# "Small Dog Syndrome" / Resource guarding owner Mom inappropr



## lawgirl (Jul 22, 2009)

Hi, so my little Malt does extremely well with all my girlfriends who come to visit, but he is extremely wary of men. (Cue the feminist jokes here. )

I'm currently visiting family, and Darcy will bark up a storm when he catches sight of my grandfather or my father. I have tried many tricks to work against this inappropriate behavior, including having the men throw his favorite treats (Darcy eats them happily and follows them around for more), practice tricks (Darcy will sit/down/stay for the treats), handing treats (Darcy will eat out of their hands), playing games (same good response). The problem is: Darcy's suspicions wears off for about 3 hours, and then when the men walk back into the room after a break--BARK BARK BARK accompanied by panicked panting! Then it's another 10 minutes of wearing Darcy down and getting him to be calm. This is not great at 3 in the morning, for example.

I was reading this article on "Small Dog Syndrome," which points out that often small lap dogs (chihuahuas, Maltese) are allowed to get away with behaviors deemed absolutely unacceptable in a huge dog (German Shepherd, Rottweiler), such as growling at strangers, jumping on visitors, "claiming" an owner by barking at people who approach. I pretty much agree that this is NOT an appropriate way for my dog to treat my human (male) family members and friends. I am also concerned that Darcy's behavior is basically "resource-guarding" me--the Mom. Also not good.

I'm wondering if anyone here has dealt successfully with the problem of essentially *resource guarding the Mommy*. Darcy has no problems with being obsessive about toys or food, but he does get extremely worked up over the men in my family approaching within view. Please advise!

:smhelp:


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Yes, dogs can have people as resources. Mine! by Jean Donaldson is a great book that addresses this. 

However, your dog targeting adult men is not at all unusual and typically due to fear. Watch a woman walk into the room and watch a man. The woman will walk in, smile at the dog, not walk directly at the dog, walks softly, etc. Men tend to have direct eye contact, walk loudly, have gruff voices, etc. Its pretty easy to see why a little dog would be afraid of that. On top of it, doorways are a LOADED location. A great book for little dogs who are reactive is Scaredy Dog! by Ali Brown. 

So there's some great reading for you. Now for the dreaded however....

HOWEVER, you should get help in person from a qualified trainer or behaviorist. It is amazingly difficult for us to see what we are doing to make the situation worse. It is also very hard for the untrained eye to catch their dog's body language which hints at reaction long before the barking erupts.


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

I don't know about _Small Dog Syndrome_, as all of the resource-guarding dogs I've known weren't toy breeds. The book, Mine!, by Jean Donaldson, deals with this.

My dog barks at no one, loves everyone, except for one person. A very good female friend of mine. It's an embarrassment, but what can I do? Nikki just does not like her, for whatever reason. But she doesn't bark at my friend or anything rude. She just stays far away, while my friend is dying to hold her and cuddle with her....


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

I tend to agree with the article re: Small Dogs vs. Medium and Large Dogs that people allow certain types of behavior in small dogs that are completely unacceptable with large dogs. 

HOWEVER, some of the comments about "pack leader" and "dominance" and "dog is likely to be put in their place and told to stop" implies some of the same type of training mentality as Cesar Milan and can actually do more harm than good with many dogs. Jackie gave you some EXCELLENT books to read and also great advice on getting a trainer. But I think its important that you find a trainer that uses positive training techniques rather than intimidation, positive punishment and physical force (the author suggests knocking a dog down), etc. If your dog is already fearful of men, you can make the situation worse if you don't use the right techniques.

BTW, I have the same problem with my dogs, only it doesn't matter if they are male or female, they just hate having strangers at the house because it doesn't happen very often. And of course, I am reluctant to invite people over because my dogs are ill-behaved.....it is a vicious cycle and takes a lot of practice to change the behavior but it can work given time and practice. 
Sometimes you just need to keep them out of the room, in their "safe" place (i.e. bed or crate). Hope that helps and good luck with your little one!


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## lawgirl (Jul 22, 2009)

QUOTE (tamizami @ Sep 1 2009, 11:20 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=825026


> I tend to agree with the article re: Small Dogs vs. Medium and Large Dogs that people allow certain types of behavior in small dogs that are completely unacceptable with large dogs.
> 
> HOWEVER, some of the comments about "pack leader" and "dominance" and "dog is likely to be put in their place and told to stop" implies some of the same type of training mentality as Cesar Milan and can actually do more harm than good with many dogs. Jackie gave you some EXCELLENT books to read and also great advice on getting a trainer. But I think its important that you find a trainer that uses positive training techniques rather than intimidation, positive punishment and physical force (the author suggests knocking a dog down), etc. If your dog is already fearful of men, you can make the situation worse if you don't use the right techniques.[/B]


Totally agreed. I too had red flags go up when I saw at the bottom of the website that it unequivocally endorsed Cesar Millan's training methods. Although I am a new dog parent with a lot to learn, so far I have not found the punitive/"wolf pack"/"be the pack leader" theories of training either convincing or empirically supported (especially since the wolves involved in that first study were captive, etc.). There's an almost obsessive preaching in that line of thinking about establishing dominance and "showing your dog who's boss"--a view to problem solving that seems to me too simplistic and dogmatic to be altogether persuasive or complete.

But, the main takeaway from that article was to alert me to the fact that I am putting up with some behaviors that I would be very concerned about in a larger dog such as a Doberman. The resources Jackie has mentioned are great and my Amazon account is getting heavy dog-related book orders lately.

Thank you so much for the advice! Do let me know if you have any other personal tips.


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## LolasMom33 (Aug 28, 2009)

QUOTE (lawgirl @ Sep 2 2009, 01:17 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=825051


> QUOTE (tamizami @ Sep 1 2009, 11:20 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=825026





> I tend to agree with the article re: Small Dogs vs. Medium and Large Dogs that people allow certain types of behavior in small dogs that are completely unacceptable with large dogs.
> 
> HOWEVER, some of the comments about "pack leader" and "dominance" and "dog is likely to be put in their place and told to stop" implies some of the same type of training mentality as Cesar Milan and can actually do more harm than good with many dogs. Jackie gave you some EXCELLENT books to read and also great advice on getting a trainer. But I think its important that you find a trainer that uses positive training techniques rather than intimidation, positive punishment and physical force (the author suggests knocking a dog down), etc. If your dog is already fearful of men, you can make the situation worse if you don't use the right techniques.[/B]


Totally agreed. I too had red flags go up when I saw at the bottom of the website that it unequivocally endorsed Cesar Millan's training methods. Although I am a new dog parent with a lot to learn, so far I have not found the punitive/"wolf pack"/"be the pack leader" theories of training either convincing or empirically supported (especially since the wolves involved in that first study were captive, etc.). There's an almost obsessive preaching in that line of thinking about establishing dominance and "showing your dog who's boss"--a view to problem solving that seems to me too simplistic and dogmatic to be altogether persuasive or complete.

But, the main takeaway from that article was to alert me to the fact that I am putting up with some behaviors that I would be very concerned about in a larger dog such as a Doberman. The resources Jackie has mentioned are great and my Amazon account is getting heavy dog-related book orders lately.

Thank you so much for the advice! Do let me know if you have any other personal tips.
[/B][/QUOTE]

I too am a new doggy mom and was trying out different training techniqes and I found that Lola was COMPLETELY unresponsive to andy dominance related training. Her motivation seems to be food, food, and food! I now found that the most important thing is to be consistent. There are so many different theories out there and I believe that like people, it depends on the individual dog. I am currently training to be a counselor and no one method works for everyone! You need to find a balance between what works for you and your baby.

I can't really relate to the issue you are having as Lola LOVES being the center of attention and especially loves men! I assume it's because from the time she came home several people (mostly male) have visited the house many times on a daily basis. Also, I got her with my fiance who is her daddy and she is a total daddy's little girl! As has been suggested, I would recommend finding a qualified behaviorist or trainer to help you with this issue. It sounds like you are doing your best to desensitize her to men and if that isn't working it's probably time to get an expert. 

Good luck!


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

Just a tip: when you use a variable reinforcement (i.e. eventually reduce the amount of time you reward with a treat, like every 3rd time or every 5th time you get a positive response), it is much more effective. Otherwise you have a dog that will only behave when you have food on you. You gotta keep this little ones on their toes!

And when I don't give food as a reward, I will reward with play or a special tummy rub or scratch, whatever my dog loves most.


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