# Toy aggression?



## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

So Piper and I went to the dog park tonight and something odd happened. She's a generally been a pretty submissive pup when it comes to other dogs, almost overly so. But she loves to play with other dogs. She's never had possession issues in the past. She actually even enjoys a bit of tug of war with another dog, until she usually backs down if the play gets a little rough. 

However, tonight we were at the park and this 7 month old lab puppy was there as well. Piper found this half destroyed tennis ball and was carrying it around proudly, and then started sort of taunting the other puppy with it. She was initially trotting around and the other puppy was kind of chasing her, tails wagging in a happy way etc. For a long time it was totally fine. Then they were sort of running around with the other puppy trying to chase her with the ball. However at some point the other puppy sort of stopped, and went into "stalk mode" where they get really still in a playful way and are getting ready to pounce, and Piper kind of growled at him. Then the next time he came close to her she REALLY started growling loudly, and kind of bared her teeth. Her tail was still wagging, but it went from a happy wag to more of a much more straight out tail just slightly wagging back and forth. It was definitely a more aggressive stance. 

So I removed the ball from the situation and gave her a bit of a time out to calm down. It was totally odd behavior for her. I think she is coming into her own a little in terms of finding her confidence with other dogs, and I'm all for that, but I also don't want her to become too possessive of toys. She loves to retrieve and for me to do that in the city where I live during everyday life means we need to do that at the park. I think it had just gotten to be enough for her, but I'm sort of wondering how I should handle these situations in the future? 

Would appreciate any insight!


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## Pipersmom (Aug 2, 2016)

I've had one dog with dog/dog sharing issues. For me it was incredibly hard to correct with this particular dog. The best solution I found was teaching a rock solid "out". If I said "out" the item was dropped and wherever it lay, it belonged to me, no longer the dog. This worked fairly well - except that this particular dog lived with dogs she didn't want to share with - so that made things complicated.


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## Pipersmom (Aug 2, 2016)

Also a reliable recall is KEY for the dog park. In any situation you should be able to recall your dog. This is the best way to keep everyone safe at the park...sadly at our park probably less than 5% of the dogs can be recalled by their owners.


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## Pipersmom (Aug 2, 2016)

If you have those 2 skills all you have to say is "Piper out! Piper come!"


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Sounds to me like totally appropriate behavior, nothing I would be concerned about. Leading up to the growling the other puppy was chasing your pup, some dogs (especially puppies) find being chased intimidating/threatening, they are unsure of the other dog's intentions, and the situation can quickly turn from 'this is fun' to 'this is scary' for a pup who has little prior experience with it. When the other pup went into 'stalk mode' it may have put her on the defensive (feeling unsafe), causing her to react a little more seemingly 'aggressively' than she had in the past.
Keep in mind that in the dog world, it is normal for them to not to share with other dogs, possession is 'understood', 'I have it, I have every right to do what is necessary to keep it, until I choose to give it up.' (walk away/leave it behind) which is what she was doing in warning the other dog to stay away, and she was being 'appropriate' about it. 

A couple of ways to minimize the risk of something happening is to teach and highly reward the 'Drop it' and 'Leave it' cue to prevent her from picking up another dog's toy, (most dogs will try it sooner or later), or to redirect away from one she already has, if you feel it may become a source of conflict. Play fetch in a quiet area where there are no, or very few other dogs, then pick up the ball, and allow her to go play with the other dogs. Make the effort to learn about dog body language/how they communicate, the signals that they use with us and with other dogs, to help you understand, and respond appropriately to how she is feeling, what she is 'saying'. The book: On Talking Terms with Dogs by Turid Rugaas is a good place to start.

Something we need to keep in mind is that there is such a thing as 'too much' fun for our dogs, and they may need us to help them learn to take a break from play. When play goes on too long, especially if they are playing 'hard', for some dogs, especially young dogs, it can become overwhelming if things start getting rough, and they can become stressed, their 'tolerance' level may drop and they may become 'snarky', they need to be encouraged to 'take a break', calm themselves, rest a bit, before they go back to play.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

Thanks for the advice!! Piper has a pretty good drop it with me, she dropped the ball when I told her to (recall is gettttttting better at the dog park...she went from having a pretty great recall for a 4 month old to pushing the boundaries a bit these days as she's getting towards her 5 month birthday). But all the more motivation to keep proofing them so they are totally solid. 

It was mostly just strange to see her behave like that, since its never been something she has done. But I think she had probably had enough, and did get a bit freaked out by the puppy. She's also teething like mad (lost all four of her canines over the weekend), and I think a little irritable because of that. She was fine after a bit of a break.


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## Pipersmom (Aug 2, 2016)

I would watch the dogs she's playing with as much as her. If you notice she has a toy around a dog that doesn't seem like they would react well to a little growl, call her back to you before any trouble starts. Sometimes your dog can be behaving in a way that's technically appropriate, but the other dogs may not take the clue well.


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## Rkaymay (May 12, 2014)

Zelda gets nasty (growling, showing teeth, etc) when she has a bone and Link tries to take it. I generally let them figure it out (until I get annoyed with the noise). I'm fine with my dogs growling at/being possessive toward other dogs - just not toward people. It is well within their rights to tell another dog to back off.


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## Lise123 (Jan 1, 2014)

Rkaymay said:


> Zelda gets nasty (growling, showing teeth, etc) when she has a bone and Link tries to take it. I generally let them figure it out (until I get annoyed with the noise). I'm fine with my dogs growling at/being possessive toward other dogs - just not toward people. It is well within their rights to tell another dog to back off.


I agree with this. I have little kids and a 2.5 year-old dog. The dog is not allowed to tell off the kids over possession of anything; Bailey is perfectly fine telling off another dog if he's enjoying a toy and they're bugging him. Some dogs have bad manners, and I trust my dog to let them know in an appropriate way that he doesn't want their behavior to continue. I have been prepared to step in as needed, but over time, I've come to realize that my dog has a much better sense of who's a pest and who's polite than I do.

If your dog does something like that and you're uncomfortable, I would just step between your dog and the other dog until your dog realizes everything is okay and relaxes. Sometimes all it takes is breaking their gaze.


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