Originally Posted by Britster  You've been giving good advice, and asked some great questions that would be helpful of you to answer.
First off, if she is getting sprayed with water every time your daughter walks in the room, she's associating your daughter with that spray. So now in her mind, it's "daughter walks in the room, I get sprayed, I'm going to growl". I am not against using a spray bottle for unnecessary barking, etc, but for making positive associations with a particular person, it's definitely not going to work.
Wagging tail does not equal playfulness, or happiness, by the way.
She is resource guarding, which is a VERY serious issue and can quickly escalate into more. I don't exactly correct when a dog does it to another dog, because they're speaking in their language, and sometimes it's okay to let them work it out, but for a dog to growl or bite at the human who FEEDS them... is a HUGE no-no in my book.
You need to take things slow. Every time the daughter comes in the room, have her throw treats on the ground. No need to try to pet the dog, or reach down, don't even make eye contact... just every time your daughter comes in the room, she casually drops her favorite treats on the ground, and that's that. You can eventually work up to petting VERY slowly. If possible, have the daughter feed the dog breakfast or dinner, take her for walks, play with toys, fun things, etc.
I don't think a muzzle is entirely necessary because you don't want to use it as a crutch. You want her to learn to behave and don't want to have a dog accustomed to being muzzled while your daughter, your own family, is over. I also don't necessarily believe in 'time outs' for dogs because dogs mind don't really comprehend it. They're not like kids that go into a room and think about what they've done wrong... they just know they're in there, they don't know why.
But I would suggest hiring a professional pet behaviorist to work on this issue. |