So true, Kristina. Those 8 weeks are so imperative - I also think some of the behavior is a bit hereditary, even if that sounds odd. Certain lines are more fearful than others, which is why i asked if mom and dad had an issue. It doesn't mean the pup would but predisposition is a possibility.

When I met the parents, they had no fear whatsoever. They were jumping and giving me kisses and just so excited. Although, we came into THEIR territory, so it could be different when they're out of their comfort zone. I'm contacting them now to ask about the other issues. I hope they can shed some light on things.

Why do they have to be grabbing things from him? even when I take my dogs to my parents house, they never grab things from the dogs mouths or take things from them, because I'm there. They don't have anythign worry about, but if I'm there so I don't think its necessary for them to grab things.

I was referring to when I'm in the bathroom, on the phone or outside briefly. For instance, if he grabs something important and they can't wait for me to get it, they'll have to get it away from him. It hasn't been a problem until last night. So I'm almost hoping that it was just a one time thing because he didn't have his toys.

take him with you wherever you go. That's what I do. Better safe than sorry.

That's a great idea. I'll have to start doing that. Even if it's inconvenient, it'll prevent it happening.

Yes it will. ANd honestly, its not so bad petting a puppy while in the bathroom hahaha...although, keep the toilet paper out of reach or it will get destroyed.

Hahaha. Sometimes he follows me in and he'll reach over and grab it. Then he'll just look at me. Haha. Although, he has snuck a roll and hid. I guess he though we wouldn't notice, but he came trotting out with some stick to his lip and just blowing as he ran. Hahaha. I mean, we couldn't even be even a little upset. Too cute.

We have the same issue with our 5 month old puppy, George. I wish I had some advice on how to deal with it but obviously if I'm poking around this thread, I'm looking for help too. We've been dealing with guarding issues and general mouthing/anxiety for some time. We got George at 8 weeks and he was the sweetest puppy - albeit spunky with a bit of attitude. When we first started to feed him, we would do what we had read to do - put our hands in his food/touch him while he ate. At first, this seemed to not bother him but it seemed one day it did. He growled and so we stopped messing w/ him while he ate. Then one day when we attempted to remove the bowl after he finished eating, he growled and lunged at us. That was the first hint of his guarding. And we had always made him work for his food - implementing the NILIF.

Then one day he bit my neighbor when she tried to remove a baby wipe from his mouth. I had stepped a way for a few minutes. He had never bitten before so this was very unexpected. When I tried to remove the same wipe, he bit me - should have known better as he was extremely agitated - and I had nothing to trade it for.

Since that day he bit our neighbor he has bitten me (or tried to) at least 3 other times and my husband once. He's definitely more agressive with me. The second time he bit I was trying to remove his harness. He growled. I did not heed the warning and got bit. Now he does not growl. If anyone is newly experiencing this issue - you WANT the growling. Don't ever punish the growling b/c guess what? Once the growl goes away you have NO WARNING. That's where we are with George. The other time he bit me he was guarding something I could not see under the sofa - I reached down to pet him and got bit.

At the recommendation of our vet, we hired a trainer who came to our house and worked with us for 5 weeks. We now feed George at handfuls at a time - waiting for eye contact and dropping the kibble in the bowl. This progressed to kneeling down by the bowl and doing same > kneeling and touching bowl and dropping in kibble. He's still as tense today as he was over 5wks ago. The trainer noted that he was "all business" when it comes to food. No tail wag, closed mouth, lick his lips - all signs of a dog that is anxious/stressed/fearful (check out a blog called The Balanced Canine - search the site for aggression/food guarding - it has some interesting information - especially diagrams that will show you body language of a fear aggression dog vs a dominance aggression dog - totally different. There are subtle signs that they are stressed - like yawning, sniffing, lip licking - stuff I would never even have noticed.

We are at a very difficult place with our dog. Today we meet with a behaviorist vet so we will see what they say. It's very frustrating for sure. We had a husky previously for many years (got him when he was maybe 2-3) and never had these issues so this is a first for us and I'm sure we've made lots of mistakes along the way.

And yeah, that Cesar Milan crap will get you no where with a fear aggressive dog. Except maybe in the hospital.

Oh - and don't try Prozac either. The trainer we had at the end of our 5th week suggested we try it since the dog was started to guard other things besides his bowl. That was a disaster. About 10 days on the pill, things got worse. We learned later that in rare cases, the aggression gets worse b/c the pill helps the dog lower it's inhibitions...so it feels more confident to attack. We've stopped the prozac and at least he isn't as crazy acting.