# Resource guarding toward other dogs



## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

If your dog is resource guarding at the dog park and acting aggressively when there are toys involved, take the toys out of the equation. Either don't bring them to the dog park, or only use them if there aren't other dogs around. Every time your dog guards a toy, and gets away with it, that behavior gets reinforced, and he will learn that is acceptable behavior. So don't even let it be a part of the equation. This doesn't fix the problem, but this is how you manage it. 

I hate to say it, but even if your dog is generally friendly and well socialized, you actually can't be confident he won't bite another dog if he feels threatened enough. Aggressive posturing and guarding can lead to air snapping -> biting, and often dog owners aren't aware of the signs of escalating behavior in dogs. Its for your dogs safety, another dog, and anyone who would try to get involved to break up a dog fight who could get bitten by accident. 

Does your dog know "leave it" and "drop it?" and have good recall? These are very important to have in these situations. If your dog gets into a situation where he is guarding with another dog, you want to immediately be able to intervene and have him come to you, and drop whatever toy he is guarding. 

You can work on these behaviors with desensitization and counterconditioning, positive reinforcement, similar to dog-human resource guarding. However, its harder to do if you don't have dogs in your own household. However, if your dog is exhibiting signs of both, it would be a good idea to consult with a trainer/behavioralist, to make sure that you are addressing this with proper training techniques, so you don't ultimately worsen the behavior. 

Neutering is unlikely to help this behavior to be honest. Its likely just the way your puppy is. Some people will say that neutering helps calm a dog down, but just as many people will say it changes them/makes problem behaviors come out, and most people never see a change.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

terroh8er said:


> This is my first dog. I've got a 7 month old golden male who is very well socialized. He's been going to either the dog park or doggy daycare every day since he was 14 weeks old. My doggy daycare says he is a very well behaved dog, and he is. However, for the past week, whenever we go to the dog park, he's been going off in a corner somewhere with a frisbee or half eaten tennis ball and will start growling and barking aggressively at other dogs when they approach him. Today, one of the puppies that he usually plays with so nicely was whimpering because of his aggressive posturing.
> 
> I've got some specific questions:
> 
> ...


Dog-to-dog resource guarding is instinctive behavior, it is a 'survival' skill. In the dog world there is the 'rule of possession' which dictates 'the one who has it has the right to keep until they choose to leave it. and if they are challenged by a socially inappropriate dog they may choose to defend that right- by nature they don't 'share' in the human sense of the word they understand that concept. By taking the item from him you risk teaching him to guard items from you. The growling and barking are 'stay away' signals, used to prevent an altercation, he is feeling threatened by the other dog, saying 'this is mine, I want to keep it.' and in his world, the dog world, he has a right to do that. 
I have four dogs, all adult dogs, and they can and will guard what they have from the other dogs , growl and snap if they are forced to, if they feel the need, and it has never resulted in a physical altercation. They have never guarded from me, however I do respect their right to keep what they have, and if I need them to give it to me, I ask them to give it to me. They have a strong history of 'trading' - trust that if they give up something they 99% of the time will get something better and/or get the item back so that if I should need to keep what they have given me, and I don't have a 'trade' to offer them, they are okay with that.

Neutering will not over-ride the instinct to guard from other dogs. Guarding is a behavior driven by 'survival' instinct, a trait as ancient as dogs themselves. A dog may learn through experience that other dogs do not listen to the 'stay away' signals, and in 'warning' the other dogs off may get 'loud' and give more physical warnings such as snapping or lunging. It is a rare dog that will attack another dog if it has another choice available to him. Your dog was being appropriate in taking the item off to the side in an effort to avoid confrontation, and keep what he has, the other dog approached- he 'said' stay away - to avoid confrontation -he did nothing wrong.

How to deal with it? Prevention, management and training. If you are taking toys to the dog park - don't do it - toys are one of the main reasons for altercations at dog parks, or go at times when the dog park is quiet, find a corner by yourselves and play with him there, if another dog comes along, pick up the toy, keep it in your possession until the other dog is gone, tell him to go play with the other dog. Teach and heavily reinforce-'take it' -permission to pick an item up, or take it from you hand, 'leave it' - don't pick it up until or unless I say you can, the cue is given to prevent the dog from picking it up, and 'drop it' followed by 'leave it' - if he should have something in his mouth, that you don't want him to have/or keep. Practice and reward at home, starting with a low value item and work up to higher value items, such as his favorite toy, and when there no other dogs around, 
practice out on walks, where ever you can.

Take the time to learn about dog body language, how they communicate with other dogs and us, the signals they use to prevent altercations, and diffuse situations that they feel threatening to them, to 'warn' if need be, and to create space and keep themselves safe.


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## Yaichi's Mom (Jul 21, 2012)

> ...If you are taking toys to the dog park - don't do it - toys are one of the main reasons for altercations at dog parks, or go at times when the dog park is quiet, find a corner by yourselves and play with him there, if another dog comes along, pick up the toy, keep it in your possession until the other dog is gone, tell him to go play with the other dog....


I was just going to post the same as has been posted. NO toys at a dog park unless you are there alone with your dog. The primary purpose of dog parks is for dogs to socialize with one another and play....not for playing with toys, ball etc. I too have seen many problems at dog parks where toys have instigated issues. Many dog parks today state "no toys" in their rules for entry for just this reason.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

You have received good input and information here. If I were you I'd do a google search for books and websites regarding canine body language and behavior and learn as much as I could from experienced trainers on the subject. Your statement that you're 99.9% sure that your dog would never attack another dog when he is clearly showing resource guarding behavior tells us that you're either inexperienced with dogs, are in complete denial about canine behavior or very uninformed. 

Please do not put your dog in situations with toys and other dogs until you've worked through this and honestly, you may have to face the reality that your dog may not be a good candidate for dog parks and doggy day care if there are toys involved. You owe it to the dogs you all come in contact with and their owners not to be risking injury to everyone involved with your dog's behavior.


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Last night Chloe played with her good friend at the park. Even though the lab didn't seem to care Chloe was chasing him and trying to get the toy the labs owner took it away because he said his dog can become possessive with his toys and didn't want to take a chance. So I agree take the toys out of the equation.


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## terroh8er (Jun 18, 2016)

Thanks for all of the replies! Lots of good stuff there. Maybe this wasn't clear, but I'm not the one bringing the toys into the dog park, and when we come in I put away all of the toys that I see. This is over the protests over some of the other owners, which I feel bad about, but then again it says when you enter the dog park that you can't have toys and my dog isn't the only one who does this (but most dogs don't). On occasion though, there will be the occasional tennis ball that I'll miss since the dog park is pretty big. Obviously, the ideal is to have a dog that doesn't show any resource guarding so that other folks can play frisbee or whatever with their dog.

I have no experience with dogs -- hence starting my post with saying that it's my first dog. However, I have enough experience with children to know that "this is mine, not yours" is the default and that sharing is something that needs to be learned. So here I am, asking the maestros how to teach this to my puppy. The sticky seems to suggest that taking a toy away from the dog is counter-productive because it reinforces the idea that they need to guard whatever they find. The meat of my question is asking whether there is a better alternative. 

As far as doggy daycare, on many occasions I've brought up his nascent resource guarding and ask them about his behavior. I've let them know that I am totally understanding about them not wanting to have dogs that cause problems, and since I'm a graduate student with flexible hours, doggy daycare isn't critical. But their replies have ranged from "there has never been a problem" to "he's the best behaved dog we have." So I don't know. These people are professionals. They've been in business for many years. I've been totally transparent and if they ever suggested that he was causing problems, I wouldn't bring him in anymore.

He knows "come", "leave it", and "drop it." They aren't solid enough yet to be effective in these situations though.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

You've received good advice so no need for me to say what others have already said. I use doggy daycare (have used 2 different places) and neither place allows toys for the very reason toys are not allowed at the dog parks. That may be the reason there is not an issue at your doggy daycare. I think it's great that you've discussed this with the doggy daycare as a potential risk. They need to know this if there is ever an issue. I would press them a bit as to how they would handle a situation if something were to occur (dogs can resource guard other dogs for example, not just toys). You want to understand what their protocol is. If they don't have a protocol I would be concerned. I mention this because I had an issue with one of my boys at their first daycare when other dogs would get in a fight. He would want to get involved and the handler would grab his collar and drag him to a kennel. This was the worst thing to do for him and actually could have escalated to him biting a person. I was very persistent at the second daycare before I trusted him to their care. I needed to understand exactly what they would do if something happened. You always hope that nothing does, but it's important to understand that if it does you agree with how it will be handled. And you need them to be aware of potential behaviors which it sounds like you have done.

It's good that you're on top of this. I hope you'll keep us posted on progress. Threads like this become very helpful for other people who have similar issues.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

So first of all, let me just say, that this is really not that uncommon with dogs. But it can be tough and scary when its your first experience with dogs. The book MINE is a good resource for dog-human guarding and some of it can be applied for dogs. Enlisting the help of a trainer/behavioralist could be very helpful for the guarding, and also the training issues. Read up on dog body language, posturing etc, so you can start to see when your dog is feeling tense before more overt guarding behavior starts. 

--If you aren't the one bringing toys to the dog park, and others are, then its your responsibility to keep your dog away from the toys. If someone is playing fetch with their dog, and your dog goes over and steals the toy and guards it, then your dog shouldn't be interacting in that situation with that dog. This is a pet peeve of mine at dog parks, a lot of people just let their dogs engage in completely unacceptable and dangerous behaviors and don't intervene. Or they bring things that aren't allowed. Its very annoying, but you can't control other people or dogs. Your dog is your responsibility. If an owner is there because they want to play fetch, and toys are not allowed, you can tell them that and ask if your dog and the other dog can play instead since your dog guards toys. But if the other owner isn't going for it, then the onus is on you to remove your dog from the situation. 

--"Come", "leave it" and "drop it" HAVE to be solid for your dog. Its essential for all dogs to have this skill, but incredibly important in a dog who guards. Ideally, you might not want to reinforce that something should be guarded, but thats not an excuse to let the behavior happen in public with other people's dogs. Your dog should always defer to you. If your dog is not going to listen to you at a dog park, then your puppy is probably not ready for a dog park scene. Your dog is still very young and impressionable, and reinforcement of guarding behavior because you can't prevent these interactions from happening by calling your dog to you when you see a frisbee on the scene will only hurt you in the end. You have to be more of a draw than a frisbee. Otherwise, how would you be able to intervene if your dog is seriously angry and gets in a dog fight? This should be priority #1. 

--Teach your dog an emergency recall, where they will drop whatever they are doing IMMEDIATELY and come to you. You do this with high high value treats. It can and will save your dogs life in a dog park, and also outside, if they decide to run into the street, or anything else. It has absolutely saved one of mine in an emergency. 

--About doggy daycare: Most daycares don't allow toys, so its possible this hasn't happened there. I would suggest that you find another daycare that doesn't allow toys, if yours does. To be honest, those people aren't professionals. Professional in terms of running a business yes, but they are not trainers or behavioralists, who actually know and understand dog body language. They run a daycare, but dogs often aren't under complete and total 100% supervision there. They aren't getting paid what a behavioralist or trainer would earn by the hour. Even if there is someone literally sitting in the middle of the room watching the dogs the whole time, its impossible to watch them all the whole time unless you only have two animals there. Dogs often growl, bark, mouth during play, so knowing the difference between a friendly interaction and a more tense interaction actually requires more knowledge of dog behavior and body language. Its subtle stuff we are talking about. 

If there are toys at daycare its 100% possible that your dog has guarded with them and established dominance with other dogs, so they just leave your dog alone with the toy. The dogs work it out amongst themselves while the people are unaware that this situation is happening. Dog language is not people language and is generally missed by us. You will also see this at the dog park ALL the time, where owners will think their dogs are just "playing" but its actually a more tense interaction and should be broken up. 

I personally think dog parks are over-rated. And unfortunately I live in a big city, so this is the only place where I can safely exercise my dog off leash. Dogs can live a perfectly happy, healthy, and well socialized life and not go. I've had a dog get bitten very badly at a dog park, by a jerk dog for no reason whose owner swore "he'd never done anything like this before," but he was terrorizing the whole park for the whole 2 minutes he was there, and my dog happened to be overly timid and was the only dog who didn't stand their ground. Unfortunately you can't control other owners, what they bring with them, or their dogs.


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## Rkaymay (May 12, 2014)

I just want to reiterate that dogs guarding from other dogs is normal. "Sharing" is not a behavior you can realistically expect your dog to learn, especially in regards to high value items. And you don't get to decide what is high value. Prevention is your friend.


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## GoldenLabMix (Dec 3, 2015)

I realize this isn't going to be a popular response, but the height of our pups guarding was right before he got neutered. He was growling when he had a toy and my then 7 and 9 yr old children would get near him. Or his food bowl when he was eating. They were other puppies in his mind. We worked hard on the food guarding and now it's non existent. (One child generally feeds him. When he's eating they might approach with a better treat and put it in his bowl, etc.). They can have their hands in his bowl and he just stops and waits. With the toys, he will give them a slight growl if they are up in his face (their hands, not their faces) and he's got a *brand new* edible item or *brand new* treat stuffed toy. HOWEVER, they actually can take it from him, look at it, and give it back. All the while talking really high pitched and excited and telling him he's a good puppy. He hasn't snapped. I do generally warn them verbally when he's got something high value. With my now 8 yr old, he will stop chewing his toy and roll over for a belly rub. He gets that they don't want his stuff. Or that they give him better stuff. It's all taken some work but really there was a definite change when he got neutered. I had read it would take 3 weeks for all the testosterone to get out of his system but we felt like it took a full 6 before the gradual change was complete. And his humping of them tapered off from a lot to barely at all in those 6 weeks. And now for a while it's been nothing.
Our dog does actually guard water. He has regular play dates in our back yard and he's got to drink first and growls at the other dog. But his friends understand and wait... Then he chills and let's them drink. Bully. Never snaps. We did 4 spaced out days of daycare in August because we were away for 2 weeks without a fence. It was a great place with a cap of 10 dogs in a large indoor outdoor space and one or two people. I don't know if they had toys but I warned them about the water as he's done it with pools too and they had two kiddie pools. They said they'd try and if he did anything scary, he'd just get some one on one fetching sessions. Well, he was amazing there. (This was just two months ago, he's now 15m.). NO guarding and he'd make best friends with the labs and Goldens and they would be in the pool all day together. They raved daily about his amazing behavior.

He's not my first dog, but he's our family's first. I had a border collie from age 2-16, then we got a purebred lab at age 16 and I did all her training, etc. I also volunteered at shelters/with a lab rescue A LOT from age 15 to around 29 when I was having kids. So I do feel like I'm pretty good at reading subtle signs. Most of the time I couldn't even put into words why I'm concerned about a dog but I know it when I see it. (The only time I was bitten was when I was 8 by a relative's dog who was not used to kids and I gave it a treat, realized it was large and took it back to break it up...mistake.). I'm more willing to take a risk with myself, but not my kids, so I was definitely taking his issues very seriously in our house. And all along he would let me/my husband do ANYTHING - stir his food with my hand while he was eating, take brand new toys from his mouth. So I knew it was that they were pups to him. We did also talk to our trainer about this issues and followed her advice. She wasn't seeing anything in him that was causing her great concern.

That's a super huge novel but the point is, I actually do think neutering would help. But with or without neutering, I would not allow toys at the dog park, or simply do not let him free at the park if there are others with toys. If he's good at daycare, then that's good for now. I know the ratios and supervision vary widely by daycare so that might be something you want to get specifics on if you don't know. Daycare people might not be trainers but they do have a vested interest in maintaining that business so they really should be mindful of the behaviors. And you have things to work on - the leave it, drop it, etc. He's young and you'll get there.


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