or just didn't want near me) I don't know if this would work for your dog. Meatloaf has been the only dog I've had that would try and posses people. So I'd take my advice with a grain of salt and wait for those more experienced. A firm but not harsh "Meatloaf" to grab his attention, once in a while, depending on the severity of his focus, a light touch following name, with a "leave it" and "Kennel", making sure the kennel command was followed through, before continuing with the conversation or whatever it was, seemed to really help. But his "leave it" and "kennel" were the two big commands that were essential, for us, to have down solid. I'm not sure how well this would work for a dog that isn't as sensitive to tone as Meatloaf is. Which is why I say with a grain of salt. Wish you guys the best. I also wanted to add that catching the early body language, that he was in this mode, was key as well. That allowed me to nip it in the bud before he really got a chance to even get in between. Which required me to sometimes send him away from laying at my feet if we had company or If I knew someone was going to approach me.


----------



## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I just thought of something. Get up and leave when she does this. This will teach the dog that you, the resource, will actually go away if she exhibits this behavior.


----------



## jakes mom (Feb 29, 2012)

angienmilah said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I have a 9 month old female GSD named Milah who probably the past 2 months has started guarding me--even with people she knows. I socialize her as much as I can and she loves other dogs but has always been a little hesitant (fearful for lack of better words) with humans. Every Sunday I take her to my parents house and she knows all my family very well. She will sit on the floor in front of me when she is not playing and when someone comes really close to me, say to bend down by my face to show me something, she will lunge up then step back, she doesn't bite but is threatening like she would I guess. I tell her no and try to get her to sit back down but she doesn't listen well when she is already in protective mode--she just stares the other person down waiting for them to make eye contact with her...This leads me to my other issue with her, she recently has started to hate when people look at her for more than a few short seconds--ONLY once again when I am close to her. She will bark a high pitched bark when someone stares at her for even a very short time and then gets ready to pet her or something--and again these are all people she even knows and only when I am around her. If I'm not in the room she never has any of these issues that I am aware of. The other day my aunt also was petting her and Milah was acting like she was loving it then the second my aunt stopped and started to walk away Milah did her high pitched bark and kind of lunged then stopped herself right away. I have great control over her EXCEPT once these situations arise she already is in protective mode--she WILL stop when I tell her to stop but still continues to stare down the person, waiting for them to look at her again or come closer to her where I then can see it in her eyes that she'd do it again. I want to be clear that her behavior is not consistent either which makes it very hard for me to figure out why she is doing it or how to correct it. The same person could do the same thing thirty minutes earlier and she is fine, then thirty minutes later she may have an issue with it (getting too close to me or looking at her "too long"). Now I know you're going to want to know about obedience---we have done the general puppy classes when I first got her, we work on obedience every night, go on walks, I take her to the dog park, she occasionally goes to doggie daycare, I socialize her as often as I can, etc. She is very good and obedient with me except for an occasional major puppy distraction every once in awhile when I am working with her. She's had her joints checked just in her general puppy check-ups and doesn't seem to be any issue there. Hopefully someone knows what's going, why she is doing this and/or can give me pointers on how to correct this behavior! Much appreciated!!


It sounds to me as though she is protecting herself rather than you. I think she's wary of people and that's why she reacts the way she does. She wants them to go away and leave her alone. Let's face it - it works. I bet when she lunges or barks people back off. 

Rather than people approaching her it's better if she's allowed to approach them when she feels confident enough. Tell people not to look at her, especially at her eyes - eye contact is an challenging action to a dog. 

Take a look at this article. It explains it well and contains some very useful information and advice on how to handle this situation.

Fear Aggression By Dogs Directed Toward People - Page 1 (2 pages) 


It's probably best to employ a qualified behaviourist if you're unsure on handling the problem yourself. A good one will come to your home and access her behaviour for you. 
________
Sue


----------



## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

angienmilah said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I have a 9 month old female GSD named Milah who probably the past 2 months has started guarding me--even with people she knows. I socialize her as much as I can and she loves other dogs but has always been a little hesitant (fearful for lack of better words) with humans. Every Sunday I take her to my parents house and she knows all my family very well. She will sit on the floor in front of me when she is not playing and when someone comes really close to me, say to bend down by my face to show me something, she will lunge up then step back, she doesn't bite but is threatening like she would I guess. I tell her no and try to get her to sit back down but she doesn't listen well when she is already in protective mode--she just stares the other person down waiting for them to make eye contact with her...This leads me to my other issue with her, she recently has started to hate when people look at her for more than a few short seconds--ONLY once again when I am close to her. She will bark a high pitched bark when someone stares at her for even a very short time and then gets ready to pet her or something--and again these are all people she even knows and only when I am around her. If I'm not in the room she never has any of these issues that I am aware of. The other day my aunt also was petting her and Milah was acting like she was loving it then the second my aunt stopped and started to walk away Milah did her high pitched bark and kind of lunged then stopped herself right away. I have great control over her EXCEPT once these situations arise she already is in protective mode--she WILL stop when I tell her to stop but still continues to stare down the person, waiting for them to look at her again or come closer to her where I then can see it in her eyes that she'd do it again. I want to be clear that her behavior is not consistent either which makes it very hard for me to figure out why she is doing it or how to correct it. The same person could do the same thing thirty minutes earlier and she is fine, then thirty minutes later she may have an issue with it (getting too close to me or looking at her "too long"). Now I know you're going to want to know about obedience---we have done the general puppy classes when I first got her, we work on obedience every night, go on walks, I take her to the dog park, she occasionally goes to doggie daycare, I socialize her as often as I can, etc. She is very good and obedient with me except for an occasional major puppy distraction every once in awhile when I am working with her. She's had her joints checked just in her general puppy check-ups and doesn't seem to be any issue there. Hopefully someone knows what's going, why she is doing this and/or can give me pointers on how to correct this behavior! Much appreciated!!


When Woolf and I went for his evaluation with the behaviorist he sees, the first thing she said once we were seated after the field work was tell me to not let Woolf sit in front of me, always to the side opposite where the activity was. Letting him sit in front of me was feeding into his fear that he had to take charge to take care of and protect himself. Once we made that change you could see a little of the tension leave him. It didn't fix the problems but it did help take a bit of the edge off.

At this age, I wouldn't view it as being protective, those instincts normally don't kick in until around 18 mths or so. This sounds more of RG mixed with FA. 

A behaviorist experienced with GSD and large working breeds should be located. In the interim, it would be advisable to have her leashed when around people, as well as having them completely ignore her. Take the time while locating the behaviorist to really watch her body language. Does she stand/sit up tall, ears lay back or hard forward, tightening around the mouth or eyes, duck her head a bit or glance away. It could be the smallest movement that would be your cue to redirect her. Work on a solid 'Leave It' and 'Watch Me' command. You want to catch the cue BEFORE she reacts. And yes, it's hard to do that sometimes even after you learn the cues to watch for.

As for her staring down the person, redirect her or if unable to redirect, put her away for a short time for her safety and the person's safety. Her adrenaline is still up and she'll have a shorter fuse.


----------



## angienmilah (Jun 27, 2012)

Thank you all for ALL your help so far. Any advice I can get it great. I'm going to try a lot of what you all have mentioned. Anything else-- keep it coming..Thanks again, the support is great!!


----------



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Hello there! I'm in Des Moines, too.  One of my dogs does work hard to resource guard me and I have to be on top of it. He will get corrections at times -- he just cannot be allowed to behave that way with three other dogs and a cat in the house. (oh, and now a fish, but thankfully he doesn't feel threatened by the fish, hahaaa.)

No, but really -- I want to recommend that you look into classes at the DMOTC on Army Post. It's somewhat chaotic in there , but you cannot beat the trainers. They're long time dog lovers/trainers and they really engage, really try to help each person. Some classes can be big, but there are usually at least two - and sometimes three - trainers working the dogs. Or, I should say, working the owners.  They're super observant and they sort of swoop in and say, hey, I noticed this, and why don't you try... etc. 

I haven't been to the local dog park in months. It got too chaotic for me. (Ewing). Too many nutjobs in there. 

Really, though, I recommend DMOTC highly. 

Hope to see you there!!!!!!


----------

