Thanks for that and everyone else for the advice. I've been watching loads of youtube vids too. I have so much to learn!

OK, it sounds as if it's getting worse rather than better? do you think that's a fair comment?

I wonder if she's expecting you to try to take things from her. If you for instance do this exercise, but still "make" her drop wrappers, tissues etc she still won't trust you. Is this happening at all? You have to manage the environment really really well

You don't want to get her to the point where she's above threshold - ie, reacting to your presence. If she does - usually looking out of one eye towards you or freezing, this is too much and isn't working because something isn't right in the environment - either you are still too close or she "suspects" you are still trying to take things.

You need to be very nonchalant - I suspect she is reading your body language maybe, and "knows" you are paying lots of attention to her, her bowl, how she reacts, etc




You shouldn't be trying to take anything off her at the moment ... at all..... doing this will make things worse with many dogs and it seems to be doing that with her, she's not trusting you and is now fighting to keep her resource.

Are you trying to do "swopsies" as if so you need to start with a low value item and swop it for a high value item (value to her, not what us humans think it might be). Also she needs to drop it voluntarily rather than you take it out of her mouth. And then you would give her back her old item, and let her keep the new one as well.


This is escalating too much ... also, when working with aggression saying No will only usually cause more confrontation depending on why it is being said...

If she did sit, and you fed her the chews, and then ignored her, you would be punishing her for doing the right thing. Remember, dogs tend to associate your reactions with the latest thing they did In that situation, if she did sit and take the chews, I'd have been saying things like "yes, good sit - OK" and give the chew.

Firstly, manage the environment so she can't find sweet wrappers etc. If she does find them, or anything she should not have, distract her (ring the doorbell, start making her dinner, whatver would do it) and then give her something to do and also ensure she can't access what she dropped and left - either by closing a door or if she is normally amenable, holding her collar gently, telling her she's a good girl and making a big thing of taking her for a nice titbit in the kitchen, shutting say the living room door on the way. You kind ofhave to know your dog so exactly what you do must be influenced by safety, etc. It's helpful to have a jolly upbeat attitude and not kind of, be suspicious if you get my drift

If you can't distract or ignore (if it's something not disastrous for her to eat) the other option is to sacrifice the item if possible - don't stare at her or anything, just wander out and do your own thing. Tissues, etc won't kill her but obvoiusly anything dangerous - well, the distraction route is best IMO. Manage the environment for her success.

It can be very hard when things go awry and everyone wants a good relationship with their dogs - it is horrid when it goes wrong. My best advice would be to find a reputable trainer to help you (or behaviourist) but please be careful who you ask as anyone can call themselves a trainer or behaviourist and really have very little decent knowledge.

I tend to recommend peeps from here:

http://www.apdt.co.uk/local_dog_trainers.asp or here:

http://www.apbc.org.uk/ because they have to study and keep up their knowledge.

I do think it would be money well spent. The problem is that it's too easy to try advice for a bit and then try something else, and before you know it the dog is a year old and you have serious problems around food

So my advice would be to get in a good reputable professional so as to avoid that, but do ensure they are comfortable dealing with resource guarding and that they use modern methods...

Wys
xx

yes your'e totally right - it is getting worse. Today I dropped a bit of cheese into her bowl & stood next to her while I cut it - I didn't even look at her, just crouched & dropped it in then walked away. That was this morning & was fine - no growling.
This afternoon gave her kong & sat next on flor with a tit bit in my hand. I didn't go near the kong - had no intentions of doing so. She came & took the titbit & sniffed my other hand, I showed her it was empty & she went for me again.
With regard to all the other rubbish she picks up -it's outside when walking. Though I took treats today & she swapped ok.
We've had her 3 weeks now & it's as if she's suddenly decided she is going to rule! She's doing sit/say/roll/fetch etc.. really well - It is just the food issue.

Hi,

How old is she? I'm wondering if she's old enough to have reached the overbearing, stubborn teenager stage yet, or if she's like most kids and is just trying to push the boundaries.

Either way, I thinkyou need to persevere and definitely obtaint he advice of a behaviourist. Do you attend training classes with her? A good training class will teach you exactly how to deal with resource guarding.

Whatever methods you decide to use, you need to stick with it. Even if it seems to take ages, eventually she'll get the message that the food is YOURs not HERS and that you're allowing her to eat it; not that it belongs to her and she has the right to eat it.

The worst thing you can do once you've started is to decide the method isn't working and try something else. This jsut means that you waste time chopping and chainging between methods of training and will most likely confuse the dog.

having said that, I think that if you've tried one way constantly and consistently over 7-10 days you should be starting at least to see some progress.

Is she only resource guarding with yourself or do other members of your household have the same problem? Is she the same with outsiders, family, friends etc? It could be that inadvertently she's been allowed to get away with certain things and resource guarding is the result.
As you're both still establishing trust I wouldn't do anything yet, but with my oldest dog (13 months old) who I've had since he was 6 weeks old, I would probably have asked someone else to do that same things asI was doing - jsut to see if it was me the dog was guarding against or anyone who approaches.

In my experience, it can my easier for an outsider to get a dog to do something or stop them doing something because that outsider is easily able to establish new boundaries. Whereas with their owners, dogs know how much they can get away with.

In the first instance though, I agree that you should certainly get advice from qualified behaviourists or trainers.

Laura xx

Why would you want to take a dogs food away from it after you had given the food ?

I have never understood why anyone would want to take food from a dog that it has been given. Totally different to train your dog to give up/swop things that it "acquires". To your dog you are a provider & to give then take away is really teaching your dog the opposite & could result in real resource guarding problems.

I give my dogs their food, it never stops around long enough for me to take it away if I wanted to. Their food is their reward for being my dogs-their "wages".

I wonder how many people would silently accept a waiter/ess serving them their meal, then before they have finished eating it return & take it away. No one I guess.

I work very hard on my relationships with my dogs & they never see as a threat to them, whether I want them to give something up to me for a reason or present something to me.

I am sad to think so many people still see themselves as the "Pack Leader" in relative to their dog(s). We are not part of the dog pack, dogs know we are not dogs in the same way they know cats/horses etc are not dogs & ergo cannot be members of their pack. We are providers for our dogs & by providing them with food & shelter, we gain their trust & mutual respect.

Feeding directly from your hand can make your dog very very picky & teach it that it will be rewarded for not eating from a bowl.

The way to reduce resource guarding is to teach your dog that you will not give food & take it away. to do this you hold the food bowl & drop food into it very small portions at a time & gradually lower the bowl to the floor over several days & increase the size of the portions until you are putting all the food in the bowl & then putting the bowl on the floor. This way there is no stress on you or the dog QED

Are you a Cesar Millan fan by any chance ?

I very much agree with Joedee.

As far as I am aware Suzie only obtained Tilly on the 16th of January, she is an RSPCA rescue puppy about 11/12 weeks old .
Suzie I hope you don't mind if I say when I first saw this post particularly the highlighted part above , my immediate thoughts were that Tilly should have been left to settle and to build trust with her owner and that her food should not have been touched. I think interfering with a puppies food in these circumstances (an older rescue puppy from a litter which might have had to fight for its share if food) can actually prompt a puppy to defend its food .
All I would do with a new puppy like Tilly would be to swap an article I wish to reclaim for a high level treat (like cheese or chicken) .
Tilly will need to be handled with care to stop the situation escalating. Hopefully Wysiwyg's detailed suggestions may help

Thanks Minihaha - I welcome any advice - especially if I'm doing it wrong. Maybe we had too much interference when she first came home as she wasn't used to eating from a bowl so I sat with her holding the bowl. I think the growling started after her tummy upset & when she went from chicken & rice diet back to her puppy food (not 100% sure though)
I don't want to take her food away - which is why I asked about it when she initially started growling.
Anyway I am taking it slowly - hope I haven't made it worse.
There is often conflicting advice - each to their own system & all that & I am grateful for everyone who's taken the time to make suggestions.

How do you feed her? Do you just give her the food when she is jumping about or on you? Try making sure she is calm when you put her bowl down and then keep a foot on the bowl and maybe making sure your leg is touching her while she eats, if she tenses up then take her away from the food, just keep perservering, just another option u could use alongside others Sounds to me this cute pup might be testing you, especialy if she is naturaly dominant I am sure you will resolve this easily enough with a kind but firm attitude.

Yes, yes, and yes again! There could come a time when you desperately need to retrieve something tasty off them, so do it NOW, whilst your puppy is still a puppy. I have a 12 week old pup, who will eat right next to my older dog, knows she cannot go near his food, knows that I can put my hand in whenever I want, or feed her with some if she's not eating it all up, it's imperative imo.
One of my dogs once picked up that really sharp piece off the leg of a rabbit bone when we were out, the one that's like a long splinter She had the whole thing in her mouth, but because I was allowed to touch her food at any time, she allowed me to take it off her, otherwise she would have chocked and died! Same as Georgie when he caught a rabbit, he gave it to me (after 3 attempts of asking!). In my view it's absolutely imperative! What if she's eating a marrowbone one day, and has a large chunk off it that you don't want her to choke on????!!! She won't give it to you if you're not allowed near her food will she, she'll bite you instead! I think it's absolutely ridiculous that a dog's dinner is HIS and his alone, when I've dished it up, and quite honestly, it can turn into worse if you don't start with food possession imo! It should be a doddle with a puppy, so you really must imo work on this. That's my twopennorth!