passive agressive dog

Question
Hi Cathy, my husband and I are just not sure how to deal with our 3 year old female min poodle/spring spaniel mix. She has, on and off, show territorial behaviours to objects, mainly food - esp, bones and stuffed kongs. We've solved that by not giving her those items again. She's fine with her food bowl and other toys. But recently we have found our house invaded by mice. Well, the hunter in her has come out and she's become obsessed with the mice. We are trying a variety of traps, some more successful than others, but the mice are still there and she is still obsessed. What happens is that she is sniffing around areas that the mice have gotten in to and when we tell her to "leave it" or move towards her she snarls and snaps at us. She refuses to go to her crate at night (also snarling and snapping) and wouldn't even go for a walk on Saturday.

I'll admit we are frightened of her when she is in this state so she tends to get her way. This morning when I told her to "leave it" and had my hand on her shoulder she growled at me. I said "no" very deeply and told her to go down. She did and then actually left the area.

The weird thing is that although she snarls at us, she is also very fearful at the same time - tail down, often runs and hides afterwards.

We try to exercise her a lot - we run with her, she gets 2 professional walks a week and goes to day care a day or two, but we are worried with the short days in Toronto that she's sleeping too much and not getting out as much as in the summer. She's a very active athletic dog.

We just don't know what to do now.

Thanks so much for any help.

Answer
Hi Susan,

It is good to hear that when you scolded her she listened.   You are going to have to be extrememly firm with her and never let her get away with this sort of behavior.  If she responds to a very firm NO then continue with that.  You might also try other distractions when she starts on her hunt.  Perhaps put some pennies in a soda can or some small rocks in a can and shake it when she starts focusing on her hunt.  That should get her attention and my hopes are that she will then respond to you.  When she DOES respond always praise her highly and give her treats.  
If the can doesn't work, I would try leaving a very long leash on her so that when she gets into the hunt mode, you can gently (or firmly if need be) tug on the leash to get her attention and go into another room.   When she comes with you, always give her a treat and praise -- even if it is somewhat of a struggle to get her.    You want her to know that she did a good thing by coming with you or paying attention to you.  If she is a food oriented dog, this will hopefully help.  

Also, please take a look at www.paw-rescue.org  On the home page, there is a pet training tips called "robin's tips".   It has a lot of helpful articles, including one on resource gaurding which it seems your girl has displayed over her treats and toys.