# help with bone aggression



## codog11 (Sep 28, 2010)

For xmas our 7 month old golden, Ruby got a very large rawhide bone. My wife and I have been intentionally taking it away from her while she is chewing it. The first couple of times we got some growling out of her and a snarl or two. We quickly took it away, scolded her, and made her have a time out in her crate. It seems to have helped recently.

Tonight however my wife took the bone away and while Ruby was watching my wife hold the bone, my 5 year old daughter approached the dog, who then growled at my daughter and snipped at her. While she did not bite my daughter, as you can image we are both devastated. Ruby is generally sweet and plays very nice with the kids and generally is submissive with other people and dogs (on the back, belly up, tail wagging). 

We are hoping this is just a puppy issue and are wondering the best way to approach this. Should we never give her a rawhide bone? Should we continue taking the bone away from her and watching her reaction -reprimanding as appropriate? I've noticed that when I do approach her when she has the bone, while she no longer growls at me, she is definitely guarding it.

FYI when she was younger she used to growl at us when we played with her food while she was eating. We have since nipped that in the bud by consistently playing with her food while she ate. Any grumpiness resulted in her food being taken away and a time out. Is this how we should proceed?

Please help with any advice you can offer. Of course our kids are our first priority. Can this be considered typical puppy behavior? Perhaps just testing out the family hierarchy?


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I would pull up the high valued treats right now. Hand feeding is a big help in getting over food aggression. It take patience to sit with your pup and feed every bit but it does work.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

When Brooks was younger, I gave him a treat (forget what it was) and he became another dog--growled at me and tried to get away with the treat as he turned his head away from me.
That was the end of him ever getting it again.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

I hope that my advice will help. Ruby is in a bratty stage, but this needs to be corrected ASAP or you might have some issues when she's full grown. 

OK... Stop taking the bone or high value item away from your pup. Ruby sees your hand as a negative consequence. "Whenever my owner's hand comes near my yummy treat, they take it away. In that case, I'll just protect it with my teeth." You want your hand to be a source of all goodies and be associated with good things. You need to back up and lay the groundwork for this NOW. 7 months is definitely a bratty age. I have one going on 7 months but he is very good with this issue because we've taught him from the beginning. You can get there too.

Start by hand feeding meals or partial meals everyday. This associates your hand with something they love- food! Do this everyday for the forseeable future. Make the time. 

When Ruby has a rawhide, marrow bone, or something else high value DO NOT (really- don't!) take it away. You can put her in her crate so she feels secure. Keep the kids away. Then, you want to start by dropping other goodies near her while she's eating the hgih value item. These other items you're dropping can be lunchmeat, cheese, liver, treats, boiled chicken... whatever. Sooner or later, Ruby will figure out-" Hey, mom's hand is here. I'm going to drop this bone/rawhide/whatever to see what she's going to give me." She also begins to realize, "I don't have to protect my bone from mom/kids/dad. They don't want it! They just want to give me yummies." At first, you might only get to give a few other treats per session. Build up. You might have to go slowly. Continue this for the forseeable future. 

Gibbs basically drops whatever he has when I come to him while he's chewing a bullystick, rawhide, bone. He knows my hands are associated with good things. When I want him to stop chewing said item, I usually toss a handful of treats the opposite direction and pick it up.

Google the term and use the search feature on the forum to learn more about: resource guarding


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## janine (Aug 8, 2009)

I would say never never give bone when your kids are around. Either never give bones or those high value treat at all or only in crate or maybe gated room. Murphy is fine if he has a bone and Chester isn't around but if Chester walks into his space when he has a bone he will attack Chester. If it's just myself or husband he will drop his bone for a trade (good treat) but I would never take a chance with a child around. Long story and not a golden but our now 21 year old daughter was bit by our dog when when was 18 months because of a bone. I would say all the training in the world might make him perfect in giving his bone or high value treat to you but never take a chance to see if your dog wants to test this with a child. I let small children give both Chester and Murphy treats but I would never 100% trust them to take something away like a bone. Just my 2 cents...


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

CarolinaCasey said:


> I hope that my advice will help. Ruby is in a bratty stage, but this needs to be corrected ASAP or you might have some issues when she's full grown.
> 
> OK... Stop taking the bone or high value item away from your pup. Ruby sees your hand as a negative consequence. "Whenever my owner's hand comes near my yummy treat, they take it away. In that case, I'll just protect it with my teeth." You want your hand to be a source of all goodies and be associated with good things. You need to back up and lay the groundwork for this NOW. 7 months is definitely a bratty age. I have one going on 7 months but he is very good with this issue because we've taught him from the beginning. You can get there too.
> 
> ...


Agree x100000. By playing and taking away your dog's food or high value treats, they are making a very negative association with your hands.


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## maggiesmommy (Feb 23, 2010)

Maggie had this issue. We took her to a trainer who had us reinforce the "off" command (start with something she really doesn't care about. Have her hold it in her mouth, then say "off" and at the same time, shove a high value treat in her mouth, then, work up to rawhides/pig ears/etc.) Make sure your daughter is involved, too. Also, no more acknowledging attention seeking behaviors...pet her when YOU want to, not when she asks for it.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

I would NOT have your daughter approach your dog while your dog has valued items. (at this stage of training!)

I would recommend you get the book "Mine" by Jean Donaldson and work through the exercises. It's all about resource guarding (...in your post title...I was wondering how bones were aggressive!) and how to change the dog's response to people near valued items.

Like Casey said...we want the dogs to LOVE it when people come near them, not think the items will be taken away or messed with.


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## codog11 (Sep 28, 2010)

thanks for all the helpful comments. I read up on "resource guarding" as Caroline suggested and it appears we may have been instigating Ruby. We've got some work to do, but hopefully it still is early enough to correct. She really does just want to be sweet, but like some have said, in that bratty stage


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## Maya's_Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

Maya is 8 1/2 months.... so just a bit older than Ruby 

Maya would growl and snarl if we took away her bones.... so what we started doing... i would sit on the floor and hold the bone the whole time, while she chewed... the bone is mine, not hers, and I am just letting her have some! Then when it's time to take the bone away, a higher value treat would appear in the other hand (or my oh would come over with something high value and she goes to get it, and I get up).... pup thought "hey cool!! another treat!!" drops the bone, takes the other treat. Then when it's bone time again, it's my hands giving it to her, and staying with her while she chews. 

Not sure if this is a great approach, but it worked for us!!


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## codog11 (Sep 28, 2010)

Maya's_Mom said:


> Maya is 8 1/2 months.... so just a bit older than Ruby
> 
> Maya would growl and snarl if we took away her bones.... so what we started doing... i would sit on the floor and hold the bone the whole time, while she chewed... the bone is mine, not hers, and I am just letting her have some! Then when it's time to take the bone away, a higher value treat would appear in the other hand (or my oh would come over with something high value and she goes to get it, and I get up).... pup thought "hey cool!! another treat!!" drops the bone, takes the other treat. Then when it's bone time again, it's my hands giving it to her, and staying with her while she chews.
> 
> Not sure if this is a great approach, but it worked for us!!


That's what my wife have started working on. FYI we try to keep the kids away when the dog is eating/has food, but unfortunately this was one of those events that happened so fast (daughter sneaking up) that it caught us off guard. Basically we are trying to teach her for times like these when the inevitable happens


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## cmoore (Nov 25, 2010)

Our first golden was so possessive of bones that we stopped giving them to him. He would growl and snarl if anyone put their hand near him. He never bit anyone but it was not worth the risk.

Our current golden is much less possessive. If you take a bone from her she just looks and wags her tail.


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## FinnTastic (Apr 20, 2009)

We took Finn to a vet behaviorist for his food issues. We had different phases that we went through that took a good year. We still practice things like making him sit and we will take his bowl or kong and then immediatly give it back with a treat or come near and give him a treat. It will be a life long process, but Finn has improved immensly. We don't have children, but when the nieces are around, Finn gets fed before they are up or in a different room. If we are visiting family with dogs, Finn is fed in a different room. Though he does well with getting treats with other dogs around getting treats at the same time.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

CarolinaCasey is right on the money!!!


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

CarolinaCasey said:


> I hope that my advice will help. Ruby is in a bratty stage, but this needs to be corrected ASAP or you might have some issues when she's full grown.
> 
> OK... Stop taking the bone or high value item away from your pup. Ruby sees your hand as a negative consequence. "Whenever my owner's hand comes near my yummy treat, they take it away. In that case, I'll just protect it with my teeth." You want your hand to be a source of all goodies and be associated with good things. You need to back up and lay the groundwork for this NOW. 7 months is definitely a bratty age. I have one going on 7 months but he is very good with this issue because we've taught him from the beginning. You can get there too.
> 
> ...


Wow, what an excellent, eloquent post. This is the best possible advice.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

I had a beagle when I was 8 years old that if she had a bone or stole something(even a chicken carcass) and went under the dining room table, you did not go near her. I vowed I would never live with such possession aggression again.

I start this when my dogs are puppies and it works: anytime they have something in their mouths that I don't want them to have, I offer them a treat in return for the object. Eventually every dog I have, has learned to then bring me the forbidden object... A client of mine taught her cocker possession aggression by taking everything out of his mouth(including non harmful things). The behaviorists say that when it's something like a napkin, kleenex, or anything else like that that won't hurt the dog, you should just let the dog have it. And the behaviorists also do not recommend taking the food bowl away for the reasons CarolinaCasey mentioned.

In my household since I have so many goldens(free range, not in crates or kennels), it is a rare occasion that they get bone treats, like rawhides or bullie sticks, that have high value.


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## Coach and Crew (Jan 13, 2022)

codog11 said:


> For xmas our 7 month old golden, Ruby got a very large rawhide bone. My wife and I have been intentionally taking it away from her while she is chewing it. The first couple of times we got some growling out of her and a snarl or two. We quickly took it away, scolded her, and made her have a time out in her crate. It seems to have helped recently.
> 
> Tonight however my wife took the bone away and while Ruby was watching my wife hold the bone, my 5 year old daughter approached the dog, who then growled at my daughter and snipped at her. While she did not bite my daughter, as you can image we are both devastated. Ruby is generally sweet and plays very nice with the kids and generally is submissive with other people and dogs (on the back, belly up, tail wagging).
> 
> ...


7 month old male also gets protective with bones. I use other tasty small treats and use other commands (come, heel, stay, etc.) to pull him away from the bone and he tends to calm down. I repeat the exercise and only associate my hands with ‘giving’ the bone as opposed to taking it away and have had no issues. Hope this helps others with similar issues.


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## Dunmar (Apr 15, 2020)

Coach and Crew said:


> 7 month old male also gets protective with bones. I use other tasty small treats and use other commands (come, heel, stay, etc.) to pull him away from the bone and he tends to calm down. I repeat the exercise and only associate my hands with ‘giving’ the bone as opposed to taking it away and have had no issues. Hope this helps others with similar issues.


Get rid of the bone altogether and feed him his meals by hand


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