# Resource Guarding something dangerous



## goldielynn (Sep 5, 2020)

Yeah, sounds like the phase where he's discovering things outside. I would say it's good that he's not guarding food. Keep up the practicing of trading him on the food because that builds trust and strengthens your relationship because one day you're going to need to grab some food item out of his mouth and you don't want to fight him for it. I just had to take a chicken wing out of my boy's mouth the other day when me and my friends were having a picnic. He just grabbed it off a plate on the floor and everyone was so amazed that I was able to take such high value food out of his mouth so easily. It came out all in one piece, he didn't even get to chew on it. He didn't bark/growl/nothing.

Our puppy went through a leaves eating stage when we were outside at around your puppy's same age. It's a lot, a lot of "leave it" commands and yanking him away from leaves. But with leaves, they were EVERYWHERE, it was really hard and daunting on our walks, and emotionally exhausting. For you, I hope that the plastic and horse manure isn't everywhere. It's easier said than done, but if you can spot the enticing object before your dog does, walk him far away from it so he can't get to it in the first place, and practice the "leave it" command. Sooner or later, he will grow out of it. For us, it felt like forever, but it probably was just a month.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Yewulala said:


> Our trainer told us to trade with him





Yewulala said:


> Can anyone share his/her experience or give us some advice?


I advise you to teach obedience and or find a different trainer. Your current "trainer" is offering some of the worst advice possible. If you continue to follow it the problem will get worse and more difficult, if not impossible, to correct.


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## Yewulala (12 mo ago)

goldielynn said:


> Yeah, sounds like the phase where he's discovering things outside. I would say it's good that he's not guarding food. Keep up the practicing of trading him on the food because that builds trust and strengthens your relationship because one day you're going to need to grab some food item out of his mouth and you don't want to fight him for it. I just had to take a chicken wing out of my boy's mouth the other day when me and my friends were having a picnic. He just grabbed it off a plate on the floor and everyone was so amazed that I was able to take such high value food out of his mouth so easily. It came out all in one piece, he didn't even get to chew on it. He didn't bark/growl/nothing.
> 
> Our puppy went through a leaves eating stage when we were outside at around your puppy's same age. It's a lot, a lot of "leave it" commands and yanking him away from leaves. But with leaves, they were EVERYWHERE, it was really hard and daunting on our walks, and emotionally exhausting. For you, I hope that the plastic and horse manure isn't everywhere. It's easier said than done, but if you can spot the enticing object before your dog does, walk him far away from it so he can't get to it in the first place, and practice the "leave it" command. Sooner or later, he will grow out of it. For us, it felt like forever, but it probably was just a month.


Hi thank you so much for sharing your experience!!! We're kinda feeling relieved

We live in a small town where there're forests and lakes nearby. It's a perfect place for dog walking, but also for camping and horse riding. It's disappointing that people just throw trash on the ground. And for horses, well, you can't expect horse owners to pick the poop up.

We tried your advice this morning and checked the ground before we let him explore and run freely; leashed him when we saw horse manure and trash and asked him to leave it. With leash, he's always being a good boy and so he did it. He was super successful today and definitely had a better recall. 

Thank you so much!!


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## Yewulala (12 mo ago)

SRW said:


> I advise you to teach obedience and or find a different trainer. Your current "trainer" is offering some of the worst advice possible. If you continue to follow it the problem will get worse and more difficult, if not impossible, to correct.


Yes we do teach him obedience. We've been doing it since day 1. We do hand feeding and use his kibble to train him. He can only eat meals/chase toys/walk out of the door with our permission. (We've had two trainers, one was for puppy course, the other is for young dog course, both of them taught us to do so.) We can easily ask him to stop while he's having meals/bones. He learns fast and knows that eventually he'll get what he wants and can have more rewards if he listens to commands. But it just won't work for things we don't let him have, things he'll never get back, like a candy wrapper or stinky horse manure.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

Have you taught him a "leave it" command? He needs to learn not to pick things like this up in the first place. The problem with what's happening now is he's going to figure out that the best way to keep you from taking it away is to swallow it. I'm assuming these objects are found in parks. I wouldn't allow him off leash where these items exist. If there are obedience clubs in your area, I would recommend taking classes from them.


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## DblTrblGolden2 (Aug 22, 2018)

Just a word of advice, horse manure can be dangerous if the horse has just been wormed. I have a very good friend that owns a large horse training facility. Her dog ate horse manure right after a horse had been wormed and it became very sick. It was in the ER vet for several days, and then it took weeks for him to actually recover. It was something I hadn't really thought of until that point.

You need to walk him, keep him, on a leash until he can be trusted in any environment you can't control. You need to teach the leave it command. There are many good videos.


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## Yewulala (12 mo ago)

DevWind said:


> Have you taught him a "leave it" command? He needs to learn not to pick things like this up in the first place. The problem with what's happening now is he's going to figure out that the best way to keep you from taking it away is to swallow it. I'm assuming these objects are found in parks. I wouldn't allow him off leash where these items exist. If there are obedience clubs in your area, I would recommend taking classes from them.


Yes we've taught him and he can always do it pretty well at home and most of the time when on leash. I think you're right. We gave him too much freedom too early. Thank you for your advice!!!


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## Yewulala (12 mo ago)

DblTrblGolden2 said:


> Just a word of advice, horse manure can be dangerous if the horse has just been wormed. I have a very good friend that owns a large horse training facility. Her dog ate horse manure right after a horse had been wormed and it became very sick. It was in the ER vet for several days, and then it took weeks for him to actually recover. It was something I hadn't really though of until that point.
> 
> You need to walk him, keep him, on a leash until he can be trusted in any environment you can't control. You need to teach the leave it command. There are many good videos.


oh poor dog... yeah our boy seemed basically OK after he swallowed horse manure, so we kinda didn't take it too seriously. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that!!! It is a big problem. We'll definitely keep him away from horse manure.


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## ScoutTheGolden (Apr 14, 2021)

I'm a first time Golden owner and we've struggled with my girl not wanting to give up avocados of all things! (There are lots of trees around us). The best progress I've made has been to not act like the avocado in her mouth was especially interesting- then she wants to play keep away- and to throw some high value treats on the floor, so she drops the avocado to get them and I can grab it while she's searching for all of them. This is probably easier indoors, or in an enclosed area, and consistency is still super important, but it's helped us make some progress!


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## Yewulala (12 mo ago)

ScoutTheGolden said:


> I'm a first time Golden owner and we've struggled with my girl not wanting to give up avocados of all things! (There are lots of trees around us). The best progress I've made has been to not act like the avocado in her mouth was especially interesting- then she wants to play keep away- and to throw some high value treats on the floor, so she drops the avocado to get them and I can grab it while she's searching for all of them. This is probably easier indoors, or in an enclosed area, and consistency is still super important, but it's helped us make some progress!


Thanks!! We’re also trying that one!!!


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

ScoutTheGolden said:


> I'm a first time Golden owner and we've struggled with my girl not wanting to give up avocados of all things! (There are lots of trees around us). The best progress I've made has been to not act like the avocado in her mouth was especially interesting- then she wants to play keep away- and to throw some high value treats on the floor, so she drops the avocado to get them and I can grab it while she's searching for all of them. This is probably easier indoors, or in an enclosed area, and consistency is still super important, but it's helped us make some progress!


That’s actually a great way to handle it! If it’s not something particularly exciting to you, it won’t be such a big deal to let it go. The only problem I see is the dog thinking the treats are a reward for finding the avocado.Goldens LOVE carrying things. I think some balls of various sizes might help. It’s hard to pick up an avocado with a ball in your mouth🙂


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## Dunmar (Apr 15, 2020)

SRW said:


> I advise you to teach obedience and or find a different trainer. Your current "trainer" is offering some of the worst advice possible. If you continue to follow it the problem will get worse and more difficult, if not impossible, to correct.


I was actually going to go with your wiffle bat if you recommend it here lol.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Dunmar said:


> I was actually going to go with your wiffle bat if you recommend it here lol.


I think that just might be the treat the OP's dog needs.


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## Yewulala (12 mo ago)

A quick update!

Last week Ciba (his name) got left paw muscle pain after running in the woods. We did an X-ray, and luckily his bones are fine, but off-leash running is temporarily forbidden, which means he has no access to horse manure or other stuff. 

We have trained him a lot of "drop it", and he does make progress. The other day, we took him to a late-night short walk for pee and he picked up a chewing gum. We asked him to drop and he did it without any hesitation!!!

Of course he's not perfect with "drop it" yet (it doesn't work all the time) but I'm sure he's improving!!

Thank you all for your advice!!!!


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