# Resource Guarding



## SunKissedRider (Apr 25, 2011)

Our newly adopted 7 month old has some major resource guarding issues. He's FINE with us, we can take food, toys, etc, with no issues whatsoever. However, with our other dog, if she even walks past him while he is playing with a toy (mind you they were "her" toys, since he's the new addition to the family) he snarls, barks, and lunges at her. 

Yesterday, she was standing next to me getting some love, and a toy happened to be on the floor about 1 foot away from her. He came galloping over and then barked/snarled at her and took his toy and ran off. 

I don't have much experience in the resource guarding with other dogs department, so I am not really sure how to go about correcting the behavior. I have removed all bones and chews, so that the only things available to him are toys (lower value), they are fed at opposite ends of the house, and we have been doing trading games with him just to make sure he doesn't start developing any issues with us as well. 

Do I correct the behavior? Is there something I should do to redirect it? Help?!


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

My 8-1/2 yr old male is a resource guarder. Of course not with us, just the other dogs. He is not vicious, just posessive. My biggest problem is his food, he will guard it and if my 16month old pup walks up to him as she always does, he bares his teeth, growls. Unfortunately she is not scared of him, she will stand there and kiss his nose. I do yell out to him to "KNOCK IT OFF" which he usually does. Oddly enough if the old cat wants to eat from his bowl he allows him and of course I can touch his food. Toys are another problem, everything belongs to him, he will cry like a baby if the pup has a toy he wants. I distract by trying to get the pup or him interested in something else. There is not much more I can do with him, like they say if I knew then what I know now. I probably would not have a toy box, all toys would be mine and I would allow pup to play with my toys when I say. 
When I give bones or chewies they each get one and I stand guard, no stealing. I never leave the 3 unattended with a new object. My 2 older dogs are ok with bones and each other but I separate the pup to avoid disaster.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

First, I would take all toys away for a while until they get used to each other more. Any bones are given in crates or in separate rooms. Lots of exercise and training together (and separately) to build a positive association.

I would take that time to read the book Mine! by Jean Donaldson to learn how to manage it when you do start to reintroduce the toys.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

gsdraven said:


> First, I would take all toys away for a while until they get used to each other more. Any bones are given in crates or in separate rooms. Lots of exercise and training together (and separately) to build a positive association.
> 
> I would take that time to read the book Mine! by Jean Donaldson to learn how to manage it when you do start to reintroduce the toys.


 
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## SunKissedRider (Apr 25, 2011)

I'll check to see if I can order the book today! Thank you very much. 

As far as removing all toys, I can see why it may be a good idea, but at the same time, he is a chewer...and I don't necessarily want my apartment chewed to bits either. Is there anything I can do to keep my apartment in one peice AND get over this whole resource guarding?


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Can you keep him in an ex-pen to chew? Keeping them apart when bones and toys are around is the best for now. If he's good and tired mentally and physically then he won't need to chew at night.

I'm not a fan of using corrections for aggression because it can make it worse and build frustration. One idea would be to keep the older dog on leash and redirect everytime he wants to "guard" from the new dog. Lots of praise for being calm and leaving the new dog alone with his toys. It's not something I've ever tried to do but a thought of how you could try it. 

When I bring new dogs into the home, all bones and toys are put away for a while and we slowly reintroduce them to avoid the problems. Raven steals things from Kaiser sometimes but I just tell her No and give whatever it is back to Kaiser. If she keeps taking it, she gets a time out.


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## SunKissedRider (Apr 25, 2011)

gsdraven said:


> Can you keep him in an ex-pen to chew? Keeping them apart when bones and toys are around is the best for now. If he's good and tired mentally and physically then he won't need to chew at night.
> 
> I'm not a fan of using corrections for aggression because it can make it worse and build frustration. One idea would be to keep the older dog on leash and redirect everytime he wants to "guard" from the new dog. Lots of praise for being calm and leaving the new dog alone with his toys. It's not something I've ever tried to do but a thought of how you could try it.
> 
> When I bring new dogs into the home, all bones and toys are put away for a while and we slowly reintroduce them to avoid the problems. Raven steals things from Kaiser sometimes but I just tell her No and give whatever it is back to Kaiser. If she keeps taking it, she gets a time out.


I suppose I could try it. Although I think he'll go right over our Xpen (its only 36" high since our greyhound won't put the effort into jumping over and we bought it for her) 

He's GREAT at night, sleeps in his crate all night with no problems. It's mostly thru out the day that he likes to chew on things, and he doesn't crate well if we aren't home (working on this, up to about 1.5 minutes of alone time in the crate...at first even 2 seconds was awful). 

I guess I could try putting him on a leash and redirecting. To clarify, its the new pup who is resource guarding, our greyhound (who has lived here) doesn't give a darn if he plays with her toys (she doesn't play much with them anyways, just an occasional mouthing session of about 10 seconds). Ziva (the grey) doesn't react when he snarks at her over a toy, she just walks away (I swear this dog is a saint). Generally he gets rude with her if she's just walking past him and he is NEAR a toy. She definitely isn't stealing anything from him though. 

He's a bit reactive to begin with, so hopefully the Mine! book will help (and we start obedience classes on Sunday!)


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Sorry. Read that wrong.

Where are the two dogs left when you aren't home? Is it possible to just leave them in different rooms when not supervised? That way the GSD can chew in peace and the Greyhound can relax.


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## SunKissedRider (Apr 25, 2011)

gsdraven said:


> Sorry. Read that wrong.
> 
> Where are the two dogs left when you aren't home? Is it possible to just leave them in different rooms when not supervised? That way the GSD can chew in peace and the Greyhound can relax.


 
Currently they are both out together (not ideal for me in the least, but we haven't gotten him to the point that he crates well, and he doesn't like to be alone - as in makes so much racket I'm afraid we'll get evicted from our apartment)

I may try baby gating (with 2 stacked on top of eachother) to keep them seperated. Ziva (our greyhound) goes to her couch when we leave, and literally lays there sleeping the entire day, as in never moves off of it. I'm trying to figure out a way to hook up my webcam to see exactly what goes on when we are gone now. We're only leaving for about 1.5 hours at a time.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Search iCam. You can download it to your computer and it will stream to a website or if you have a smart phone, they have apps for Droid and iPhone.


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