behavior or it will get worse. Get yourself a dog whisperer.

There is a reason they are banned in many countries.

to him from his 2 feet distance that he usually goes to when he sees you, then slowly start making him get closer to get the treat...eventually you want him to take the treat from your hand. After a while he'll realize you aren't a threat, but instead the treat man! If he doesn't then you might have a problem. I had a black lab mix, that at 1st seem a little scared of me, not my wife or son, but after trying this for a few months she had no problem and ended up being the best dog we ever had!

He has no issue with me alone. He hangs around me, and shows just a little hesitation. It is when my wife and son are around that he guards. And no matter what treats I give him, the next day it is like we are starting over. We have adopted many digs over 35 years, and have never seen this. It's like Memento.

spitting tobacco juice at him

We adopted a black lab 13 months ago, and it quickly became pretty territorial. Occasionally, she would growl at me and the fur on her back would bristle up when I would walk into a room or in the front door of the house. It was often in a guarding manner with my wife and daughter, similar to your dog, but never so severe that I feared she would attack me. Regardless, it was pretty miserable for me for a long time. I didn't want to get a dog in the first place, but I lost that debate, and then the dog we got didn't like me, and I didn't like it. The first ~6 months was seriously a pretty depressing period for me. Eventually, the dog came around a little bit. She will come near me now, but she still shies away at times if I reach out to pet her, and she will still randomly growl at me. I can only assume that she was abused by a male prior to her being taken in by the SPCA, from whom we adopted her. Hopefully a trainer can reshape your dog's behavior and establish a harmonious relationship between you and the dog. I know how unpleasant it is when that is not the case.

... we started to see his personality come out. He had a rough life, found in a gutter with two other puppies, fostered at 2-3 places. We thought we could help but this guarding stuff is nerve wracking. I'm trying but think it probably can't be fixed, my wife and kids don't want to give up.

I'd recommend trying to find a behaviorist with experience with this specific thing....

I hope this thread doesn't go south. Any dog can do that. We have a 12 pound butterfly dog here (can't think of the French name at the moment), that terrorizes everyone and everything. Sometimes even talking to each other gets her going. Edit: Papillon ** Edited by Coach McGuirk at 3/31/2026, 9:47:19 AM

without a doubt. In many ways, he had little to no respect for my son when my son was younger and smaller. BUT If my son and I were playing around, slap fighting, horseplay, etc., that dog would come running in and be very mad at me, not my son. At this point though, the dog is too old and too slow to really care about it anymore.