I need advice...pretty urgent

[jammer]

Our lab, Zoe has always been a difficult dog. She has severe food aggression and her general aggression has gotten worse. She guards toys, food (especially), the "animal chair." She growls all the time. I had stopped crating her, but recently have been crating her more.

What do I do? Her aggression is out of hand and she's gotten to the point where she's showing teeth. It's just a matter of time before she bites someone and I have an eleven year old in the house.

Do I start crating her again? A no furniture policy with the animal chair? We use NILF and it doesn't seem to do much good. What about a ball that I put her food in? Make her work for her food that way...I'm out of ideas and I can't afford a trainer right now. It's just not possible. Honestly, i don't have the time to hand feed her all the time either. I work full time, attend school full time, and have my eleven year old to deal with.

I have an appt with the vet to get her checked out to make sure it's not medical. My husband is opposed to having her put to sleep, but he seems to be the biggest issue. She growls at me, but won't force the issue. If i ask her to leave a room, she'll bark at me and retreat. But with him, it's almost like a standoff.

Any suggestions would be helpful, anything at all until I can afford a trainer which won't be for a couple of months. I hate to think about putting her to sleep, but it's looking like the best option. I would like to give her a chance before i do that.

Also, forgot to mention...we have a 7 month old puppy. Most times they do great and love to play with each other. When we first got the puppy, Zoe was great with her. Now, the aggression is toward the puppy as well. Keiko will back off when Zoe starts, but she's also getting bigger and I'm afraid that when Keiko is full grown and has come into her own...so to speak, we are going to have a massive fight on our hands. Keiko is submissive with us and with Zoe most times, but I've noticed that she is getting a little snarky if Zoe starts her bullying.

 

[Zoom]

I would see what the vet says...it very well could be a medical issue.

As for other stuff...hardcore "Puppy Bootcamp" would be my suggestion. You're going to have to find time but she's got to work for EVERYTHING. This includes hand-feeding. Aggression isn't something that is easily fixable (unless it's a chemical imbalance) so you're really going to have to put the time into her.

I hope you find out something positive...

 

[shadowfacedanes]

I'd recommend a medical check and then jumping on the NILIF program pronto.

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

 

[bubbatd]

I agree with the vet check .............

 

[Maxy24]

I agree with a vet check. I would also say no more furniture, no more food bowls (using the balls would only make her guard those too I'm afraid) and no unsupervised toys. When you do give her toys and it's time for them to go away you'll need to toss some treats or something away so that she leaves and you can take the toy (at least until you can teach a solid drop it).
You'll need to start teaching her lots of commands, an "off" command so that if she manages to go on the furniture you can get her off without touching her (which would make her more defensive). Start teaching that to her ASAP, encourage her on but don't reward her for going off. Then encourage her off and give a treat when she gets off (you can use a clicker too, especially if there is difficulty getting her off, that way you could click for any moves like she is about to get off, even if she changes her mind) then add the command.
Teach her a "leave it" and "drop it" command so that you can get toys back without going and grabbing for them. Even teaching a "back up" command would be helpful so that after she drops it you can have her move away to increase the safety when you pick it up. If she fetches it would be great to incorporate those commands into the game so that she associated backing away from her stuff with you throwing it for her. I would start carrying treats on you for any situation where you need to get something from her, that way you can reward her for listening even if it's not a training session.
I would feed by hand to start, after a few weeks you can wean her back onto the bowl by putting an empty clean bowl down and approaching the bowl to drop kibbles in a few at a time so that your approach of her bowl is good. You could eventually move on to picking up the bowl to put the additional kibble in (you could use the back up command for that as well so you feel safer picking up the bowl). Then even later you can put half the food in, wait until she finishes the half, walk back over pick up the bowl and add the other half. Then even LATER put the whole meal in, approach and add awesome stuff like chicken or whatever meat you had for dinner so she still associates your approach with good things and no food stealing.
I would not leave the bowl out when she is not eating but I would wait until she leaves the room to put the bowl up, you don't want her to see you "steal" her bowl. If you pick up the bowl and she sees it you need to put something yummy in and return it.

Teach her as many commands possible, using positive methods, so that you can communicate to her, when you need to control a situation, without touching her or making her feel threatened.

Living with a guarding dog is hard, scary and a lot of work. make sure you husband participates in this too. If you can't do it or you feel this is too dangerous for anyone in your family then I'm afraid it may be best to have her put down, that's entirely up to you. I also would enlist the help of a trainer/behaviorist, make sure they use positive methods. Professionals have seen this stuff and have different tricks and things to do to make this work, it is probably the best way to go.