# resource guarding?



## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Sofie is 6 months old and has been very responsive in training. She seems pretty reliable with house training (I know that she is not going to be 100% for awhile) She has turned a corner a few weeks ago and her at home behavior is much better in all aspects. The one issue I have now is resource guarding; not of food or toys, but of items dropped in the house or stuff found outside (a pony tail holder on the ballpark/a water bottle cap). I can tell you I am almost certain I am the cause. When she was younger, I would get uptight when she got potentially dangerous items in her mouth that she found. She would at that time let me remove them. At some point that changed and she now growls and won't let me. Mostly these items are at the ballpark. If I drop a small piece of paper at home, she is on it and usually eats it. We try to be diligent at home home and not let possibly dangerous things and are now checking the area where we sit at handball park. She knows off, leave it, and drop it. We tried trading for treats and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I need to be able to remove potentially dangerous items without getting bit. I do ignore the pieces of paper she occasionally is able to get. She has no problems with guarding her food. I can also remove toys with no problem. We practice drop it/leave it/off daily. I am at a loss as what else to do.


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

I know it's probably one more thing to remember, but do you bring toys or treats with you? Timmy is sometimes that way especially if he know he's not supposed to have something. I started offering him a treat to drop what he had. This worked most of the time. If we are at home I will offer him a toy or distract him and he'll usually drop it. Now if he has something so delicious sometimes my food offering doesn't even work so I'll use a combination of treats and distraction like "Let's play fetch, Find the puppy (even if there isn't one). He's gotten much better though and I haven't had an episode in quite a while. Sometimes I'll even test him with stuff he's allowed to have, take it away and then give it right back, and tell him "Good Boy!" Good luck but keep up with some kind of solution now so she knows it's not the worst thing in the world to relinquish something, and yes pick your battles, Timmy loves gum wrappers! :laugh:


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Thank you for your response and yes I do take treats, but I think the fact that she KNOWS it is something she found and isn't suppose to have, exceeds her desire to swap out. I do the toy trade thing here at home (as a game and I have no problem with her trading toys). I will continue to work with her then. The behavior at it's worse is about 4 weeks now, so I guess I will continue offering treats as trade. I really doubt toys will work as I have tried that and she just stares at me as if to say" you're kidding right"!!!


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

How about higher value treats? I'm assuming when you want to do a toy trade you have lots of enthusiasm in your voice? Keep plugging along. Were you planning on attending any training classes? The trainers that Timmy had and still has in his classes have invaluable advice. Hopefully someone with more training experience will chime in, I'm only going on my experience with Tim and every dog is different.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I had this same problem with Kodi, and about at the same age. All I can tell you is tha we just continued to work on "leave it" and "drop it", and did lots and LOTS of "trade" them giving the original item back, and over time, the problem did get better. I also made it a habit to open his mouth almost daily while grooming, just so he was used to it. (Lotsof cookies for allowing it) But you are right, the things that he is the most posessive about are the things he KNOWS he shouldn't have, and therefore is SURE we are going to take away! 

The other thing that has happened with age is that his bite inhibition is very good, and we know each other very well. As an adult, if he won't release something into my hand, even for a treat, I can open his mouth and get the offending item back without fear that he'll bite me. I ONLY do this if the item is an actual danger to him, so I use it very sparingly.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Jen, will try a higher value treat at home. I used cooked chicken the other day and wasn't sure what she had and later saw it was a tooth and wasn't too concerned, since she wasn't buying the bait. I will have to order some freeze dried meat of some kind to take when we are out. We live in a rural area of a small town. Not always handy to go to the big cities for specialized items. So far we have tried about a half a dozen different treats and I can not determine if she has a preference...maybe peanut butter. But thus pup will eat anything and act like it is filet mignon! 

Karen, I am so glad to hear that this will get better with continued training and age. I do look in her mouth during play and she does not growl, but clearly does not enjoy it. I will start using treats. Never thought of that. This little girl has been the most challenging of any pup we have had. But when she looks at me with those eyes, my heart melts... And my mantra is, "in 3 years you will be a great dog"!


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## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

swaye said:


> We tried trading for treats and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.


When you give her treats, you are just rewarding her for taking the items. With Chester, I snatch him in my arms and carefully remove the item away from him, say "No. Don't do that.", and hide it from his sight.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ruth4Havs said:


> When you give her treats, you are just rewarding her for taking the items. With Chester, I snatch him in my arms and carefully remove the item away from him, say "No. Don't do that.", and hide it from his sight.


No, you are really not rewarding the dog for taking the item in this case, you are rewarding them dropping the item. The dog attaches meaning to the very last thing they do before the reward is given.

Snatching him in your arms won't work for long. Very soon he will be too fast, and expect you to do it. So he will just run away before you can grab him.... Creating a new problem on too of the one you already have.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

krandall said:


> No, you are really not rewarding the dog for taking the item in this case, you are rewarding them dropping the item. The dog attaches meaning to the very last thing they do before the reward is given.
> 
> Snatching him in your arms won't work for long. Very soon he will be too fast, and expect you to do it. So he will just run away before you can grab him.... Creating a new problem on too of the one you already have.


My thought as well, but you explained it much better than I could. Thank you...


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