Our Beagle is 2 and a half and has always been possesive and did show some aggresion with it. We had to give him up last year because of a household situation but were delighted to have the chance to get him back. He is a really nice natured dog until he gets a hold of stupid items that he wont give up. I have tried to take the stress out of the situation when they happen but this doesnt always work. Just this afternoon he found a soft ball while we were out walking and he was not giving it up. i eventually put his dinner out and ignored him. It took ages but he eventually went for his dinner and i got the ball. He isnt possesive with footballs or large objects but just items he can fit in his mouth. What can i do about this, my worry is that he gets an item and somebody goes to pet him. he wont know they are going to pet him and may bite.

Thanks, David.

Can you tell us *how* you take the stress out of the situation?

If you want to sort it out yourself, rather than go to a good trainer/behaviourist, I would suggest you get hold of Jean Donaldson's book "Mine!"
I don't think you could do better than that, as long as you don't mind a bit of a read :)

Lindsay
X

Resource guarding is unusual in a Beagle.  However it is easily solved although it will take time and effort.

Most problems of this kind are generally caused by the owner trying to get something off the dog and turning it into a competitive event (hence why lots of dogs have "retrieve" problems which aren't, they are usually recall problems! :D)

Never try to take something off your dog, just wave food under his nose, if he is a beagle he will drop the object!

The object which he has should have absolutely NO VALUE other than it being the equivalent of a lottery ticket or £5 note, only worth what it can be exchanged for.

Every time you try to take the item away the dog will guard it all the more (would not you)?

Wave food under nose and then throw some away from the object so that you can remove the object when the dog is eating and not there to "compete" for it.

I try to take the stress out of it by not approaching his mouth. 2 weeks ago he found a discarded chinese takeaway in a bag, he was not letting it go. i ignored the growls at the start then just tightened his lead so he was just touching the ground and no more, he eventually dropped it so i loosened of his lead when we were away from it then praised him. The other day he got into a cupboard and stole his treats and ran into his cage. this was the worst thing he could have done. i was in no position to get them from him as he was cornered, i raised his cage to get him out so he had no place to hide. i grabbed his collar to lead him outside and he turned round and bit me on the wrist. i didnt make a big deal about it but i have never seen him like this. The incident with the ball was easy i put his dinner out for him then ignored him he gave up and went to eat, i then got the ball and put it in the bin, but before his dinner i tried to temp him with ham but he wasnt interested he just wanted the ball. He was castrated when we didnt have him but he has started mounting again,dont know if it is linked. The dogs temprement is excellent apart from being aggressive with silly items. It goes back to when he was a pup and he did steal socks etc and we all made a fuss to get them back, but after training it wasnt as bad. But since we got him back it seems worse than ever. I am going to start training with a frisbee to show him that items dont always get taken away from him, i am also going to do away with his cage so he has no where to protect him. the problem with getting in a behaviour expert is it may not always happen. All cupboards in the kitchen are now secured, the funny thing is he wont steal shoes or anything like that and i can take his dinner away from him with no problems, he loves people and other dogs as well as cats but as soon as he has something he wants he changes.

David.