Should I worry about this?
-- When she has a toy, if another dog comes near her, she growls and puts her head down in that warning sort of way. If the dog pursues, she will chase them and make that awful snarling growling sound. (The exception to this is our other dog - a 7mo old pug. Callie will play nicely and eventually give her the toy.) -- Callie wrestles and plays constantly with our pug puppy. She will pin her down, chew on her, carry her across the room, whatever. But if any other dog tries to play with the pug too much, Callie will come in as the defender. This was cute, I thought, until my mom's sheepy was chasing the pug, Callie stepped in, and the other sheepy came out bleeding. So... most of the time it seems innocent enough, but sometimes I'm not so sure. The snarling noise concerns me most. And if this could be a problem, I want to deal with it before it gets out of control and definitely long before there might be children in our household. |
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| Hi Cristin,
I think you are probably right to be worried but I think you can change her behavior. You might do a forum search on how to handle food aggression. The way to redirect this behavior might follow the same principles. Just a guess on my part. Mopsy had an issue with toys with her brothers who were seven and ten when we got her. She would get very possessive when she got a "new toy" and would growl if they came near her. So we forced her to "share" the new toy that they could care less about. We would stand next to her and they would ask if they could see that toy. Then when she would start to growl we would correct her. Reluctantly she would relinquish her toy and they would look at it for about 30 seconds. Then they would hand it back to her and praise her and say that was a nice toy. After that she would never have an issue with that particular toy. But sometimes over her ten years of life she would decide that a "new" toy was hers and they could not have it - then we would do the sharing exercise and all would be fine. I am sure we were probably not handling this totally correctly but the point is we were able to modify possessive behavior. Good luck and hugs to the otherwise sweet Callie girl. A hug to Lambda too. |
| She is becoming overprotective of her toys and the pug. You definately have to step in and stop this sort of behaviour. She has already gone at the other sheepie in an overprotective defensive way. Next time it could be a child or person so the behaviour needs to be got on top of.
Yes I would be concerned and it needs to be addressed before it get's to be ingrained in her that it is OK to behave like this. Looking at Body langauage in a dog can tell you a lot about wether the behaviour is just play or fairdinkum. |
lisaoes wrote: or fairdinkum.
huh?  |
 Sorry Aussie expression meaning "for real"   |
lisaoes wrote: fairdinkum.
I've always wondered how that was spelled. |
 Daisy kill every toys she come ouer with,
she take them all and is'nt pleased before all the stuff in them is out |
| I agree that you need to step in so this behavior doesn't get worse. This is what we would do. Go up to her when she has a toy with a treat in your hand. Sternly say "Drop" or "Give" and say "Take" while handing her the treat. Then she should start associating her giving you the toy with something yummy...the treat. |
| We will work on this and try the things you all have suggested. I do want to correct her behavior and maintain her precious loving personality. She really is a sweetheart.
I guess I wasn't very clear on one thing - she will always gladly give a toy to a person. She never growls about that. It's only with other dogs that she acts this way. I would assume that the two would be related, though, and I don't want it to get to the point where she acts this way with people. |
oops..sorry  got all excited that i had some advice. |
| LOL Stacy! It was still good advice.
I think Cristin the advice would still apply whatever method you choose - to reward good behavior towards other dogs and to correct inappropriate behavior. Because many dogs will back off naturally they are giving Callie the message that it is okay to snap. My brother's dog did the same thing to Mopsy with her own toys when he was at our house. I corrected him because Mopsy was submissive and he pretty much adjusted his behavior at least while he stayed with us. And Callie is really a sweetie - a kissy girl who likes her back end rubbed! |
Callie's Mom wrote: -- When she has a toy, if another dog comes near her, she growls and puts her head down in that warning sort of way. If the dog pursues, she will chase them and make that awful snarling growling sound. (The exception to this is our other dog - a 7mo old pug. Callie will play nicely and eventually give her the toy.)
-- Callie wrestles and plays constantly with our pug puppy. She will pin her down, chew on her, carry her across the room, whatever. But if any other dog tries to play with the pug too much, Callie will come in as the defender. This was cute, I thought, until my mom's sheepy was chasing the pug, Callie stepped in, and the other sheepy came out bleeding. She is exhibiting rescource guarding with the toys, which is normal doggie behavior. Many dogs do this, which is why at many dog parks toys are not allowed. I'm not sure how successful you will be at changing this behavior, as if you intervene it is not the same thing. If I wanted to change it I would hire a behaviorist, myself. Dogs will guard from other dogs, but not necessarily from people, so if she doesn't do it to folks she may not ever. Keep an eye in case she does, though, because then you have a real problem. Teaching her "off" or "give" is a good idea. There is a thread in the training section about how to do this. She may still guard, but at least you would then be able to remove the "guarded" object. She may have been defending the pug, or she may have gotten all worked up and just lost control. My Bosley doesn't let anyone else play with Dixie, if he is around. He doesn't go after the other dog, though, but will go after Dixie.... For her to have a good romp with another dog I put Bosley away or put him in a sit with me.
Be careful how you do handle this, though. By correcting her or punishing her she may associate the thing or the dog or whatever with her getting into trouble, and things may escalate. Or she will guard earlier, or with less warning. The snarl is kind of like her saying "or else". She is giving warnings and it is up to the dog to listen or not. I wouldn't have been too concerned except that there was blood involved in the altercation. That is serious. Was it aan actual bite or just maybe an accident or a tongue got bitten? |
| Thanks, guys. You all are always so helpful! I appreciate all the advice always.
Quote: Be careful how you do handle this, though. By correcting her or punishing her she may associate the thing or the dog or whatever with her getting into trouble, and things may escalate. Or she will guard earlier, or with less warning. The snarl is kind of like her saying "or else". She is giving warnings and it is up to the dog to listen or not. Yes, this was one of my concerns. I don't want to correct her out of growling or snarling, where she learns to just go immediately to biting. Quote: I wouldn't have been too concerned except that there was blood involved in the altercation. That is serious. Was it aan actual bite or just maybe an accident or a tongue got bitten? Good question. There was blood dripping from Sadie's mouth, so it was hard to tell exactly what happened. I think she most likely bit her own tongue. But the blood was what caught our attention, and got me to thinking that I should take this roughhousing seriously. (I don't think Sadie even knew she was bleeding.) Quote: And Callie is really a sweetie - a kissy girl who likes her back end rubbed!
That's the truth! I've never seen a dog love butt scratches as much as this one! |
| I have had the same problem w/ Daisy and Ollie. Ollie was 7 wks old when we adopted him and she immediately loved him. They play together all the time and sometimes when I give them marrow bones (they get them every day) one or the other will growl when the other comes around, but then they switch bones and everyone is happy.
Daisy started to get very protective of Ollie (who is afraid of everything) and when I first started taking him to the dog park about 2 mos ago, Daisy suddenly started being aggressive of other dogs if she though they were going to hurt Ollie. Since Ollie seldom leaves me at the park, Daisy would go off and play, but if she heard Ollie bark/ cry, she would be back immediately and step between him and any other dog. It took me a while to figure out that she considers Ollie to be her "herd" that she is supposed to protect and will do whatever it takes to do so. One day when he became adventurous at the park and left my side, she rounded him up and brought him back to me so she could go off and play again. Since then, I have started taking them out separately so he can build his confidence and not rely on her and so that she will stop thinking she has to protect him. (it's a pain, but then I figure I can stand twice the exercise) I also started Ollie in obedience school which has helped. I do still take them to the dog park together and this is improving as well. Daisy is beginning Therapy Dog training as well and I hope that by continuing to work them separately, both will improve. |
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