bone possesiveness

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper has recently become possessive over bones and meaty chews such as a pork stick and beef trachea

she will growl at the cats (who are totally in charge of her) if they are anywhere near her treat. Even if Cooper isnt chewing it. Even though the cats really are not interested.

We often give Cooper a warning (I dont believe she would ever do anything to the cats - she wont even go through a doorway if one is sitting there) but if she growls a second time we take the treat away. She doesnt growl at us. We do not leave Cooper the cats and the treat in the same part of the house if we are going out to work etc, either they are all together, or they are shut in separate areas with their treats (Cooper will steal the cats treats (in a treat dispensing toy) otherwise, she is rather food motivated)

is there anything else we can do?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would take the treat away the first time she growled. It isn't so much about her hurting the cats, it's about the fact that she's resource guarding. It can easily escalate. That growl is an announcement to the household at large that the object is hers. But it isn't...it's yours. I'd set her straight on that; the doodle mom giveth, and the doodle mom taketh away, lol.

[Dori & Rua]

Cooper is either EXTREMELY huge or your darling kitty is REALLY little! I can ONLY hope that Rua and PuffDog (THE CAT) will be able to sit STILL within 10 feet of each other. Rua is now a little under 11.5lbs (at almost 4-1/2 months) and PuffDog weighs 12.5lbs! Rua has been terrorizing PuffDog since she was only 4lbs!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper is 60lbs, Pippin is 10lbs
It took over a year for me to get this picture.... the other cat (Merry, 13lbs) is NOT interested in Cooper and ignores her!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'll have to get a photo of my teo for you...Jackdoodle weighs 83 lbs and Dinah my cat weighs 6 lbs! Tonight, they were lying together on my bed, despite the fact that he's allergic to her!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

That is so cute! Id love to see a picture!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We don't have cats but there are certain treats at certain times that Clancy or Gordie will growl each other away from. Perhaps it is because we got Clancy as an adult, but during the settling in period he and Gordie had some real arguments over high value treats. We never ignored the growling then but now we ignore some of it. If it doesn't stop we take the treat away for a while. Neither of them do this to Ned but if Ned wanted the treat, he would walk up and take it. Ned does take fuzzy toys away but never the bones. Gordie and Clancy are the only dogs any of us have ever had that argue over a toy.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I usually do allow one growl as the dog's way of saying "get away...I had it first". But that puts me at alert and I closely watch what happens next. Usually the "bone or toy stealing dog" will just back off. If that doesn't happen immediately, I take it away. This is interesting though. I'm going to ask my trainer for his thoughts on this, because maybe even that first growl is too much.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In this case, I think that first growl is too much, because there is no other dog trying to take the object, and there never has been. And the cats have demonstrated no interest in it. No reason for the warning.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I see your point. I am still curious though about whether or not allowing the first warning growl is okay with two dogs.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm not sure. Dogs use growling as a warning, and should be allowed to tell another dog to back off when the other dog is infringing on their personal space. Mother dogs growl at their puppies, and we encourage home dogs to growl to let a foster know when he is overstepping. In this case, though, it's also about resource guarding, and there's no need for a warning to be issued, so I'm not sure.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I asked my trainer this question today.  He said that with his own dogs he verbally corrects for the first growl.  He does this because he always corrects at the lowest level of negative behavior....this prevents possible escalation.  He also said allowing one "warning growl" is not a big deal when you know the dogs involved and aren't worried about the possibility that it would escalate into a resource guarding situation.  So, I don't think there is any one "right" answer to this for two dogs that you know.  I agree the situation with the cat is different.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good to know.