Resource guarding?
Help. My boyfriend and I adopted a dog from a rescue about a month ago. The rescue told us he was friendly/ good with dogs and children, Since we have gotten him we have been trying to help him through separation anxiety as well as potty training even though they told us he was potty trained initially. He is about 1 year old and they told us he is a St. Bernard mix. Recently he has begun to show what I assume is resource guarding. The first time it happened there was a bone on the ground our other 7 year old golden retriever walked past and our new dog viciously attacked him to the point I had to pull them apart. This has happened a few other times. Once seemed to be unprompted. Another time was over a toy and once seemed to be over me. My 7 year old dog came up to me while I was sitting on the floor and our new dog attacked him again. He is not that interested in toys but if my other dog has one he will attack him for it. I’ve seen resource guarding in dogs before but not this severe. Usually there is growling or snapping as a warning but he doesn’t do that, he will just walk up and attack. The most recent fight my dog was in another room with a ball and the new dog came up stairs and walked in and saw him and ran up and attacked him. My boyfriend pulled them apart and got bit pretty bad. Prior to this most recent fight I had taken all bones away and would only give when separated. They hadn’t had Any issues over toys because the new dog doesn’t show any interest in toys and they hadn’t been a problem until that day. I have since removed them but still don’t trust him around my other dog since there have also been unprompted incidents. I will say 99% of the time they play and get along very well but this behavior is obviously not sustainable and I am worried for the safety of my other dog as well as us since my boyfriend has now been bit on accident. I have a video of the incident. You can’t see but can hear how bad it is. Is this something that can be fixed or improved or does he need to be in a home without other dogs? I haven’t really posted on Reddit much so I hope I gave all of the relevant information but if not ask me anything you need to know. I will post the video for anyone who wants to see just so you can see the type of behavior we are dealing with if you have any advice. you can’t see the actual fight but the sound is upsetting.