Boys Boys Boys!

I know douggie is at "that age".  He is being very protective of everything, toys, food, bones etc but not their food bowls.  They share these quite happily always playing swapsies.  As soon as Daisy picks something up to play with on her own, he flies at her and growls.  He even nips her on occassion.  She gives up straight away on some things, but on other occassions, we have a "growl off" with much barking and yapping!  He is strange coz she'll give up her toy and go onto the next one, but then he will want that one as well, and the process goes on....

I know it is just his teenage hormones kicking in (6 months old), but is there anything I can do to calm his attitude for now.  he has only growled at me once when I tried to take his marrowbone off him.  He lost the row and I was successful at taking the bone off him (I only let them have bones for a little while as they are a new treat and I need to make sure their stomach is ok with them).  He has NEVER gone for me though.  He still tries his luck with growling at me, worse with the OH, but never tries to bite, just tries to look menacing :rolleyes:.

I just want to ask if you have any training tips or suggestions as to how I calm him down and stop him from being so possessive?

Firstly, I would personally never take any bones or food away from a dog once given, food is a really good train and reward method, for you to take bones and food away from a dog will make him just want to hide it or to create the effect you have now of a growl, in effect you are causing him to food guard, which is the opposite to what you want. ;-) You can only replace the bone with something else, it really is not a good training idea to take any type of food away, (unless dangerous) once given.

So if you wish to remove the bone you need to replace it with a treat or favourite toy, followed by a good boy and fuss for allowing the swap.

Never allow your dog to growl at you, a sharp no with a complete back turn or a time out in another room if he dare to growl at either of you again, don't allow him to push his luck you are the master.

Yes, he is reaching adolescents now and will push his luck but you need to be at your toughest now, always be kind and firm, never shout, or get angry, the worst thing you can do to a dog is seperate him from the family for a few minutes when trying it on, he will soon learn that certain behaviours will mean segregation, he will learn very quickly this way. Always make a fuss when he returns to the family.  Good boy teaches far quicker than bad boy!

As for the toy stealing and guarding, leave that between the two dogs for now, a bitch will generally rule the roost, if your bitch is older for now she is allowing him this behaviour as he is a pup, but when his is older she will not tolerate it, if your bitch is younger as she grows she will also put him in his place.;-)

You can always give him time outs from Daisy too, if he becomes too domineering, and watch that he does not try to steal her food too. If this should start to happen when he has finished his bowl move him away so that Daisy can finish in peace.

Above all else don't allow him any kind of domination over yourself or your husband or you will have major problems from him as an adult, No! timeouts, and then rewards for good behaviours.:-)

Jen I would seriously play to your breed here what my cavs want most in the world is to be with me as I type both are watching me and have tried to get on my knee .  When Douggie's behaviour gets to much remove him from the situation.  I agree there are times you need to remove things from there mouth teaching a leave command with a small piece of hot dog or someting as smelly may help.  Sorry I had to laugh at the idea of a cav looking menacing. I must admit my last cav did bite my OH over a chicken bone he found outside our flat Oh says he would rather risk the bite than have Charlie choke, but Milo knows leave and is good with it Cindy brings most things to me to check out cos she is a Mummy's girl

Thanks guys.  My two just want to be with me all the time, so segregation will most likely be successful.  I'll give it a go!

He does know the "leave" command, still tries it on a bit, but we're getting there.  I'll only take food from him if I'm concerned, i.e. the bone has sharp bits or I'm trying a new bone.  I have to make sure their little tummies can take it before I allow them hours chewing away.

Daisy is his sister from the same litter, so I guess she'll stamp her authority when she's good and ready.  i'll let them get on with it, although it is very annoying as Doggie just sits, barks and makes a squeeky growl at her until she gives up  :rolleyes:.  It is a bit of a battle between them.

Thanks again, and lets see if the segregation works!

Milo is a big cav and Cindy is a little yhing but when she has had enough she puts him in his place but when she has a strop on she pulls his whiskers poor Milo

i found the removal of the dog from the room to be very sucessful, he was trying to steal food as a pup.I didnt even say a word,just put him out, then i let him back in 5 mins later, he repeated the offence, i removed him again and on return he looked at the food and decided to lie down instead. brilliant.if only it had all been that simple!

I'm afraid I've always taught my dogs to accept me, or anyone else for that matter, taking food from them. 
What if they got hold of something they shouldn't and you can't take it from them incase they bite you?  My dogs learn from an early age that if i want to take something from them, then I will take it.
When they are pups, I take away their food or toy for just a few seconds and then give it back to them.  None of my dogs have ever been a problem with guarding food.

Young dogs do push their luck. My youngest is 4 and he still pesters his mum alot, but if she doesn't want to play, she sorts him out.  However, when she wants to play, the others have to go along with it wheather they like it or not!! :)

Daisy will grow up and learn to tell him off, but in the mean time, I agree that a little time apart would be a good idea when he gets a bit excited.

Absolutely agree about the importance of being able to take things away from dogs. However, I've never taken food away on the "because I can" basis because I can because I can quite understand even the most tranquil dog being unimpressed. Instead, I've taken bowls away in order to add food and thus teach the dog that human hands aren't a threat to their continued enjoyment of something tasty. Admittedly I've been able to put this in practice from very young puppyhood and of course, it's not necessarily practical to replace an undesirable snack with something acceptable - nothing is quite as nice as a decomposing rabbit while out on a walk for example! - but I've still ended up with dogs who accept the need for me to remove things from them since they've never been given any incentive to guard what is in their mouths.

Young wolves are taught to food guard at a young age, simply by the adults stealing their food and not giving it back. In that respect i can see why so many dogs learn to food guard, as it seems to be the done thing to take it away. I much prefer to put something in the bowls instead, just like roz has suggested.

As with Roz and lucyandmeg, I've never felt the need or seen the reasoning in removing something freely given to a dog - training a "leave" or "drop" command more than adequately covers the removal from them of anything dangerous or in some way inappropriate. 

As I see it (and, more importantly, IMO how the dog sees it ;) ) by offering food whether as a meal, treat or a recreational bone / chew, we are expressly giving the dog the "OK" to have it!   Should we later need to withdraw that permission for any reason, it is better to "swap" for a treat / item of (to the dog!) equal importance / value.  In following that theory, we ensure in a kind and consistent way that resource guarding is squashed - the dog never feels that the high value resource is under threat, hence has no need to guard it from us ;)

While doubtless many have employed needlessly removing a food bowl or treat from a dog on the basis of "if i want to take something from them, then I will take it" attitude, almost certainly many others will have ingrained into their canine companions that their need to be ever watchful over their highest value resource - i.e. FOOD - is wholly justified :rolleyes:

Where there are fairer and less confrontational methods of teaching a behaviour, personally I'd rather follow those routes and certainly they would be the ones I'd recommend as an anonymous source of advice on an internet forum  :)

regards, Teri

I never remove their food bowls.  They have these until they have cleaned them  completely, and I weigh out their food, so I give them what they need and don't need t top it up so I have no reason to take their bowls while they are eating.  It is only things like the recreational bones.  I only remove those because I don't want them to have them for hours on end yet.  Not until I'm happy that their digestion can take it and I'm happy that the bones aren't splitting etc.

I agree that I should replace it with a toy, but the problem wasn't solely with me, it was with Daisy.  I know he would never go for me so I am not particularly worried.  Although it does concern me when he growls even if I walk past him when he's chewing his bone or treats.  He does go for Daisy sometimes and I was more concerned about this.

I think the segregation is the best suggestions and the first trails have been successful!  But like I say, I would never remove his actual food bowl, just his treats / toys if I need to.

Thanks for all the suggestions and I have taken your advice on swapping bones with toys etc.  It seems to really help and he is a lot more chilled about it now. :-)

Hi Jen,

my initial reply was in the main to hopevalley - who appeared to recommend routine removal of food, treats, etc.

On your own specific case, re your young lad's behaviour towards Daisy, as Carrington has highlighted already, bitches tend to (in the main but not exclusively) rule the roost - that said when viewed more carefully and over a number of different situations, it's not unusual to have what to us appear to be changes or temporary shifts in "pecking order".  This is more simply to do with the fact that in a domestic environment when all their true NEEDS are met by us, their owners, there often is no need for a hierarchy to be rigorously maintained :)  For eg., my older bitch is in most cases "Top Dog" but she would NEVER dare to push the limits with her daughter over food - she simply doesn't hold the higher rank when food is a potential issue.

Segregation over food issues or at least strict supervision during the period treats or bones are around is generally the best way forward - I'm pleased your seeing success with this :)   I view dog-to-dog possessive behaviour over food (in any form) to be natural and so not too much of a deal.  IME they sort it out between themselves without any serious repercussions - I observe and take reasonable precautions when recreational bones etc are given out.  Other than that eash is free to protect it's own food bowl (if necessary) from the other(s).

Food in any form is a high value resource to a dog - as I see it, if we equate a dog's protection of food from others of it's species to being similar for eg, to a human going to the ATM to collect hard earned wages, if we felt that someone was too close to us - perhaps trying to check out our balance details, PIN, maybe even grab the cash as delivered by the machine - few of us would react calmly ;)  If the other person was of similar age, build, even gender as ourselves we may feel more confident, still annoyed, yet able to verbally respond with our displeasure at feeling harassed or threatened.  However were the stranger apparently younger, or more physically fit and able than ourselves hence more likely to be able to overcome us and take our money, we'd react quite differently - fear would set in which promotes a less predictable response.  Anything from screaming, fainting to physical force may just come into play!

As to your youngster trying to dominate Daisy on the toy front, apart from time out I'd say flood the floor with so many toys well enough spread out that there's little opportunity to guard them all :)  I have a huge toy box for the girls and swaps (not always the most amicable ones :D ) take place regularly because if there are any shenanigans going on I tip the lot out all over the lounge :)

HTH, Teri

I think you have misunderstood my intention with the removal of food.
I need to know that I can take things out of my dog mouths without fear of being bitten and I like to know that from an early age that we have a mutual trust regarding food. I do not however 'recommend routine removal of food' as Teri put it, and my post didn't suggest that.

Example: My youngest stole a pork pie from the fridge tonight and I removed it as it is not something I want him eating.  He did not growl or object.

I have never had a problem with guarding food and none of my dogs have ever had a food complex, so I must be doing something right. :)

We all have our own, and I like to think fair, non agressive, methods of training and we do what suits us.  Sometimes what works for one, doesn't work for another and that applys to the dogs too. 

Ditto Teri, Roz and lucyandmeg. Agree with the importance of being able to take things away in case they're dangerous, but we always swop for a toy or (usually) a treat - fair exchange is no robbery!! :D

Well, It seems that Daisy has taken the lead and now repeatedly puts Douggie in his place (In a friendly way).  They are scrapping as we speak and Daisy has him pinned.  Wagging tails everywhere, so I guess she wins!

I've been segregating Douggie when he behaves badly to her, and it is working well.  He really does hate it!  And he is a lot nicer about his bones, so I guess he has learned his lesson!

Thanks for all your advice!