Possession Guarding

[Chantel03]

I think my 5mth old boxer Duke just showed some possession guarding today, and I need some advice to put a stop to this.

Ok so today I gave him a chew bone one that he has never had before. He was chewing on it for awhile, and I thought he needed to go outside so I called him to come outside, and he wouldnt come. So I told him to leave his chew toy, and come, still nothing. So I bent down to grab his chew toy from him, and he growled at me, and snatched it out of my hands. He has never showed any type of aggression towards me so I'm concerned.

I put him in his crate, and let him sit in there for awhile. When I took him out I got some treats and his bone. I gave him a treat then his bone, took the bone away, gave a treat, and had my son do this also, and Duke was fine no aggression. But what else should I do to put a stop to this. I do have a 2yearold and I cant have Duke snapping at him if he takes something away from him. Oh ya he also gets along very well with people, and other dogs, so far this is his first sign of aggresion.

 

[Net45582]

Sounds like you're starting in the right direction. Your dog needs to understand you and your family control all things good.....food and toys included. Keep up with the NILF training. If this behavior continues you may want to consult a behaviorist.

 

[Lola's mum]

Good for you for doing something about it.
My brothers last dog (a Rottie) did this and it sounded terrible what with the growling etc. My brother would tease him and try take things from him to make him growl. Ok he never did bite or anything but it sounded dreadful and it annoyed me immensely.
In the end my hubby asked him not to do it while he was around our house.

 

[gmacleod]

You're on the right track there with rewarding him for letting you take items - keep that up

With your two year old - well, I'd suggest not allowing him to try to take items from the dog. He's not old enough to recognise warning signals given, nor to take proper note of them. However, he is the one with the greater learning capacity than the dog. So you can't expect the dog (puppy) to be the responsible one here.

A wise precaution to take in all of this would be to give Duke highly prized items such as bones or chews in his crate only. And to implement a firm rule - that must never be bent - that *nobody* bothers Duke when he's in his crate. That's his safe haven, where he can have peace and quiet, and nobody will bother him. There are many other situations where that's an extremely good regime to uphold, most especially when you have young children - it gives the dog respite if he needs it, and greatly reduces the risk of him ever having to growl or snap to get some peace.

Anyway, do keep working on the resource guarding irrespective of giving the dog a sanctuary. You do need to be able to take items from him, and he needs to trust you in doing so. Here are a few articles that should help you out with that:
Possessiveness - Teaching Dogs It's Okay to Share: http://www.geocities.com/Augusta/2525/posses.htm
Help for Object Guarding: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002b/objectguarding.htm
Resource Guarding: http://www.napoleon.org.uk/training/thingguard.htm
Guarding and Showing Aggression Over Resources: http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_ResourceGuarding.html

And an excellent book you should get: "MINE! A GUIDE TO RESOURCE GUARDING IN DOGS" by Jean Donaldson. Well worth purchasing.
Book info: http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB740