# How to react with resource guarding in a puppy?



## Roxannes_mom (Jan 6, 2009)

I feel your pain, literally...my hand is currently bleeding too! Sorry I dont have any advice, I really wish I did because then I wouldnt be having the exact same problems with Roxy. But its comforting to know someone else is going through the same thing. 

I keep telling myself over and over.... "just keep swimming..." L:bowl:L


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Play the trade game with her. You offer something enticing, and take what she has when she takes your offer. Practice that often, the idea is eventually she will let you take anything she has because she associates getting something good in return with you taking her item.

Starting now is good, so when she is bigger you won't have a problem.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

I was just appalled that she behaved that way. She's been perfectly fine with me taking away toys from her, meddling in her food, petting her while she eats, etc.

God. I already have a ton to do with her crate anxiety, and now I have to train for this. Yippee.


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## Brady's mom (Dec 20, 2007)

She's still very young...we had similar problems with Brady and high-value chewies. We simply stopped giving them to him until he was close to a year old. He no longer displays that type of possessiveness, and we did nothing to train him out of it. I think it was just a phase.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Brady's mom said:


> She's still very young...we had similar problems with Brady and high-value chewies. We simply stopped giving them to him until he was close to a year old. He no longer displays that type of possessiveness, and we did nothing to train him out of it. I think it was just a phase.


Yes, I sure hope so. I took the bully away IMMEDIATELY. It kind of scares me, though. She's not even 8 weeks old and she's doing this.

I was really excited that she finally found a chew toy she was interested in, though. Problem was, I guess she was TOO interested. :uhoh:


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Well, I think your mistake was ignoring her warning...in HER mind THAT was your mistake.

In her mind she warned you, you didn't change what you were doing so she followed through. She treated you just the way she would have treated another puppy who wanted part of her bully stick.

She is still learning 'people' rules and still learning that she has to give up her 'dog' ways. I have a lot of respect for these young dogs. They come into our homes knowing how to be dogs and we expect them to forget most of that and learn to do it according to our rules. She's still learning.

I agree: no more bully sticks for her until she learns the people rules. Maybe never.

Be prepared for the next time she guards...and she no doubt will because you taught her it works...I wore leather rose pruning gloves. I walked up to Our Penny who has a fresh steak bone with some meat on it, reached down. She froze and growled. I'm afraid I became vocal first: "you little (*&^, who the h*ll do you thing you are". I kept right on coming into her space and took the bone away and then walked away. After a 10 minutes, I gave her back her bone. I did it over and over again that day. She growled the first 3 times I reached in, then she quit and has never growled at us again.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

wishihad2goldens said:


> Well, I think your mistake was ignoring her warning...in HER mind THAT was your mistake.
> 
> In her mind she warned you, you didn't change what you were doing so she followed through. She treated you just the way she would have treated another puppy who wanted part of her bully stick.
> 
> ...


So... I'm supposed to be aggressive in return? I'm not being cynical, I'm genuine. I had absolutely NO idea how to respond to it, so I know I did it wrong. It's upsetting mostly b/c this is the only chewtoy in the house that she has actually displayed a real interest in. Everything else she ignores completely. Ah well. Live and learn.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I think if you only give it to her in the crate and then shut the door then she wont keep trying to take it out of the crate and can enjoy it without worrying about it being taken away and it can help the resource guarding. Plus it might help with her crate anxiety. She will get a good chewing item only in there makes it a great place for her to be. just shut the door not lock it so if she starts freaking out then she can get out. 
But if you do want to take it away from her, try giving her a favorite little treat and exchange for the bully stick. Dont ever try to take it out of the mouth making it a "who is top dog" in her mind. My vet said puppies dont really know the boundaries like "dont growl" when they have something you want. And do what comes natural. You dont chase them when they grab something of yours and run. Make a fun happy voice, getting their attention on you and then trade for something else. It is like tug of war to them not give it up. 
Hope that helps. Being a first time puppy owner or a long time since puppy owner you can not know all the stuff and get ovewhelmed sometimes. I know I did a ton of reading when I got Bama. It had been 7 1/2 years since I had a puppy when I got him. Forgot everything.


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## amy22 (May 11, 2008)

I would give her the bully stick, then take it away and right away give her a great treat,then after a few minutes give her back the bully stick and then take it away and then quickly give her a great treat..I bet this helps. That shows her that if she gives you something good she gets something good. I think its worth a try.


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## paranthesis (Jan 14, 2009)

I read in Brian Kilcommon and Sarah Wilson's book "My Smart Puppy" that it's common that some pups tend to get unusually aggressive over chewies that are animal body parts. This was especially true of their personal terrier puppy, Pip. They said their answer was to only allow Pip to have such chewies while in the crate. You probably wouldn't have gotten such a reaction with a nylabone (your puppy probably wouldn't have enjoyed a nylabone as much as the bully stick though.) They also suggested dropping treats by your pup every time you get close to it while it has the bully stick, giving your dog a positive association with your presence. You will need a high value treat such as freeze dried liver to be more interesting than the bully stick. I've never given any of my dogs body part chewies just because it seemed kind of gross.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Ok my two cents here...

When my guys have a bone that they want and they are learning 'the rules', I don't go and pet them and talk sweet while they're chewing. I go and calmly take the bone out of their mouth and hand it right back. No trades, no stealing their bone. I don't pet them or talk in a sweet voice because it sounds a lot like another dog whining and asking for the bone. Which leads to the dog growling a warning, more petting and talking and then they have to bite to make their point. 

I also give lots of bones for them to chew, because more so in pups but all dogs enjoy chewing on something - some more than others. Keeps their teeth clean, relieves stress.... and by giving them more, it's no longer a big deal (it's hamburger instead of prime rib - not so new and exciting).

Doesn't take them long to figure out that it's not a big deal to let me see their bone because they always get it back, or at least almost always. Or it's traded for another bone that's almost the same. And as long as they're good about it I'm not doing it all the time either. If they do act up, I will get on their case, then ask them to sit, then hand the bone back. Pretty soon they figure out that if they 'sit' when the bone is gone and don't have a fit they get back to chewing a lot faster than if they have to argue.

I feed raw so they're often getting bones and sometimes the 'wrong' meal, I just make the swap and they're all fine with it. 

Just my opinion anyway...

Lana


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## Emma&Tilly (May 15, 2005)

paranthesis said:


> They also suggested dropping treats by your pup every time you get close to it while it has the bully stick, giving your dog a positive association with your presense.


That is exactly what you should do in this situation. If you pracise this you will no longer have a dog that feels threatened by your presense...rightly or wrongly that is how she feels and you cannot change that by continuing to pull things away from her...that can only make her want to warn you away MORE. I wouldn't even bother doing the take away/give straight back routine...you are still pulling a highly valued treat out of her mouth, whether you give it back in a couple of minutes or not. I would continually trade and give fabulous treats to her when she is chewing..I know many people have a problem with that as it feels like you are rewarding a dog that is 'iffy' around food, but you are simply removing her need to want to growl at you, which is only a good thing. You are taking very positive steps to show her that she never needs to display that behaviour again, and without the need to growl...she won't anyore. There is no reason in the world why she can't continue to have bully sticks in the future.


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## Pudden (Dec 28, 2008)

not to make fun of your troubles, but is this why they're called "bully" sticks?

I agree on the trading game - that works wonders. And I'd hold off on the bully sticks till she's older


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## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

It looks like you've gotten some good advice already, but just my quick 2 cents. You mentioned she has a crate anxiety problem. I wonder if that's part of what set her off. Especially being you said she's never had a problem with you messing around in her food or taking toys. A bully stick is a very high value item, she may have been on edge in her crate, and in your attempt to encourage and soothe her you were likely sitting in front of the door (her only exit from the crate that causes her anxiety). I don't think you have a vicious dog in any sense of the word, but unfortunately now that there's been an incident it's something you'll need to specifically work on. Play the trade game as others have said, keep working on the anxiety issue with the crate, and once she's comfortable and happy in the crate combine the two. Good luck!!

Julie and Jersey


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Yes, she has some crate problems.  I'm going to hold off on the bully stick or any type of yummy bone treat until she's a little more comfortable in her crate. I'll also ask my trainer about this as well, but this was all great advice. I'll just keep working on it.


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## magiclover (Apr 22, 2008)

Jazz reacted early on with growling when she played with a toy that hides little squirrels in a nest. It fit perfectly in her mouth and she was chomping on it a bit too fiercely for my liking. I became concerned about her trying to swallow it. It seemed to awaken a bit of her prey drive. She got very agitated when I tried to take it away. I did distract her with a treat until I could get her to drop it. I then put the toy away until I feel she will be better able to handle it. I have never seen her act this way about anything else. She is doing well with us removing items from her mouth. 

Now with my older dog if she ever been given any type of bone or prized item I still will have her "show" it to me which means I remove it from her mouth and give it back. I have done this her whole life and she thinks it is a game. Anybody could take anything from her mouth. 

Dick from Dichi showed us a way to grip the head and lower jaw to remove items. It is not a hurtful or aggressive move. Maybe give them a call and see if they have any suggestions?


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

magiclover said:


> Jazz reacted early on with growling when she played with a toy that hides little squirrels in a nest. It fit perfectly in her mouth and she was chomping on it a bit too fiercely for my liking. I became concerned about her trying to swallow it. It seemed to awaken a bit of her prey drive. She got very agitated when I tried to take it away. I did distract her with a treat until I could get her to drop it. I then put the toy away until I feel she will be better able to handle it. I have never seen her act this way about anything else. She is doing well with us removing items from her mouth.
> 
> Now with my older dog if she ever been given any type of bone or prized item I still will have her "show" it to me which means I remove it from her mouth and give it back. I have done this her whole life and she thinks it is a game. Anybody could take anything from her mouth.
> 
> Dick from Dichi showed us a way to grip the head and lower jaw to remove items. It is not a hurtful or aggressive move. Maybe give them a call and see if they have any suggestions?



She's fine when I take away any other toy, so I'm just not going to give her a bully stick right now. I'm going to wait until maybe she's a little more confident with herself (a few more weeks) and introduce it again. I'll work on trading and stuff like that, so she won't see me as a threat. I'm hoping it's just because she's still so insecure about a lot of things and was just behaving as a puppy should.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Bender said:


> Ok my two cents here...
> 
> When my guys have a bone that they want and they are learning 'the rules', I don't go and pet them and talk sweet while they're chewing. I go and calmly take the bone out of their mouth and hand it right back. No trades, no stealing their bone. I don't pet them or talk in a sweet voice because it sounds a lot like another dog whining and asking for the bone. Which leads to the dog growling a warning, more petting and talking and then they have to bite to make their point.
> 
> ...


I think Lana said it better than I did. I'm not sure what you mean by 'get agressive'. I mean assertive. Taking control, reaching in a taking away ANYTHING they have is not agressive. It means you're top dog.

No dog in a pack volunteers to be low man. Even the lowest ranking dog in the pack would be 1 step up if he could intimidate someone and make it lower than himself.

That's what I meant about staying, petting, and talking sweet. You allowed yourself to be thought of BY YOUR PUPPY that you could be intimated into being lower ranking. When Flora bit you, what did you do? If you pulled back and went away (to check out the bite and care for it) you inadvertantly reinforced the behavior.

You've been given a lot of good advice...all of it valuable and effective. You know your Flora best and can decide which method to use. If it were me, I'd start with the least "overbearing" and work up until I got to the one that did work.

I still think really high value chewables should be withheld until puppies learn the rules.

I apologize if I offended you or made you mad. That wasn't my intention. I was talking about the situation from HER point of view. I was in the pasture with my 3 horses one day, feeding treats. It's my job to be boss hoss when I'm around them. While I was standing near the head of one horse, he charged another one that was standing in front of him. I backed off too so I didn't get run over. It was instinct to get out of the way. HOWEVER, that was a big mistake. Not a deal breaker but he learned that I BACK OFF too. Not something I want to teach. So from then on, I continued to feed treats but kept a very close eye on him. If he even looked at one of the other horses, I would touch his neck or his face to bring his attention back to me. Getting along with animals is all in how THEY SEE US!


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## Rhapsody in Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

When each of my dogs were young puppies, I always sat next to them on the floor and held the bully stick, femur bone, or flossy with my hands as they chewed away. It just seemed like the most natural thing to do - - - to share something with them from my own hands. Not once was I ever bitten and I think it is because I do explore their mouths a lot with my hands by rubbing their gums and muzzles and holding treats while they try to chew. 

I have noticed there is a place they go to in their heads when chewing on these things. It is sorta like a person being really interested in a great football game - - - no one dare block the TV or interrupt. 

Now that my older dogs can hold their own bully sticks there is a little settling in that goes on. They each sit for their treat. Marty, who is 2 years old will take his and bring it to another room and leave it on the floor. Then he will come back and watch Melody start to chew on hers. Then he will look at me with Gracie. Then he goes back and starts on his own bully stick. Then maybe 15 minutes going, Marty and Melody trade bully sticks. Marty usually initiates the trade. He actually comes over to her and drops it in front of her and she drops hers and they trade. It is the most interesting thing to watch. Maybe 15 minutes after that Gracie (the 12 week old puppy) gets bored with her bully stick and leaves me holding the stick. She will walk over to Melody and just stare. Melody will drop hers and I will say "good girl Melody - - - come here." and then Melody sits by me and I give her Gracie's stick and stroke her neck and shoulders a bit while she chews (my way of thanking her for being a good big sister) and Gracie explores Melody's stick. Eventually I take all three sticks and put them in a drawer but they will chew for a good 30 minutes. Some how we figured out the rules on this together. I share the sticks, they relax and don't bother each other, and we all enjoy the quiet time together. I can also take the sticks away and put them in the treat drawer if there is any growling or gimme gimme behavior. 

I am thinking Flora was settling in with that bully stick and tried to sit outside her crate with it and then you moved it to the crate so she had to go in there to get it. Then she tried to go back out and tried to settle with it outside her crate and it became frustrating. She growled (a warning) and then nipped. Of course the growl (or nip) is not acceptable but she is just 8 weeks old and that is what would work with her litter mates. 

This situation that you described is something we all go through - - - it is where the learning comes in for both you and Flora. You are going to have to re-think your approach. I would try holding the stick for her as she chews. Do this outside the crate. Show her you are sharing it with her and that good things come from you. Make it your special time together. Let her smell your hands as you do this just very easy and gentle. Try to relax together doing this. Nothing that is a force of wills ever is fun - - - for them or us. 

I hope this helps.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

wishihad2goldens said:


> I think Lana said it better than I did. I'm not sure what you mean by 'get agressive'. I mean assertive. Taking control, reaching in a taking away ANYTHING they have is not agressive. It means you're top dog.
> 
> No dog in a pack volunteers to be low man. Even the lowest ranking dog in the pack would be 1 step up if he could intimidate someone and make it lower than himself.
> 
> ...



Oh no, you misinterpreted me. I just didn't know quite what you meant. I valued your response, and appreciate that you took time to respond.  I was in no way belittling you or anything. Sorry, sometimes I have trouble correctly explaining things over the internet.

I understand what you mean now.  Thanks!


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

kdmarsh said:


> I was just appalled that she behaved that way. She's been perfectly fine with me taking away toys from her, meddling in her food, petting her while she eats, etc.
> 
> God. I already have a ton to do with her crate anxiety, and now I have to train for this. Yippee.


This may also be part of the problem. I take it that the idea of the bully stick was to help her feel more comfortable and like the crate. Then you gave her something she REALLY liked and kept taking it away from her. If you want to make her feel at home in the crate, feed and treat her in there but don't apply any other pressure to it. She can have the bully stick in the crate just let her be for now. You can play the bait and switch game outside the crate to work on this issue. It is not terribly uncommon for a young pup to react this way to items they consider "special". They just need to learn you CAN take it when you want. Later you can work on doing that with regard to the crate but I would keep the issues separated till they are worked out individually.

Good luck!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

AmbikaGR said:


> This may also be part of the problem. I take it that the idea of the bully stick was to help her feel more comfortable and like the crate. Then you gave her something she REALLY liked and kept taking it away from her. If you want to make her feel at home in the crate, feed and treat her in there but don't apply any other pressure to it. She can have the bully stick in the crate just let her be for now. You can play the bait and switch game outside the crate to work on this issue. It is not terribly uncommon for a young pup to react this way to items they consider "special". They just need to learn you CAN take it when you want. Later you can work on doing that with regard to the crate but I would keep the issues separated till they are worked out individually.
> 
> Good luck!


Yes, I feel a little foolish looking back on it. I was pressing her too hard, and I now realize I'm going to have to take baby baby baby steps with my little girl. Today I am simply tossing treats in her crate and petting her, letting her freely walk in and out of her crate. I'm not going to introduce the bully sticks now until she is completely comfortable in her crate. Hopefully by then her confidence will be better and I can work on that issue next. 

Thank you for the advice, and I will make sure not to do that to my poor little puppy again.


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## KatzNK9 (Feb 27, 2007)

mylissyk said:


> Play the trade game with her. You offer something enticing, and take what she has when she takes your offer. Practice that often, the idea is eventually she will let you take anything she has because she associates getting something good in return with you taking her item.
> 
> Starting now is good, so when she is bigger you won't have a problem.


Exactly what I would do! Good advice & I've helped Jagger give up most of his resource guarding issues doing exactly that. The only difference that I've done is to trade up with the treat & once finished eating the treat, I give the guarded item back & walk away.


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## NancyJ (Dec 18, 2008)

I don't know much and certainly have problems of my own, but from my reading I think that petting and talking in a nice voice while your puppy is growling is a positive reinforcer. Saying, "yes, what you are currently doing is a good thing." Good luck! I know you'll work it out!


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## SashaGirl (Jan 13, 2009)

I don't have any additional advice for you but I did want to thank you for posting this. I was just coming on this forum to search this for this very topic and there it was at the top.

We have had a few incidents of this with Sasha and I am concerned that it is even more prevalent with the kids as their instinct is to get all hyper and wave their arms around, etc.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

SashaGirl said:


> I don't have any additional advice for you but I did want to thank you for posting this. I was just coming on this forum to search this for this very topic and there it was at the top.
> 
> We have had a few incidents of this with Sasha and I am concerned that it is even more prevalent with the kids as their instinct is to get all hyper and wave their arms around, etc.


Hah, glad to help. I would definitely do what these people have suggested, their advice is very sound. 

Good luck with Sasha!


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