My dog (a Rott / Shepard mix) is incredibly sweet. Very nice, loving, nice to kids, etc, etc. All the qualities of a cool doggie. The only problem, she’s neurotic about her toys. Tennis balls are her favourite.
I don’t have any problem getting them from her, nor do other people. But, if another dog is in the area or tried to take the ball from her she growls and sometimes goes after the other dog. She doesn’t hurt the other dog but she will jump on them and show dominance.
I’m not quite sure how to break her of this behaviour. It’s strange because she’s so easy going about everything else.
She was born in a dog shelter and we got her when she was still a pup (she was sort of the shelters house dog for awhile and was never starved of attention) We do have another dog, an older lab. She’s a bit on the grumpy side, but pretty nice. The shepard doesn’t seem to mind all that much when the lab gets one of her toys, well,. not too much anyway. I think because she knows the other dog is old and her attention span isn’t that great when it comes to toys.
Any ideas on what to try with her? Methods on breaking her of this possessive behaviour?
Well,. it IS a problem if she decides to get more agressive with other dogs or the other dog decides to kick her ass.
What about kids? A child runs up to “cute doggie” and takes the ball out of her mouth. What if the dog decides to show dominance over this 4 year old kid? The kid gets hurt, the dog gets put down and we get sued.
Not really what I want to happen to the child OR the dog.
I would think this behaviour should be altered while the dog is so young. I also don’t think it would be that hard I’m just not quite sure how to go about it.
Hard to say what’s causing this behaviour. Where my money is: I could be that she has had a bad experience or been beaten in company with other dogs and/or toy-related. Luckily she’s young so she should be quicker to “de-program”. But it will take time, at least six months, maybe more than a year. My advice is to start now before she hit’s her teens.
If she’s nice and respectful among strangers (people), then this has nothing to do with her relationship with humans, so you shouldn’t have to worry about that.
I don’t think the dog has the problem. It’s normal to be toy-protective. It depends on how the other dogs try to get the toys from her. Does she actively go after them and attack them? No. They come up to HER and get in HER face and try to get HER toys from her.
Those dogs need to be taught manners.
If, however, she refuses to play fetch nicely with other dogs (i.e. they get the ball and she doesn’t so she attacks them or barks at them in an aggressive way), then you may have a bit of a dominance issue on your hands. Socialisation may help with that, especially with a more dominant dog who will tell her SHE is being obnoxious and that she should mind her manners.
Female dogs are going to show dominance. That’s what they do. It’s good that she’s not hurting the other dogs when they come up. She’s really just trying to protect her stuff.
If you can, get some people to bring over other dogs. Have your dog on a leash and help her stay while you give one of her toys to another dog. If she growls or goes after the other dog, give her a “pop” with the leash and tell her whatever your command will be - “no” or “leave it”. Then once she calms be sure to praise her, and do it again.
Using treats is an ok idea but you’re not always going to have food around. Using praise as a reward is much more portable!
You can also see if there’s a dog obedience center in your area. Call the trainer and explain the situation. The trainer would be willing to do some one-on-one with you and the dog (and probably with his/her dog) instead of you having to sign up for an actual class.
Socialization is really great for all dogs. It gives them manners. But please PLEASE remember you can’t just put a bunch of dogs together and assume they’ll get along. Keep dogs on leash until you’re sure they can get along together. You don’t want to be responsible for any instinctive damage your dog will do, or another dog would do to her.
I vote for a trainer. We have a golden with the same issue, and noticed that she didn’t bother interacting with other dogs at all if her toy was in sight or she knew it was in a pocket. Had to remove the toy from her equation for awhile and re-socialize her. Brought no toys to the dog park, showed her empty hands, and eventually she got the idea she’d have to entertain herself, & took an interest in the other dogs again. She’s begun chasing and playfighting again, and these days she only gets toys at the park if we’re away from other dogs or we know the dogs very very well. We’re hoping to get a puppy in the spring, and that’ll probably give her some better idea of what fun competition can be. Right now she’s the only dog in the house, and beating up the cat has given her a warped perspective.
I think it’s helped, also, that when another dog first approaches I go out to greet it before she does, so she doesn’t feel like she’s the vanguard. Asserts my position as leader and hopefully reassures her that I’ll take care of her. It has seemed to make her first greetings to them calmer, even if she’s carrying The Holy Toy, and these days she’ll often even drop it to go sniff other dogs.
Baby steps.
But it probably has helped us a lot that she’s a golden. Dogs’ growls can mean a lot of different things, and I would venture to say that most owners don’t know how to interpret canine body language. If you’re dealing with other owners who may be ignorant of a warning growl’s meaning, they, ignorant, are likely to be more scared by a Rottie/shep mix than a golden–and our poster-child lookin’ girl has scared some people who don’t know better-- and their tension will not help the situation. That’s why I vote trainer, and a controlled group setting. Plus you’ll get faster, more reliable results than my Braille method bumbling might get you :).
This is a good idea. I think I’ll go for this one first.
We do take her to the dog park. She is rather indifferent with the other dogs (without the toy). She isn’t interested in them nor does she growl at them for no reason. It’s almost as if she isn’t sure what she’s supposed to do with them. Considering her only dog friend for the past year has been this grumpy old lab, she’s socialized to her.
The dog park is filled with tennis balls. The regular rotine is to walk in, she sniffs around for “the perfect ball”, she brings it to me and I throw it for her.
Perhaps we could take the ball away when she finds one or discourage her from getting them and make her find other things in the park to do,. like play with dogs.
Another thing that helped was dog-owners who understood. You know how after you’ve been going to a dog park for awhile you get a good sense of who knows what’s going on and who’s inattentive, or ignorant, or aggressive, or plain dumb? We steer clear of dogs known to enjoy rough play–not that they’re bad dogs, necessarily, just that ours doesn’t do that and might feel threatened–as well as brand-new owners with puppies too young to be there anyway, who would completely misread any kind of growl.
We found a few people with good-tempered, playful dogs, who understand our issue, which we explained, and we always make a point of hanging with them when we can. Our golden can pull right out of her shell and play with them; we relax because we know their owners are sensible, and that relaxation helps her relax.
Good luck! Keep your eyes open, of course; you know your dog best. And if you haven’t read How to Speak Dog by Stanley Coren, it’s amazing.
I assume you’re sure it’s actually a growl, right? My Weimaraner will often grab a toy, and as he’s running by, or whenever someone comes close, he’ll make a weird noise that’s not a growl, not a bark, but almost a half-howl: he goes “woo-ooo-ooo-ooo” in kind of a low “voice.” We’re in a training class now, and I asked the trainer if this was something to be concerned about (thinking that it might be a possessiveness issue). She said that it’s usually a way that a dog will say “Haha, I’ve got it, I bet you want to chase me for it!” In other words, it’s a solicitation for play.
Of course, I don’t know your dog, and I especially don’t know what she’s doing when she “goes after the other dog.” The best advice would be to talk to a trainer about your specific dog–it might be aggression, or it might be a misunderstanding.
Here’s an update. The first thing we try seems to be helping.
W@e arrive at the dog park and the pooch goes and finds a ball. She brings it to me and I throw it a few times, then take it away and let her do other things.
If she brings me another I take that one as well. She seems to get the hint.
Before we go (about 15 minutes later) I’ll throw the ball 5-6 times for her.
So,. only in this short time it seems to be having an effect. The other day she started running with another dog. Only for a few minutes but it was better then just focusing on a tenis ball.
She also seems more willing to part with them now that we remove them from here several times each visit.