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 Only Aggressive with certain toys

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lepp1892
Teenager
Teenager
lepp1892

Male Join date : 2014-02-18
Location : Hoschton. GA

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyFri Mar 21, 2014 8:52 am

Our 11 week old girl gets very aggressive toward us when she has certain things and gets worse if she goes in her crate with it. One thing in specific is her Kong toy. She growls like mad if you come near or takes off running with the toy if she isn't in the crate. She even snapped at my twice yesterday because of it and succeeded in biting me once (hard enough to draw blood on my hand).

She is perfectly fine when I am holding it and letting her lick out the insides of it. She doesn't try to steal it, doesn't growl and doesn't get angry when I pull it away as long as I hold it and have control of it. She only gets bad when she has control over it. She also did this over some pet grass we have for the cats.

Those 2 things are the only things she has acted this way over so far. We can take her food away (although she speeds up eating as we pull it away but no growling or biting), we can take other toys away and even things that she tries to run off with that she shouldn't have.

I am just concerned that it will escalate to other toys/things and would like to get her to stop this possessive behavior ASAP. Any idea?
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capellalayla
Senior
Senior
capellalayla

Female Join date : 2013-09-24
Location : Billerica, Mass.

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyFri Mar 21, 2014 9:20 am

I wouldn't call this aggression. I would call it resource guarding. This is very common and there are ways to lessen it or train it out of them in non-forceful ways. There are lots of great resources and methods throughout this thread: Arooroomom's Positive Reinforcement Force-Free Training thread.

If you try these techniques and there is little to no change, or if you don't feel confident enough to take the time and effort to work on this, then I would recommend finding a good positive-reinforcement trainer in your area who can work with you and your dog. If left unchecked, this behavior can escalate and become very dangerous.
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lepp1892
Teenager
Teenager
lepp1892

Male Join date : 2014-02-18
Location : Hoschton. GA

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyFri Mar 21, 2014 9:58 am

Thanks,
That thread looks very informative and helpful. I will have to read through that stuff later today when I am no longer at work.
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lepp1892
Teenager
Teenager
lepp1892

Male Join date : 2014-02-18
Location : Hoschton. GA

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyMon Mar 24, 2014 9:28 am

Well I think we have started making some progress on this. Mostly just teaching the leave it command. She is starting to be willing to give it up and also have been hand feeding her her meals which also seems to be helping her want to suck down her food in a matter of seconds.
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capellalayla
Senior
Senior
capellalayla

Female Join date : 2013-09-24
Location : Billerica, Mass.

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyMon Mar 24, 2014 9:55 am

That's great news! Keep up the good work. Consistency is key. Smile
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lepp1892
Teenager
Teenager
lepp1892

Male Join date : 2014-02-18
Location : Hoschton. GA

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyMon Apr 07, 2014 3:44 pm

Just an update to our issues with our pup. She started resource guarding her food and getting really nasty towards it about a  couple days after my last post. I think it could partially be because I was hand feeding her breakfast and dinner but the girlfriend was just giving her the food at lunch. Also we went to food that was a little more solid with bones which was hard to hand feed vs the ground food we were previously giving her.

Anyway... To start the training with feeding we kept her on the leash and set her food down about 5 feet away or so telling her to leave it. She would be pulling very hard and ignoring the fact we were even saying anything. I would give her a little tap on the butt with my foot to redirect her from going crazy for the food. Then she would growl, turn and snap at my foot. The first time we did this it took about 45 minutes for her to finally be calm enough to eat. Now we are to the point where if she is that far away she will completely ignore the food and be very reactive to the leave it command. She is still going a little crazy when she is about a foot from the food but reactive with a light butt tap with a slight growl and turns away with the leave it command. Its takes about 5-10 minutes or so to get her calm enough to eat now. Also after she is finally calm enough to eat we have been getting close to the bowl and adding treats so she feels like we aren't there just to steal her food away.

Progress is being made and after every feeding I am starting to feel much better about her resource guarding. This whole process has been very stressful but seeing the progress has been good. After the first time of doing this I never wanted to feed her again.
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wpskier222
Senior
Senior
wpskier222

Female Join date : 2013-02-11
Location : NYC

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PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyMon Apr 07, 2014 4:00 pm

Husky puppies can be evil little buggers can't they? Drama queens too! It gets better!
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capellalayla
Senior
Senior
capellalayla

Female Join date : 2013-09-24
Location : Billerica, Mass.

Only Aggressive with certain toys Empty
PostSubject: Re: Only Aggressive with certain toys   Only Aggressive with certain toys EmptyTue Apr 08, 2014 2:20 pm

Glad to hear she's making progress. It is tough and takes a lot of time and work, but the results make it all worth it. Training her this way will also make the results more permanent, as you're shaping new behaviors and routines.
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