# Puppy Biting, Resource Guarding, or Aggression



## mary3 (Jan 9, 2021)

Following up with a little more info/clarification:

We now “trade” for a treat with items we know he resource guards and he’s stopped resource guarding certain items in response to that training. He’s never guarded his food or toys, and we can often pet him while he’s chewing on a chew toy.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Rukie resource guarded the first time we gave him a knuckle bone as a young puppy. It was the first time I ever felt scared of my dog and he is my third Golden. My son-in-law worked with him on giving it up and getting it back and we resorted to trading any time he needed to give up the bone or other things. Now that he's 3 he will drop stuff reluctantly when told most of the time but I often trade still just to be fair or speed up the drop it. Your puppy is still very young so I wouldn't be too concerned but it's good to get on top of this early on.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Get rid of the first trainer. Resource guarding absolutely happens in younger puppies and it can be dealt with if you get on it now. Good job with the new trainer having experience working with Goldens. If this person is negative for any reason, reach out to either your regional GOlden Retriever club or your closest AKC obedience/dog training club and ask for someone who can help - give them specific details. 

First, you don't mention if you have children in your home but if so, the most important part here is that they should never be left alone with the puppy and you will need to talk to them about never taking anything from the puppy, always call an adult. If you have children visit your home - puppy needs to be crated or on leash. This can be a disaster waiting to happen if you are lax with this.

Second, obedience work is key. If you're not enrolled in puppy class, it's time. This puppy needs fair, firm, consistent management and taking obedience classes (it keeps you honest about daily practice and not slacking off) for the next couple of years will help with this. It takes a lot of self discipline to stay honest about taking online classes but it's possible. Having a trainer who knows you and your puppy will help a lot if you need more help down the road. Obedience is incredibly important because it establishes you as the leader and the puppy as the follower. He is one who needs to be clear about the roles.

Third, exercise is a huge piece of the puzzle. He needs more than leash walks or a few minutes of throwing a ball or playing tug in the living room. Get creative, figure out ways to get him out and about for hard, aerobic exercise. The best way is swimming, formal retrieving, off leash hiking. He needs a solid recall to get to do those things, so make it a priority. Jackie Mertens DVD Sound Beginnings is a great way to teach retrieving. I suspect he will have a good prey drive so using that to your advantage is a great way to manage him. Puppy play dates with another nice young dog who is a retriever type breed can be a huge help if you do that once or twice a week = takes a lot of the edge off and is good for keeping bite inhibition strong. Other things are put him on 30 foot long line (make your own from the hardware store) and take him to a playground, athletic field, church grounds and kick the soccer ball or throw a frisbee. He needs exercise - 30 minutes minimum everyday to tire him out.

If this were my puppy he would be dragging a short cut off 3 foot leash in the house whenever he's out of his crate with me. Use it to control him so he has to give immediate obedience. Same for outdoors and always have treats to trade - practice playing the trading game in the house. Start hand feeding him part of his meals, use meal time as a practice session for commands he already knows. 

If you are consistent, you can work through this. Do a search of this forum, search feature is at the top, you will find a ton of threads about puppies with just this issue. It is not a desirable GOlden trait but there are some pedigrees that have a problem with it and clearly your breeder has one of those. You can work through this but it will take a lot of sensible management and just be consistent and treat it as a long term project.


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## mary3 (Jan 9, 2021)

Thank you both for your replies! This makes me feel so much better, and I'm especially glad to hear someone else has experienced this. I've scheduled our first private training appointment with the new trainer (she seems very positive) and I'm looking into the obedience classes and reaching out to the local AKC or Golden Retriever clubs. I think general obedience will improve these issues immensely, because a lot of it stems from him not having good (or any) recall skills while in an interesting environment, and putting anything and everything in his mouth like puppies do. And no kids yet, but plan to, which is why I'm so concerned -- so glad to hear all of your advice. Any other tips/stories would be appreciated anytime!


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## TracieH2323 (9 mo ago)

mary3 said:


> Hello! I'm new to the forum and a new Golden Retriever owner, so I have some questions regarding my puppy's behavior and whether or not anyone else has experienced this. He's almost 4 months old now, and he definitely has normal puppy play biting behavior, but sometimes he gets a little over excited and starts really biting at our arms and clothes. He loves stealing things, especially shoes and sticks or wood chips in the backyard (which all felt normal), and early on we were taking them out of his mouth when he had something he couldn't have. However, now he's started resource guarding these items, and anything else he thinks we'll take away. A few times he's landed a pretty hard bite on my hand. This feels like a learned issue knowing we'll take the thing out of his mouth, however, the breeder said the male puppies did this in their litter. Today, he was really interested in a shrub in the backyard, and when I tried to pull him away, he whipped around and bit my hand. Not too hard, but I don't like how that was his default reaction.
> 
> I had a training consultation and the trainer said resource guarding was highly unusual behavior in puppies this young, and will likely get much worse. Reading things online I became nervous that he's showing signs of serious aggression issues. Now I have an appointment with a different trainer who specializes in Goldens.
> 
> ...


Hi! We have a Golden puppy a bit younger than yours. He’s about 14 weeks and has been showing all the signs you wrote about since about week 8/9. He’s starting with a private trainer this week but I was just curious if you’ve noticed any improvements with your pup since you started training. Thanks!


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## tjames78 (8 mo ago)

We tried positive encouragement - better to reward for good behavior than punish for bad. With all our dogs to date we've fed bones (appropriate sized raw meaty bones, monitored while eating). When pups are teething they need to chew, so without giving them anything to chew on they'll have a go at your fingers and furniture instead.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

TracieH2323 said:


> Hi! We have a Golden puppy a bit younger than yours. He’s about 14 weeks and has been showing all the signs you wrote about since about week 8/9. He’s starting with a private trainer this week but I was just curious if you’ve noticed any improvements with your pup since you started training. Thanks!


Do you have an update on how your trainer has helped you manage your puppy?


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## kidfrcleve (11 mo ago)

I also have a part-time shark. Usually mornings just after breakfast and then evenings before bedtime. I have some nice bite marks on my arm, even through a long sleeve shirt. What seems to be working for me is more playtime at shark time, or saying 'no bite' very loudly, and then saying 'kiss' and offer a puppy treat if he stops biting and just licks. The 'kiss' thing is starting to work, as he now licks or noses my arm for a treat. Hopefully he will get better and my arms will stop looking like a used chew toy!


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