How do I stop food/treat guarding?

[Jen & Carley]

About 30 min ago I gave Carley (14 week old goldendoodle) a bully twisty stick.  My son came over and was petting her , and she got all tense and started growling.  This is the very first time she's ever done that.  I took the stick away . . . . but now I'm want to make sure that she doesn't EVER do this again, I Need her to be totally okay with whatever my kids do to her, when & where ever she is!

[Kim Ledoux]

I would recommend "trading with her"  start with lower value items like toys.  Take the toy from her and give her treat and hand it back immediately - do this several times in row.  This will build her confidence that you will give something back and reduce her reaction of growling.  Then move on to something more valuable like her kibble.  Do the same - take the item - give her a treat - give the item back, do this repetitively.  Eventually lose the treat and and work your way up to the bully stick.  My puppy did the same thing.  She never growled once at toys, kibble anything.  But that bully stick turns her into a little devil!

 

[Sequoia & Dudley]

I think there is a 2-way street here. Carley was warning your son off because she feared he wanted her treasure. If he backs off, she will stop growling. It's a simple communication. However, having said that, I think you clearly need to tell your son to be careful and and respectful with Carley. You said he came over and petted her. It would help to know how old your son is and how he approached her.  Did he rush over, or was he casual? Dogs are very sensitive to body language. Without education, little kids lurch and jump and dive. Many dogs do not like this. Your 14 week old doodle is still a baby. If your son is preschool, she probably thinks he is a puppy too. Now, if he is school age or older, it's another story, and your son should be easily trainable ;-)

Ultimately you want your dog to respect all members of the family as higher in the pack hierarchy than she is. Take her to puppy training classes and take your kids also. At the training sessions, let them take turns with the dog as the teaching is taking place.  Truth be told, training is as much for the owners as it is for the dogs. Then go home and practice with both Carley and the kids. Take turns until everyone "gets" it, but don't overdo. The puppy's attention span is short. Rather, come back to it. And reinforce the puppy's compliance with little food treats along with praise. All of this activity educates both the canine and the human about the best ways to behave and communicate with one another.

You might want to read up on dog aggression. There are different types of growls. This incident doesn't sound serious to me. As you describe it, Carley was saying, "Back off!" But if the growl is accompanied by a snarl and a snap, it's of more concern and could escalate. So get ahead of this by educating yourself and putting Carley in training right away. Don't delay. You have a great window of opportunity when the dog is this young. I waited once until my dog (a Shiba Inu) was 6 months old to seek training. I didn't get into a class until he was 8 months old. I regretted it because by then he was rebellious (like a human teenager). You and Carley have a great future together, but it's your job to shape it. Good luck!

[Jen & Carley]

Carley starts basic obedience classes next week, and the trainer said she'd address any behavioral issues we're experiencing as well. I'm really looking forward to getting started!

My son is 4, and I was sitting right next to them when the growling happened, he was patting her ears and touching the stick . . . I can see how she thought he was going after her treat.  I also see I have to work with Carley on the fact that all humans, no matter their age/size, are her superiors in the pack.  When I repeated the scenario she olnly tried growling once at me, then gave up the stick and backed away.  I've been asking her to drop it & leave it all morning, and patting her face while she's chewing and she's been very good & submissive . . . now I just have to make sure she'll behave the same way with the kids, and everyone else.  It just startled me a little and concerened me . . . I REally, REally want a safe, trustworthy family pet!

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

We had that problem with Cubbie about a year and a half ago.  Anytime he had a treat or chew and my husband walked near him he would growl like crazy.  My trainer suggested to start off with just giving Cubbie one of his chews and then have my DH walk past him and toss a treat towards him.  He wasn't supposed to talk to Cubbie or stop near him.  This was to teach Cubbie that my DH was not a threat.  Then once that worked, we moved to my DH telling Cubbie to "leave it" as he walked by and when Cubbie looked up from his chew, DH threw him another treat.  We haven't had any issues since then, but should probably still work on the training from time to time as a reminder.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

There are a few things that are super high value and any dog might just give you that reaction. Bully sticks is one of them. My girls, who are 4 and 3, who have never been aggressive with anything, I would approach with caution with a bully stick - and I trust them implicitly! No child should ever attempt to pat any dog with a bully stick or anything they consider high value.

I agree with Kim - let your son give her a toy that is a play toy, and let him trade it for a training treat. Then he is to give her back the toy as soon as the treat is done. A little while later, do it again. 

Personally, I would not be giving her a bully sully stick now. I would wait until you are in school and your trainer can give you advice on how to approach her to take it away. You will be learning in school 'drop it' and 'leave it'. Then a bully stick you will be able to take away from her. NEVER your son or any other child that  is your home. You now know that she considers that high value and you would be setting her up to fail. 

[BRADY GOOSE MOORE (Mini Doodle]

I had exactly the same thing happen with Brady at that age (only with Bully Sticks!)....weird.    I just stopped giving them to him at all although it upset me that he was so inclined to guard it that way.   He is now almost 11 mos. and has NEVER reacted this way to any other treat, toy, rawhide bone, nyla bone.   Perhaps you too could refrain from using this for a while, test him with other things he really loves to make sure he's trustworthy, then reintroduce the bully stick in a different way teaching him to 'share' (perhaps with another high value (cheese in our case) treat.   All the best to you.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

For a puppy this young, I like the idea of "trading".....you take a valued item away and substitute a different "treat".  Also, I got my puppies used to me handling their food while they were eating.  They had to sit and wait for all special "treats".  As far as the children are concerned, I would be pretty cautious with things like a bully stick.  My daughter has four young children and if her dogs get a bone or bully stick they are out on the deck gated off where the kids can't approach.  I think this is a good idea with real high value items especially with a puppy who can be totally unreliable.

[charlotte bednarsh]

I have been lucky with Paz because he is not protective of resources, whether it be treats, toys or anything else; that being said, your puppy is really young, and a good trainer could tell you what the "growl" was really about, because puppy growling is really different than a more mature dog, and growling of any kind, particularly around kids can certainly be addressed in a young puppy.  As a rule, it's been my experience that doodles tend not to be resource protective, and probably with some really good support and guidance, you can nip this in the bud, so to speak.  Doodles are so very smart, they love to please, and I'm sure this situation can be easily remediated.  Just important to address it early, particularly because you have a young child, and at the end of the day, kids do silly things in spite of all our admonitions.  Paz used to be extremely mouthy which is not uncommon trait amongst doodles, but therapy dogs cannot mouth, particularly when working.  My trainer was really great about helping me to discourage the mouthing; it took lots of practice, and still does when Paz gets really excited, but the hard work really paid off, so I'm sure the same will happen with your "baby" regarding the growling.

[Wendy and Sully]

We have got our first ALD a couple years ago, but before that, we have owned several rhodesian ridgebacks (still do). There is something that we did with all our ridgebacks as puppies and never had a problem with guarding. We would buy a large meaty bone - something that would be highly prized in the dog world. We would sit on the floor and let the puppy chew it for a while - holding it at all times. Then we would pull it back, wait a while and then offer it again. We would also let the children participate in the exercise. The puppy got the idea that we, the humans, were in charge of the bone and everything else for that matter. Ridgebacks are a very strong, independent, food-motivated breed, and we never had a guarding problem. Another thing we did was introduce our hands into their feeding bowl while they were eating. Sometimes we'd drop a piece of chicken or some other goody in there. The dog never knew a hand in bowl possibly meant something good would appear and we never had a problem with guarding of food. I think this behavior is something you have to nip in the bud. If the puppy doesn't know where she falls in the heirarchy at 14 weeks, you could have problems later on. I'm not an expert by any means, just sharing what has worked for me with a different strong headed breed.