I'm A Pet Sitter And I Have Dog Defensive With My Mother
Just to clarify before I start talking; the dog likes my mother. He loves her, it's just becoming a pattern I'm noticing that sometimes he will "hide" by her and when other dogs approach he will show teeth and has even tried to bite me once when I was trying to take him to bed and he didn't want to leave being with her. He doesn't do this all the time, only a handful of times.
But the gist is I live with my mother, we live on a very large plot of land that's been handed down through the family and I run my business from home. I've had this dog coming since I think he was 7-8 months old and he is about a year and a half now give or take. He is usually the sweetest dog, loves being with the other dogs, even had a couple girlfriends that moved up north recently, I won't accuse him of the brightest crayon in the box but he's usually pretty sweet and the only dog he didn't get along with it was the other dog that was the problem not him.
Now this is what I believe is the issue; my mother (god help her) is so insanely passive, indulgent and oblivious. She doesn't notice issues until it's already to late to do anything about it, I could point out a pattern of behavior and she will proceed to never notice it, she is not good at the whole ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure thing. It usually isn't a problem because it's my job to handle the issues and she is just there. I don't expect her to do anything. And my theory is because the dogs know she is a pushover he specifically is hiding behind her when he doesn't like something or doesn't want to do something because she won't usually make him do anything he that mildly inconveniences and I will.
So far I have found that making her walk away (leave the room, go outside, block him from following her) works when he gets like this because the thing is when he can't get to her he goes back to his good self and he doesn't do it all the time (so far it's been when he first gets here and the only time it wasn't he didn't want to go to bed). Any other ideas and suggestions? This is not a reoccurring thing, it's happened a handful of times and not a reoccurring behavior but if anyone has other ideas of how to keep it from becoming a bad habit do tell.
If telling her to be more divisive or paying attention would work I would have told her, my mother is a push over. I love her, she's a good mother but that is just her nature.