# Toy aggression escalating



## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

I could really, really use some help or just advice on what steps if any I should be taking to deal with this. 

Ok this isn't a German shepherd doing this, it's my 1 year old Golden retriever mix 'but' we're bringing home a GSD later this year and I want to make sure we take every precaution and do everything we can to avoid any problems.

My golden is a wonderful dog in almost every other way, he gets along great with our other two dogs at home, he loves every dog he meets and he is very good at modifying his play to suit the dog he's playing with. For example a very old sweet female lab took a shining to him and he played so gently with her, I was a proud momma at that moment.

It's just when it comes to toys he turns into a completely different dog. I started noticing at a young age that he seemed possessive with his toys, I brought it up to our trainer in our puppy class several times and one trainer even saw him snap at another puppy and he said it was 'fine' which I guess a certain amount of resource guarding is normal. But I kept trying to tell them no that what he is doing isn't normal, they wouldn't listen to me. 

So at about 9/10 months old is when it really started to get out of hand... He wasn't just guarding his things now he's started biting and open mouth attacking other dogs who try to get their toys back from him(which he steals in the first place). He doesn't give any kind of warning, he just instantly lunges and snaps.

So now, this dog that we worked so hard to socialize, we can no longer take him to his favorite places and let him off leash, at least not anywhere where toys are present. This is sort of why I wish toys weren't allowed in dog parks. If there are no toys then he is completely 100% fine with other dogs. Toys are also a no no at home too unless they are seperated.

So my question is, can this be worked with? Possibly with treats or something and changing his outlook towards other dogs being near what he perceives as his toys or is this something that once the behavior has manifested that's it, you're stuck with it? We are more then willing to hire a private trainer to come and work with us on this too, hes currently in another group obedience class so we'll see but I doubt they have the time to focus on us for this kind of problem.

And most importantly, is there a way with training to help PREVENT this from happening in the first place? I know this is completely my fault and I feel like a horrible dog mom so I want to make sure it never happens again.


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## Panzer213 (Aug 12, 2012)

This happened with my moms Pittbull out of the blue...we were living with her for awhile and her Pitt stole our Pitts toys and treats all the time! Our dog just brushed it off, he was a lot younger and smaller so he didn't put up much of a fight. Eventually he got sick of it and it ended up in a dog fight. Blood and barking...horrible! Vet told us some dogs are just possessive with food or toys and it takes time and patience to correct it, IF you can correct it. Some dogs are just stubborn. My moms dog still acts this way. He is alpha (so he thinks) and we were told he probably won't change. Good luck! If your vet can't help try a local dog trainer. We went to a few classes and stopped. If we had a question after that we just called and she was happy to help over the phone!


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Is the aggression only with other dogs? With any human, they can take the toy????


aw:


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> Is the aggression only with other dogs? With any human, they can take the toy????
> 
> 
> aw:


Oh yes sorry I didn't specify, it is only with other dogs... My husband and I can take toys from him just fine.

I should say too that with our two other dogs at home, occasionally while we supervise them in the yard we will let Sam(the golden) have a toy because our other dogs know better now not to try and take it... But Sam will have the toy in his mouth and he will do that puppy playful bounce around them and shove the toy at them like he wants them to try and take it. So I'm not sure what to make of that.

We never let him do that inside though and we'd never let it happen with a new dog.


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

Are you bringing home a puppy?

If so, your Golden may give pup a respite. Amazing how most dogs give puppies lisence to do things they won't tolerate from others.


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## mebully21 (Nov 18, 2011)

my one dog is toy aggressive with other dogs only. humans can take anything from him. he is also food aggressive with dogs as well, not humans. i have worked with him for years, and he did get better for a bit. then he started again, so i decided no toys at all ever anymore with a 2 dog house. if i want him to play with his toys the other dog gets put into a bedroom with her own toys. the only toy that rufus wont guard is a tennis ball, but i have to have 5 of them out on the floor for him not to guard one. any other type of toy is not allowed on the floor. 

sometimes its better to just put the items away to make sure there are no issues .. some dogs can be worked on toy guarding issues , some cant.. it all depends on the dog and the owner as well..

its easier for me to just have all toys behind a door in the closet then to keep trying to work it out of him.. but thats just me..

i micromanage toys and food here due to his issues and i normally babysit other dogs so there is at least 2-3 dogs here every few months and every other weekend i have 3 dogs here.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

zyppi said:


> Are you bringing home a puppy?
> 
> If so, your Golden may give pup a respite. Amazing how most dogs give puppies lisence to do things they won't tolerate from others.


Yes we are, what I'm ultimately hoping for is to teach Sam to play tug o war with the pup when he's old enough as this is his favorite game though I don't play it with him anymore. I keep hearing conflicting information about it.

Though obviously this is probably a pipe dream as unless I had a professional trainer with me I'd be too nervous for the GSD pups safety to try this.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

mebully21 said:


> my one dog is toy aggressive with other dogs only. humans can take anything from him. he is also food aggressive with dogs as well, not humans. i have worked with him for years, and he did get better for a bit. then he started again, so i decided no toys at all ever anymore with a 2 dog house. if i want him to play with his toys the other dog gets put into a bedroom with her own toys. the only toy that rufus wont guard is a tennis ball, but i have to have 5 of them out on the floor for him not to guard one. any other type of toy is not allowed on the floor.
> 
> sometimes its better to just put the items away to make sure there are no issues .. some dogs can be worked on toy guarding issues , some cant.. it all depends on the dog and the owner as well..
> 
> ...


That's what I was afraid of. :/ Its just such a shame because now he won't be able to have a big safe place to run and be a dog off leash anymore. We live in southern California and it is just jammed packed with people and their dogs everywhere and I just can't risk it because there are always people playing fetch with their dogs, etc.

And all the places that do have some wide open spaces are just too dang far away.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I call my golden a toy hoarder, he too started this when he was younger(with dogs/not people), but I would correct him everytime he did it. Once the GSD came into the home he had to learn to share. He doesn't want to hurt another dog, he just wants his toys. Most of the time I would take the toy away from him, give him a different toy and give the first toy to the other dog and tell him he has to share. He has gotten 100% better and has no problems sharing his toys with any dogs now. He has never been food aggressive either, he will eat and drink with any dog thats around. It just took lots of supervision on my part and a pretty determined female GSD


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Carriesue said:


> ... But Sam will have the toy in his mouth and he will do that puppy playful bounce around them and shove the toy at them like he wants them to try and take it. So I'm not sure what to make of that.
> 
> We never let him do that inside though and we'd never let it happen with a new dog.


This is playful behavior, not guarding in at least what I've seen with mine! I have a male who guards one particular thing with his life. No dog can come near it, and they all know it so don't try. When he wants to play tug or keep away, he will goad the other dog by putting whatever it is in their face -- an invitation. He *never* offers this invitation with his precious toy. (frisbee.) EVER.!

Does your dog have favorite items? Does he guard the same objects that he offers other times?? I'm guessing he doesn't, but I'm curious to know! 



mebully21 said:


> .... sometimes its better to just put the items away to make sure there are no issues .. some dogs can be worked on toy guarding issues , some cant.. it all depends on the dog and the owner as well..
> 
> its easier for me to just have all toys behind a door in the closet then to keep trying to work it out of him.. but thats just me..


Agreed. I think it is how big of a priority toy it is, too. Again, going back to the one dog's frisbee -- he treasures that thing. I am not going to waste my time trying to get him to share it. I have lots of toys laying around that none of them consider high-priority, so they can lay there without any issues. Once I identify the ones that cause issues, they are put away and only played with individually or put in the crate.



Carriesue said:


> Yes we are, what I'm ultimately hoping for is to teach Sam to play tug o war with the pup when he's old enough as this is his favorite game though I don't play it with him anymore. I keep hearing conflicting information about it.
> 
> Though obviously this is probably a pipe dream as unless I had a professional trainer with me I'd be too nervous for the GSD pups safety to try this.


Nothin' wrong with tug, I think.  There's lots of info right here on this board about people's opinons on it. 

As far as food -- I have one dog that is a bad food guarder. Easily managed. All four dogs are fed separately. No problem.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

Well update!

I know I'm not talking about a GSD here so I won't keep going on about him but we took him to the dog park today. Normally I don't really like them much but this particular one is awesome, everyone is incredibly nice(no cliques) and EVERYONE I've seen so far is responsible with their dogs.

Anyways we took him a couple hours after the after work crowd and their was a group of dogs running after balls being thrown and Sammy just ran with them and not once ever tried to take a ball from anyone(this is his favorite toy) so maybe most of this aggression is directed towards small dogs? Both of the dogs he got into fights with we're small breeds.

Dunno but will continue to work with him and maybe by the time my GSD puppy gets here we'll have made some headway, not going to give up just quite yet!

Thanks for all the imput!


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