is it resource guarding or protection?

Well, I'm no behaviorist...but I'm not so sure it is either one.  Forgive me, and I could be wrong, but it sounds like merely bad manners.  How much socialization and OB training has she had?

She was very well socialized as a pup, although as she got older I certainly couldn't say that she was meeting tons of new people on a regular basis.  However, she did meet lots of dogs on a regular basis and became dog aggressive so I've come to believe that while socialization is important obviously it does not guarantee a non-aggressive dog.

 She has had lots of obedience training and is currently enrolled in an intermediate class.  Her sit, down, come, stay, wait and go to your crate commands, amongst others, are quite reliable (well "stay" is a bit difficult for her when I disappear from her sight but we're working on it).  We have also been training in agility for almost a year and she obeys all agility commands without hesitation.  She has the fastest and most reliable recall of any dog in our agility class full of working and herding breeds, and that is saying a lot for a breed known to be independent and stubborn.

Yeah, she's got some bad manners in the house but that is always related to acquiring food (counter-surfing, jumping up while I'm preparing her food etc...) but when I tell her "off" she is usually responsive.  She also is a big-time leash puller and we are working on that is well.  Even so,  she has much more obedience training than the average dog so I don't think that's the problem.  Something is motivating her to attack people in the situations I described so I'm trying to figure out what she is trying to achieve.

My previous "love of my life" was the most gentle dog anyone could want.  Only twice in his 16 years did he bite or try to bite anyone.  The first time was when he was around 8 or so and my daughter was walking him.  Some of her friends came (who he knew) came by them and started picking on her, arguing over something and growled at a child and tried to bite (thank god he didn't).  The last time he actually did bite, we had this neighbor - John, he was loud and talked kinda obnoxiously all the time.  Duke knew him, he was my neighbor and came over the house often.  One night we had just finished eating on our deck and John came walking down our side walk talking loud and flustered over something, he was approaching fast.  Out of nowhere Duke lunged toward him and bite him in inches away from his private area!  I was shocked!  We tried to figure out if it were the food but that was not like him.  To this day I think it was the approach, the loudness of his voice and the demeanor.

Maybe the Aunt got out of the car screechy and excited as she approached the girl?  Maybe the man who hugged you sister did so in a fast and scary way?  Sometimes they read body language unlike we might and feel threatened.

It doesn't sound like resource guarding to me. It sounds like a protective reaction stemming from anxiety and bad judgment.

She perceives a threat, freaks out, and charges in.  

does it matter why she does it? train her not to do it. De-sensitize her to people hugging.

mudpuppy

does it matter why she does it? train her not to do it. De-sensitize her to people hugging.

I've got to agree. Regardless of the reason I think the better question is what do you do about it when she does this. If you bend down, giver her attention and pick her up and try to calm her in soothing tones then she is going to continue to think this is acceptable behavior. All of the above reasons listed would require the same action. Put her in a sit/stay and don't let her continue to act out. Be firm so to convey to her that behavior is not acceptable and she dosnt get to join the group until she has composed herself. Reward appropriately.

I taught River to "kennel up" ever time my son (then 4) would enter the room.  I got the action down to a reaction and not a command.  Every time Cody came into the room, River would get up and walk to his crate - he knew to move away from him.  I did this because he use to jump on Cody and chase him in play.  A 4 year old is always running!  and the dog always wanted to chase him.  I found this to be very helpful for many things, like visitors - knock on the door, etc. 

When someone would come to visit I would tell him to "kennel up" where he would go until everyone was in and settled and then I would call him out.  All the excitement was gone and he was calm, otherwise his greetings were fast and furious, jumping - tail wagging!  You may want to train an alternative behavior, Even sit and stay is an alternative behavior - good advise.

BTW his kennel is in our living-room so kennel up was not a go away or put away situation.

Aren't resource guarding and protection the same thing? I mean..protection is really just guarding a resource..the resource just happens to be certain people.

chelsea_b

Aren't resource guarding and protection the same thing? I mean..protection is really just guarding a resource..the resource just happens to be certain people.

I think of "protection" of something that is specifically trained and controlled by the handler and "guarding" and something the dog does naturally, sometimes for good, but most often b/c the dog is fearful and/or reactive.

How does a dachsund counter surf? Tootsie barks and tries to get in the middle everytime someone hugs me, but its never gone as far as biting. Sounds like shes overstimulated in these situations and until she learns how to behave she should be removed from the situation. Is she breaking the skin? What if she bites a child? Bite inhibition? 

chelsea_b

Aren't resource guarding and protection the same thing? I mean..protection is really just guarding a resource..the resource just happens to be certain people.

Resource guarding has more to do with "ownership" in a global sense, and a dog can inappropriately guard the resource when there is no real threat.  Most dogs can distinguish, some can not. 

Also, most dogs also would rather be the protectee than the protector. 

Doxies are often very controlling, and are apt to guard inappropriately, be pretty domineering.  More than a few of them lay claim to couches & beds and get very miffed if asked to vacate them.  From the breed standard: "clever, lively and courageous to the point of rashness".  So, they tackle threats far larger than themselves.  Think badger.

Mudpuppy had a good point.  It doesn't matter why.  But, it does require remediation. 

I'm not really sure what the answer to your original question really is.  It seems like it could be a combination of a few things.

But, I did want to say that the suggestion given about the alternative behavior has really helped Willow.  She has to sit if she's acting out in any way--and she hates that--so it's really helped. 

She's gonna have trouble with the sit command with a mini-dachshund, LOL.  But I know what you mean.

This sounds a lot like a case of a dog that's making up rules and enforcing them.  And I had no idea the Dachsies were considered "controlling" as a breed.  I deal a lot with this, with BCs and Aussies (Aussies are absolutely the best at this).  It's the dark side of a personality that is clever and has a lot of internal resources.

Anyway, the game is called, "I'm Going To Make Up a Rule and Then I'll Punish You If You Can't Read My Mind."  

The tool to combat this game is offering her a bit more structure in her life.  Don't just tell her what she can't do, make sure she's got a lot of things she can do.  And, start making her life a lot more predictable - or as much as possible.  I know your life is a bit chaotic right now, but try to make sure mealtimes, play times, and walks all occur at the same time each day if you can.

An immediate fix for the behavior you've got going on there, is to remove her any time she "takes matters into her own hands."  Since toy breeds crave attention and physical closeness most of all, doing this means there's no payoff for bad behavior. 

Again, I recommend Deborah Wood's book for toy dog owners - it should be required reading for all of us who live with mighty mites.  She outlines a positive approach for manners training and specifically addresses some of the behavior issues that are specific to
little dogs.  I'd direct you to the section on controlling "armpit pirannhas."