My dog is a Great Pyrenees, Luna. She’s 1 year and 7 months old. We got her when she was a puppy, and she’s grown up with our 12-year-old German Shepherd. They’ve always gotten along until recently. About 2 weeks ago, Luna started guarding my husband and me and even her food. We started feeding them separately, which we expected. But she’s also become aggressive towards our older dog for no reason, like when the older dog is just sitting in the living room with us. Luna raises her tail and won’t move, so we tell her ‘no’ and remove her. The other day, my husband was opening an Amazon package (no food inside), and when the older dog tried to see what it was, Luna nipped at her face. We immediately told her ‘no’ and put her in another room. Not sure how to handle this, anyone else dealt with this? Any tips?
Sounds like Luna might be getting possessive as she gets older. Dogs can start to show this behavior around that age. Have you noticed any other changes in her behavior?
DonnaHernandez said:
Sounds like Luna might be getting possessive as she gets older. Dogs can start to show this behavior around that age. Have you noticed any other changes in her behavior?
Nope, nothing’s changed really. Same routine and environment. Just started acting this way recently.
I’ve heard about this happening with some dogs around that age. It could be a dominance thing, maybe she’s trying to claim you guys as her territory? I’d suggest talking to a trainer if you haven’t yet.
@Diya
Yeah, we’ve been training her since she was a pup. She knows a bunch of commands. But this behavior is new for sure. Might be time to try something different.
Have you looked into the ‘nothing in life is free’ training method? It’s helped with possessive behavior in some dogs. You make them work for everything, even attention.
AlCapone01 said:
Have you looked into the ‘nothing in life is free’ training method? It’s helped with possessive behavior in some dogs. You make them work for everything, even attention.
I haven’t tried that yet, but it sounds interesting. I’ll definitely look it up. Thanks for the suggestion!
When she’s acting possessive, try redirecting her with a command like ‘leave it’ or ‘place.’ It might help if she knows what to do instead of just being told no.
pavlova said:
When she’s acting possessive, try redirecting her with a command like ‘leave it’ or ‘place.’ It might help if she knows what to do instead of just being told no.
Good idea! We’ve been doing ‘no’ but I’ll try redirecting her next time. Hopefully that helps.
Also, if she’s guarding humans, you might need to set boundaries for her. Maybe keep her on a leash when she’s around the older dog and you, so she can’t get too possessive.
StephieStephie said:
Also, if she’s guarding humans, you might need to set boundaries for her. Maybe keep her on a leash when she’s around the older dog and you, so she can’t get too possessive.
I didn’t think about using the leash like that. We’ll give it a try. Thanks for the advice!