Aggressive shih tzu

I have a male Shih tzu called Frosty that bonded with me instantly as a 4 month old puppy when given to us by a friend. He is currently 2 years old. The first time his aggressive nature showed up was when we were settling down to bed one evening. My wife reached down to pet him and he charged her snapping and growling and actually drew blood on her arm. I was always bitten trying to protect my wife. He didn't bite me deliberately, I just got between his teeth and my wife.

He is very protective of me to the point that even a family member entering the room where I am sitting can set him off. He has bitten my wife on more than one occasion and even though she loves him dearly, simply doesn't know how to cope with his aggressive.

I always correct him immediately and he goes over to make up to my wife as he loves to cuddle with her, but his short temper is hard to deal with.

He has a large back yard to play in along with an 8 year old and 1 year old Shih tzu. It has been recommended that we deal with a trainer. He is fine with family when I'm not around and an absolutely pussycat to deal with by my wife.

Would love to hear from members with some constructive advice.

Gerry

Gerry, it seems that the dog is not happy about your wife having a closer relationship with you than he does. There are others who can give you better advice than I can, but my instinct would be to have your wife feed him, walk him and generally take responsibility for him as much as possible. Also do not have him in your bedroom as that seems to cause problems. He should be given a time out immediately if he is aggressive, make sure you are consistent, do it every single time he is aggressive. Give him lots of praise when he is well behaved. If you have children this is a very serious matter indeed because he could bite them, so in that case you should get urgent help from a trainer.

Odd as it may sound i have a similar problem with one of my cats. He is very jealous of my husband and he can be aggressive if he feels pushed out. We have overcome this to a degree by my husband taking a much bigger role in the cats life. I am wondering if your dog has had any sort of rejection or ill treatment in the past?

This is not a training problem, its a behavior problem. A CERTIFIED behaviorist with a degree from a 4 year college in animal behavior is what you want to look for. Before you spend that kind of money, try NILIF. If you don't know what that is, Google NILIF and you will get more information than I could possibly write here. Basically Justontime is correct but NILIF goes even deeper into the problem.

ETA: This dog is not aggressive. He is a resource guarder. These are two different problems handled 2 different ways.

Gerry, I wish you the very best in solving your problem. Please let us know how you get on.