Treat/Chew Guarding from other dogs

[Rita and Fazzy]

Hi...

We have a 15 week old Labradoodle, as well as  two 4 year old small dogs (Maltese mix and a Cavapoo).  The pup and the two older dogs have gotten into "disagreements" a few times over treats or chews.  I think that they are all still working on their place in the new pack, we have only had the pup not quite 4 weeks.  But...the disagreements can get pretty loud and look kind of ugly - no harm has been done tho.  He certainly doesn't back down when it starts tho.  The Cavapoo is very much a guarder of chews, etc.....and our new "little" boy has snarked at a couple of other dogs (puppy class) when there are treats involved.

 

Our Cavapoo and Maltese mix know quite well that all the treats, etc belong to us and we can take them away at any time.  Fazzy has growled a couple of times when we went to take away a chew - but we've been very stern with our voices and taken the chew away anyway - just to proove that it belongs to us, not him.

 

Any good advice on how best to handle the guarding that comes up between the 3 dogs?  I don't want the growling to grow to be more than what it is, I'd love to see it go away all together, but doubt that will ever happen.  Needless to say, the 2 older dogs aren't excited about the new "baby"...and we're hopeful that over time, everything will shake out and all will settle in, knowing that it could take quite some time.

 

Anyway....just looking for anyone's thoughts, if you have them.  Thanks in advance..

 

Rita

 

 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Until you get some good advice I would take all treats and high value toys away and off the agenda.  I am sure there are others here who will know better how to handle this but for now why let it develop until you have a strategy for dealing with it in a controlled way.

[BG and Gavin]

Yes Nicky is right.  I have not had to deal with this, but other have.  I think the number one thing is for you to be in charge of all treats, so don't let them work it out on their own, you need to be the one to take charge and correct the behaviour when it happens.  Perhaps you should consult a trainer as you are right to nip this in the bud.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

When we added Clancy to our pack, we had to pick up all high value treats for quite a while.  We determined what was high value by the dogs' behavior. When something was argued over at all, we picked it up immediately and kept it put away for about a week.