There are many possibilities but, the primary one that needs to be handled first....a possible medical issue that is causing the behavior. If she gets a clean bill of health then, you need a qualified trainer to help determine what's going on. At this stage, I don't think the situation warrants a behaviorist ($150-$300/hr) but, a good trainer will be able to advise if that's really needed in this case.
How to handle aggressive situations?
The best way I can describe it is our 2 year old Golden is getting quite moody.
First, I'll give a little background, we've had her since she was about 10 weeks old and dealt with a little food agression early on, my wife and I worked with her and things had subsided for the most part. We also had a child during our ownership, from when we brought our daughter home Libby responded pretty well to the new addition, and things were headed in a good direction.
Fairly recently, the food aggression started to rear it's ugly head again. Also, she has begun to show aggressiveness when it comes to crating her for the night. She ignors the "bedtime" command, and when you approach to help along the process, she will give a snarl and growl. She has slept in her crate since we've had her and it was never a problem before.
And finally, the one that bothers me the most, there are times (usually at night when things are winding down) when Libby will be laying down minding her own business, in posession of nothing, and one of us (wife, daughter, or myself) will come up to here for something as simple as to pet her and once you reach out to touch her you will get the snarl and growl.
The one major change is our daughter is now 16 months and very mobile. She lover her Libby and always wants to play with her. There are times when our daughter will approach Libby during one of these "moody" times wanting to pet or play. We try to predict the situation, but they can't always be avoided.
Libby has never nipped, or bitten anyone, and is usually quick to snap out of her aggressive state with some sort of distraction with a toy or playful gesture.
My question is what is the best way to diffuse the situation without reinforcing the bahavior in any way?
It's very possible that now that our daughter is up and into everything and Libby is usually her partner in crime, we've gotten a bit more inconsistent in our handling of Libby, and I suspect this to be a cause of the behavior. 98% of the time Libby is a energetic playful puppy that loves attention.
...Sorry for the extremely long post.
First, I'll give a little background, we've had her since she was about 10 weeks old and dealt with a little food agression early on, my wife and I worked with her and things had subsided for the most part. We also had a child during our ownership, from when we brought our daughter home Libby responded pretty well to the new addition, and things were headed in a good direction.
Fairly recently, the food aggression started to rear it's ugly head again. Also, she has begun to show aggressiveness when it comes to crating her for the night. She ignors the "bedtime" command, and when you approach to help along the process, she will give a snarl and growl. She has slept in her crate since we've had her and it was never a problem before.
And finally, the one that bothers me the most, there are times (usually at night when things are winding down) when Libby will be laying down minding her own business, in posession of nothing, and one of us (wife, daughter, or myself) will come up to here for something as simple as to pet her and once you reach out to touch her you will get the snarl and growl.
The one major change is our daughter is now 16 months and very mobile. She lover her Libby and always wants to play with her. There are times when our daughter will approach Libby during one of these "moody" times wanting to pet or play. We try to predict the situation, but they can't always be avoided.
Libby has never nipped, or bitten anyone, and is usually quick to snap out of her aggressive state with some sort of distraction with a toy or playful gesture.
My question is what is the best way to diffuse the situation without reinforcing the bahavior in any way?
It's very possible that now that our daughter is up and into everything and Libby is usually her partner in crime, we've gotten a bit more inconsistent in our handling of Libby, and I suspect this to be a cause of the behavior. 98% of the time Libby is a energetic playful puppy that loves attention.
...Sorry for the extremely long post.
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