got to say something

[TSadler]

A while back - several months - I posted that my boy Tex was growling and snapping with a rawhide. Many of you posted what you thought was the best advice and I appreciate your advice and concern.

But, ignoring it or beating him was entirely the wrong thing to do. Both made the situation worse. He developed extreme protectionism with his food and water, ranging from not eating or drinking to growling and snapping. In fact, he wouldn't even drink water with someone standing beside him.

At wits end, I contacted a friend of mine who became a dog behavior specialist. She has a booming practice in Austin. I know what you are thinking - a dog psychologist?? I never thought I'd use one, but my husband was ready to shoot Tex. My thoughts were - we spent lots of time and money training him to become one of the best retrievers in the area. We should at least spend the same amount of time correcting this problem.

My friend recommended feeding Tex by hand for a while. You see, he didn't get aggressive when fed this way. After 4 weeks, he stilled growled when fed from a bowl - any bowl. My friend recommended a book called, "Mine, A practical guide to resource aggression." This book makes a lot of sense. The writer is not some whacked out animal rights person. As I read this book, I think of all the things we've done wrong in the last 6 to 8 months and of all the possible things that happened at the trainer's before that. All of the mistakes added up and Tex began to feel as if food and water should be consumed as quickly as possible to avoid it getting taken or to avoid getting beaten.

Tex is starting to turn around in his aggression. He will now drink with anyone standing beside him, but if touched, he will back off and cower down. We are working on it and every day he gets a tiny bit better. He will now also eat treats with me without growling and after much coaxing. He has a long way to go, but with patience, I'm sure he will succeed. Even my husband is starting to see the changes.

I only wanted to tell this story to open up some minds. Sometimes beating may be the right thing; sometimes ignoring it may be the right thing; sometimes they are both wrong. Like I said at the beginning, I appreciate everyone's advice here and I'm not upset about it. I feel like most of you are friends and I'm only giving an update on a problem that I asked about some time ago.