Stew bit me this morning...

[Jess & Stewart]

He'd grabbed a sock from my laundry hamper, ran around the room with it when he saw me walking towards him. He then laid down and was chewing on it. I grabbed a toy, thinking I could entice him to drop it, while say "drop". He snarled and growled as I got near the sock, so I was trying to keep my hands away from his mouth. He loosened his grip on the sock-I thought to take the toy. I grabbed the sock and he whipped around snarling, nipping, growling and bit my hand. He usually gives everything up without growling, so I was shocked.

I'm not sure he meant to bite my hand, but it was close to him and he came in contact with it. I showed him my hand and yelled no bite in a firm but gentle voice. Then ignored him as I went to get a bandaid. It isn't a deep bite, but he definitely drew some blood, it looks like I nicked the side of my hand. When I was putting on the bandaid, he came over to me, laid next to me, put his head of my knee and fell asleep about 2 minutes later. Not sure he was "remorseful" or knew what he did though.

He growled over the weekend while chewing on old t-shirts of my Dad's. I just acted like nothing and took them away from him, saying drop and no bite, even though he was growling.

I'm not sure if should act like it's nothing when he has something & just take it away (basically saying "that's not yours, you give it), or if I'm acting too much like "the boss".

When we went on a walk later, I made him sit and wait until I said "ok!" while I opened all my doors and before we went down the steps, as he'd recently being charging before me.

Otherwise, he's a great dog aside from nipping while teething. He sits, goes down, gives paw, does "watch me", and does rolls over about 50% of the time. He also sits before I feed him, open doors, to put on and take off his leash. He's adorably cute too and getting BIG (at least I think so!) We're working on come and wait. I'll post a video later...we made great progress on those two this week.

Any advice is appreciated! I don't want him to start guarding things!

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Did you feel like it was a playful growl, or more of a warning growl?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is resource guarding, and since it is already accompanied by growling and biting, you need to nip it in the bud now.

The first step is stop allowing him to chew on your dad's old T-shirts or any other item of clothing. Do not allow him to have access to anything other than his own chew toys which are meant for that purpose. Keep laundry hampers closed or out of reach. This is a health issue as well, as too many doodles have required surgery from swallowing socks, underwear, etc. 

Instead of a toy, if he has something he shouldn't have, use a high value treat. The item you are "swapping" for the sock must be more appealing to the dog than the sock, lol. The toy didn't have that wonderful dirty sock smell that dogs love. 

Then start doing daily training exercises to teach "drop it", using the high value treats. The Training Group will have good suggestions for this type of training. 

It is never "acting too much like "the boss" to take things away from your dog. It is practicing responsible dog ownership. Part of that involves being his leader, or "benevolent dictator". 

[Anna and Achilles]

Ditto everything Karen just said. She is a genius!

[Jess & Stewart]

Leslie- it was definitely a "I want this, you aren't getting it and I'll keep it" growl.

My dad had clothes in a pile, in a spare room. He is fixing the lock,  so the door kept opening. Stew would wander in and sniff the clothes etc. I have my laundry hampers in my closet and typically try to remember to close my closet door right away, as Stew likes to grab things out of there.

After our walk this morning, Stew grabbed my shoe and walked it over to his bed. I told him drop it with my hand out and he did. I'm not sure what it was about the sock this morning. I typically keep anything away and keep shoes up on a table out of his reach.

I will definitely work hard on drop it and leave it!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can solve the wandering into your dad's room and grabbing things by not allowing him to have unsupervised free run of the house. Very few 3 month old puppies are reliable enough to allow that. Keeping him gated in the kitchen, crated, or tethered to you when you can't supervise him will eliminate 99% of puppy problems. 

[Jess & Stewart]

This was the one moment he wasn't tethered to me, so I'm hoping that it won't be an issue again. My dad thinks he needs "room to roam", I'm sticking to my training though.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Good girl, Jess! You are training Stew and you will be the one to make decisions about how much freedom he can have given his age and experience. Be proud of yourself. You are doing well and just need to stay on that track. You've gotten great advice here on resource guarding. I'm sorry you were bitten. 

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

Jess, I have worked harder and longer on doggie proofing my house than I ever did for baby proofing! Karens advice was perfect and with consistent training and nothing left out tempting him, he should get it. good luck

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

He's such a young puppy, I really don't think this was an aggressive bite, but it's not a behavior that you want to reward in any way or it could lead to more serious guarding issues in the future.  I agree with Karen about teaching him to drop what's in his mouth when you give the "drop it" command and then immediately rewarding with a very high value treat.  If he doesn't drop it I would take it away and then I would crate him (briefly).  This way he learns when he listens to and obeys the "drop it" good things happen, and when he doesn't life isn't quite as good. 

[Jess & Stewart]

Is it ok to crate briefly? I wasn't sure if he'd view the crate negatively then. For nipping and such, I've just tried to ignore. A few times I've closed my bedroom door with him in it, briefly until he's quiet so he knows that he gets no attention for nipping.

I'm a little skittish-I'm getting MUCH better, but I wonder if he sensed that I didn't really want to stick my hand near him to grab it, as he was already growling? I'm trying to overcome that, be assertive and grab him or whatever he has.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think it's fine to crate him for a "time out"....it's more about giving him a chance to calm down than to actually "punish him".   Try your best not to let him think you are afraid of him....he's just a puppy who is "full of himself". 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have always crated for misbehavior so and never had a problem having my dogs go to their crates when asked. Of course, when they go because I am leaving they know they get a treat : )