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Location: East Midlands, UK
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,775
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Gosh, he sounds a lovely dog - just needs a home and owner who can cope and deal with his issues of leash aggression and over-protectiveness of his personal space. I am not convinced that as strong a phrase as resource-guarding is warranted here, it sounds to me that this is the perfectly natural behaviour of any animal, including ourselves, who have never been taught rules, boundaries and limitations. To him, he would see it as why should I allow another dog to invade my space by walking past me as I lie on my bed? Why should I allow a human to invade my space when I am lying on the furniture? As very young children, we learn the concept of sharing, acceptance, the rules surrounding obedience, politeness etc. It is similar for dogs who are a social species who live in packs just like us humans. For a domesticated dog, the human pack or family is a pack that he is part of, but behave within the constraints of that pack.
For the first years of his life, he has learned none of these important lessons most likely. All I can tell you it is never too late for a dog to learn. An Akita x lab sounds gorgeous and will doubtless be intelligent, high energy and a challenge for you but I personally think it is a challenge you should at least attempt at before giving up on him. We took on our Ben 6 years ago, an Alaskan Malamute wolf cross aged 5, with no manners and only the basics in obedience training. He had been kept on a running line in the back garden for the first 3 years of his life with no shelter, only concrete to lie on. He had 2 good homes following this unfortunate period, but although I know that both parties did everything they could for Ben, underneath I think they were frightened of him - and understandably so! You could not do anything to him he did not like - ie grooming, chastisement when peeing in the house or any sort of physical restraint such as a hand on the collar. Basically, he was a loveable but potentially very dangerous dog, weighing in at 45 kilos.
6 years later we have a beautiful, biddable, trustworthy Ben who we can and do take absolutely everywhere with us. We cannot leave him home alone ever as he will simply destroy our house!! Aside from that, the only issue we are left with is dog aggression particularly towards male black labs or spaniels! It is only with some dogs, and it has taken us 6 years to learn the signs so that we know when he is going to kick off. Off his own patch he is pretty much 100% now, but on local walks in our neighbourhood he is very "guarding" and has to be kept on a long lead unless we are absolutely sure there are no dogs in the vicinity. I believe what we have now is the best we will ever achieve, but I just want to demonstrate to you how you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. I really hope you can work through the issues as we did with Ben - I know you are only 18 and have 2 jobs, only 1 of which you can take your boy with you, but you will achieve great results if you persevere. It will take a lot of hard work and dedication on your part, but once you have won his trust then you will motor with him!
Hth and good luck xx gnasher xx