territorial guarding with fear

Question
Hi Erica, 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.

Her health is excellent, we were just at the vet.

Answer
When guiding her through this stage, keep a leash (and plain buckle collar-no choke collars) on her.  If she is being so forceful in trying to get you to leave her alone, she may very well bite you.  It sounds like she is responding somewhat to your command, so let's build on that.  Heavily reward her "leave it" with something VERY enticing-cheese, hot dogs, "people" food....something she only gets when asked to "leave" the mice.

As far as the other behaviors, again the leash is going to be your best tool-it will allow you to control her so no one gets hurt, and not have to back off-which getting you to do is her goal.  Use another very enticing treat for the crate-I have found chicken jerky treats to be great for this, as the dog not only has a special reward but will be occupied for a time while eating it.  This will help build the positive association with the crate. Have treats that last a bit longer that she only gets in there-filled Kongs, Dentabones, rawhide if you choose to give it....but be careful that you do not see the aggression if you approach the crate.

I also suggest finding a good trainer that uses mainly positive techniques but will also teach safe, humane corrections.  I would not use a trainer that immediately recommends a choke/slip collar or prong collar just because your dog is "aggressive".  Many techniques work without any harsh tools/corrections.