"Drop It"

[Enzo]

Hi All !

 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.....Enzo is a happy, healthy 4 month old doodle.  We have been attending puppy classes and he has caught onto the basics fairly quick (sit, down).  We reached the "Drop It" lesson today and oh boy were we in for a surprise......

 

After our session, we found that he is very possesive over his toys.  When presented a treat he keeps toy in his mouth.. at times will drop it and go for the treat but then Immediately goes to bite our hand/arm so he can get his toy back.  The trainer scared me a little today because she said she hasn't seen an advance case of "toy guarding" in a puppy his age.   Enzo does not guard his food or anything else JUST the toys.... We are seeing these behaviors at home and at puppy class..

 

I was just curious if anyone else has gone through this and has any advice on this topic?  The trainer actually told us not to work on this at home since he is so protective.  

 

We love our little polar bear Enzo! Thanks in advance!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

Lucca was like that with bones at around 5 months. it was scary. He did it at puppy class also. The trainer looked at me and said private training..tomorrow. She worked with us and it worked. Enzo needs to know who is alpha. He's confused. He also needs to know that he may get the toy back if taken away from him. Work with your trainer and be very consistent in your training. It will be fine.

[Lynne B]

use two identical toys, tell him 'drop it' and when he does give him the other toy. Keep doing it until he realizes that he's not losing his toy. One of my dogs resource guarded tennis balls,  We had to get a bunch of identical tennis balls and throw them to him, when he  would run to get one- he had to drop the one in his mouth. He finally figured out there are enough tennis balls in the world that he didn't need to protect them

[Enzo]

Great, Thank you!