Ball/Toy Aggression or Guarding

[PJ Brennan]

Our Gus is the perfect Labradoodle.  He is great with small dogs, big dogs, kids...all kinds of people.  He is very obedient and listens to strangers when they give commands.  Sure, he can be a little over-excited at times and jumpy - but it's all in the name of love.

That said, Gus becomes very toy/ball aggressive when another dog attempts to steal his ball or gets too close.  I wouldn't say he  bites, but he puts on a scary face, barks and chases the dog off.  I was just at the dog park and he did this with a new dog and the dogs owner got really uptight about it and immediately left the park....

Without interacting with other dogs, I'm not sure how to correct this behavior. Gus's brother will be visiting us for a week in July, so I was thinking this would be a great opportunity to test and correct this scenario...  What are your suggestions?

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I would not let him have a ball at the dog park if he did that.  Maybe he can only play ball when no one else is around.

 

The alternate idea is to have several balls and throw 2 or 3 at once, so there is one for everybody.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I don't think that would work, at least not in our park. There are leftover balls all over the place, and if someone else showed up with a ball Gus would be all over it and without a ball of his own there is nothing to distract him. If I go to the park I better have a ball with me, because otherwise Winston and Sophie will over take other people's games of fetch.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I have a friend who's doodle is the same way. She gets quite embarrassed at the park because of it. People think he's aggressive but he's really all talk no action. But it is quite intimidating. I know she worked really hard with him, and got a trainer and everything. I don't know what all she did but I do know it only helped so much. He is much better, but not cured. I don't mean to discourage you, but I know this one particular case was a lot of work. The only thing I know for sure is that she used the nothing in life is free technique. I can ask her what else she did. It's good that you are trying to nip in the bud now. I think my friend let the behaviour go for too long and then it was hard to stop. I'm interested in other people's responses.

My guess though is that there have been past disucssions on DK that you can search for. I'm sure there must have been some.

[Adina P]

Rosco has always been this way at the dog park....  It drove me nuts and one of the reasons I quit going.  His main agenda was always to find a toy (whatever toy happened to be lying around), grab it, posses and chew. 

But really dogs don't naturally 'share' with other dogs and if he has it...it's 'his'.  I am not sure you can necessarily fix this in one day.  One thing you could do is work hard on a speedy and reliable response to the command 'drop it' and get all his other obedience to be excellent. Then if you think another dog is about to get in his way, you can give him a command that will nullify his ability to respond in an aggressive way.  Ultimately every toy should be 'yours' but I'm not sure how to teach a dog to just give up anything and everything to another dog without you intervening each time to give a command for a certain response (Come, Drop it, Sit, etc).

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I have not had formal training with our dogs so this may or may not work, but I have taught mine "leave it" no matter what it is, food, balls. Toys, people, other dogs. It started with them going for things that they shouldn't or being pushy or rude with any of those things and I wanted them to know that all good things come from me or by listening to me.
You sit before a stranger walks by with their dog....then you get to greet. You play with another dog without growling, you get to keep the toy, or you are told to leave it and it becomes mine. Bella is better at it but mostly because she's the biggest instigater so we have had to train it out of her more. Murphy will just stop whatever he's doing if we say "uh-ah" or "no". He's a bit of a pushover. Training while the other dog visits sounds like a good opportunity. Can help them both learn something.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I may be way off base here, and certainly all of the advice others have given is good advice, but I personally think that the owners of the dogs who are allowed to run up in another dog's face and try to steal his ball are the ones at fault here. I don't care if it's dogs or kids, if I'm minding my own business playing with my toy and you run up and get in my face uninvited or try to steal my toy, YOU are the one who is behaving rudely, and your parents are not doing their jobs in teaching you how to get along with others.

I had to teach JD not to try to take other dogs' balls at the park, and I certainly wouldn't force him to let another dog take his.

That said, there's a big difference between strange dogs at a dog park and your own brother in your own home. Has Gus had dogs visit at your home before, and if so, how did he do with sharing his things?

[Adina P]

Rosco had this problem of guarding and being a jerk at the dog park.  It wasn't other dog's toys he stole.  Just random stuff that got left there...there was a whole bin of toys at one point (bad, I know!).  He'd arrive, take one and possess it.  Another dog coming by would make him get up and move...or if he felt trapped he'd snark.  The thing with smaller dog parks is it's all considered fair game as far as most people come so their dogs can play with other dogs.  Well if they are seen as all there to play...then who will stop their dog from going to play with whatever other dog?  Hardly anyone.  The going thought is 'they will work it out among themselves' unless/until it really turns ugly.  Dogs approach quickly in dog parks, they run by chasing, they act like dogs that are free to do as they please.  I really don't know how anyone can really be expected to not allow their dog to steal a ball.   It is just not the atmosphere at a dog park...not the one we have locally anyway. My dogs are much faster than I am and I can't throw a ball AND be where the ball lands at the same time. This is not meant as an argument against you, Karen.  Only one reason for my position that the dog park really is only good for a very few dogs.  The rest probably would do better being trained to be off leash and taken where it's not a doggy free-for-all.  There are some things that are near impossible to manage when your dog is free among a bunch of other stranger free dogs.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't go to the dog park so Jack can play with other dogs, I go so that he can run off-leash in a big area. I know many people go to dog parks so their dog can play with other dogs, but there must be other people like me who are just there so their dogs can get some exercise. People who live in apartments, especially.

At all dog parks, I notice that the people whose dogs behave obnoxiously are the ones who are gabbing with other owners and not paying any attention to what their dog is doing.

When we go to the forest preserve dog park (which is huge, granted), I like to walk on the trails thru the woods. JD, of course, only wants to play ball. But we walk first, and play ball afterwards. Otherwise, he would be too tired to take a good walk. In the early days, if he saw anyone throwing a ball for their dog, he would run over to them and try to join in their game, or run after the ball and catch it before the other dog could get it. Good opportunity to practice off-leash obedience among distractions, huh? Offleash recalls, especially. Offleash heels. And good practice in not picking up things that aren't yours without permission.

Granted, that's a huge huge park, but I don't see why you couldn't do the same thing in a small one. In fact, it would be easier. You wouldn't have as much ground to cover to go get to your dog if he disobeyed.

I think of it like this: Suppose you took your kids to a play area in a park. Lots of other kids there, parents bringing their children there to play with other kids, a free-for-all. Natalie is playing in the sandbox (horrors!) with a bucket and shovel when another child runs over and tries to grab her shovel away from her. She protests loudly and hangs on. Who is in the wrong here? Would the other parent be justified in getting angry  and leaving the park?

I think that dogs, just like kids, can be taught not to take what's not theirs, and supervised no matter where they are. Dogs who don't want to play with other dogs should have just as much right to use a public park as kids who don't want to play with other kids.

At any rate, leaving because someone's dog won't share sounds ridiculous to me, lol.

But i understand what you're saying. I know most people are there in a misguided attempt  to "socialize" their dogs.

 

 

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Karen, I agree that it is wrong for a kid to take something away from another child and agree that it is also wrong for a dog to do it, but must say that it is a heck of a lot more difficult to explain that to the dog than the child!  Ollie likes to snatch things away from Cubbie and we are constantly on the look out for it.  If we catch him in the act, I scold him, make him drop it, and then I hand it back to Cubbie.  It doesn't always go smoothly and sometimes he tries to run away with the toy.  Maybe I should sit down with him and explain that he must learn to share and that it just isn't nice to take things away from his buddy and that he must wait his turn  :)  lol

Maybe the guy left the park because he didn't want his dog to end up in a fight. 

PJ, does Gus guard his toys from you?  When is brother comes to visit, you might want to consider not leaving toys laying around until you see how the 2 dogs interact.  We have had fights in our house over toys and don't play fetch unless it is one on one. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think "sharing" between two dogs together in the same house is different from strange dogs in the dog park. :)

I completely agree with you regarding C & O, Gus's brother visitng,  and "sharing" toys in general. But I was talking about the context presented by PJ in this discussion. The only example given of Gus's ball/toy guarding or aggression was the one in the dog park.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Luca always takes the rare ball that Calla fetches from her. Since she lets him I don't intervene. There's always more balls around and either one of them could have them Luca just wants that ball and Calla doesn't really care and always gives in. I think I don't want to spoil that dynamic.

[GBK]

Same thing in our house F.  Kona wants what Buddy has.....  She won't fight to take it from him, but if it is a ball thrown for catch she actually bites his hears and feet to get him to drop it.  He gives it up as fast as he can if he sees her coming.  This is their game, and Buddy really doesn't care and will not fight her for anything.  All of this usually ends in a free for all of playing and chasing. 

At the dog park neither resource guard, if Kona grabs someone elses ball or frisbee it is to play with whoever will chase her with it, she trots around all proud showing everyone she's got come get it.  She will not intentionally try to take a toy or ball from another dogs posession.