# Resource Guarding and Aggression



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Welcome to the forum. I would suggest you hand feed as often as possible. If possible every single bite comes from you. Food driven dogs are usually easy to train. It sounds like you should always have a ready stash of high value treats to act as a diversion.


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## toliva (Nov 24, 2011)

She's really, really young, so if it were me, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Puppy class will help a lot with that - both the socialization and the training.


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## goldentemperment (May 16, 2012)

Thanks for your replies.

There was also an issue where another puppy owner left a plastic canister of kibble on the floor, and my puppy, along with a couple other puppies were examining it.

The other owner eventually went to grab the cannister, and my puppy bit him. He kind of made a big deal out of it, saying "I hope your puppy has shots," and "I wonder if I should be filling out a form." I didn't see that whole exchange, and he talked to my wife about it, and not me.

At the time, I think that he overreacted (and still sort of do - I mean, who goes to a puppy kindergarten class, and then is surprised when a puppy bites them?), but as I think more about it, combined with the food aggression towards other dogs, my puppy was also aggressive towards a person.

I'm just apprehensive about it...


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## toliva (Nov 24, 2011)

I don't think it's agression at only 10 weeks, but maybe one of the experts will chime in on that. 

I used to play games with my pup that helped with impulse control and to "leave it", and maybe these games will help your pup if a situation like this arises again? I realize this isn't going to solve the problem of biting the person, but IMO when you avoid a risky situation with a puppy entirely (like getting pushy over food), the puppy learns good manners by not enforcing unwanted behavior.

We did activities similar to these:


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Your puppy is behaving like a puppy. Please stop bugging her at her meal time to "get her to exhibit agressive behavior." Please, please don't do that. 

If you are concerned that she may not outgrow this behavior, you might want to do some reading up on the subject of resource guarding. The book "mine" by Jean Donaldson is very informative. I would probably keep a sharp eye on her behavior and try to see if some of the techniques suggested will help if you are consistent.

1) teaching her to trade
2) teaching "leave it"
3) hand feeding a lot of meals and also dropping a super high value treat in the bowl when you walk close when she's eating. 

Have you discussed your concerns with your trainer? If you are worried that she may have this tendency, be very careful about setting her up for success. Only give chew bones in her crate, don't leave high value (to her) items laying around especially when you have company over. Especially if other dogs or kids are visiting. Don't ever try to force the issue and forcibly take something if she gets an item she shouldn't have. Trade it for something yummy.

Keep working daily on obedience training, hopefully it is puppy behavior and if you are consistent it will be outgrown.


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## goldentemperment (May 16, 2012)

Thanks. I'll definitely check out "mine."

I probably over-stated how much I was bugging her while she was eating. I did that last night just to see if I could get her to respond to it, but was totally unable to. I've hand fed her a lot, and actually decreased how often I was doing it, because I concluded that resource guarding wasn't an issue at all -- not even a little bit. In fact, her most docile times are when I'm hand feeding her.

I just got off the phone with the trainer, and she said that the bite last night was probably "incidental contact." She explained that sometimes puppies from large litters tend to get a little more competitive about food than puppies from smaller litters. I hadn't heard that, but I guess it makes sense.

She agreed with most here that this was just puppy behavior, and we need to find the right ways to practice the situation, to get my puppy more comfortable with food and other dogs and people.



nolefan said:


> Your puppy is behaving like a puppy. Please stop bugging her at her meal time to "get her to exhibit agressive behavior." Please, please don't do that.
> 
> If you are concerned that she may not outgrow this behavior, you might want to do some reading up on the subject of resource guarding. The book "mine" by Jean Donaldson is very informative. I would probably keep a sharp eye on her behavior and try to see if some of the techniques suggested will help if you are consistent.
> 
> ...


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## Wyatt's mommy (Feb 25, 2011)

I would continue to hand feed as much as possible. Both my pups from day one until the day they pass I pet them while they eat, ask to share, (take their bone and pretend like I am eating it) hand feed, put my hand in their bowls etc. all the time. She is just a baby at weeks and only showing puppy behavior. Start early and you should have no problem.


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