To some extent, guarding food and toys against other dogs etc is very normal, although it can be worrying especially if the owner (in this instance, you ) is worried it may escalate into fights and everyday aggression which can spoil dog ownership and make each day a "I hope it will be OK but I fear it won't be" situation - a horrible place to be in.

Jean Donaldson says in Dogs are from Neptune:

"There is universal agreement among trainers and behaviour people that aggression directed at people should be addressed...There is less agreement on the dog to dog aggression problem - whether to intervene...or simply stay out of it. My policy with regard to dog to dog resource guarding is to intervene with behaviour modification and management when there are injurious fights and/or a greatly elevated incidence".

Pat McConnell in Feeling Outnumberedsays that in most households, an occasional growl or tooth display is not a crisis but continual, unresolved tension between 2 dogs should mean a calm intervention long before an actual fight occurs (she is here describing a "indoors" situation with dogs who know each other/live together). She also states that dogs will learn more if the owner takes charge of the situation by stopping anything escalating and says that often dogs are relieved to be stopped from a problem escalating into fighting as long as the owner is calm and fair.

There isn't a lot out there to my knowledge. Of course, there's Mine! but it deals more with dog to human resource guarding, although the principles of desensitisation and counterconditioning would be the same.

Also a combination of management, (ie manipulating situations to give a good result - eg praising Takara for accepting dogs near her, and then calling her calmly to you and playing tuggie) can avoid any problem and also change dynamics in a situation which you may feel could escalate into something.

You could also shape the absence of the problem behaviour by rewarding things she does, which are better choices than the problem behaviors. Eg rewarding her with enthusiastic praise for doing the right thing/making a good choice - ignoring, moving on past, etc if she happens to feel a dog might want her toy at that moment.......Hth a tiny bit.

Thanks wys

I wasn't too worried by Takara and Eddy's interations tbh, just thought it was worth mentioning. Right now, they're in bed together, Takara's cuddled into him and they're snoozing away. They both share a car crate, eat close together, swap bowls, swap chews - I think, actually, having reviewed the situation, it's more that he has gone a bit too far and not offered any sort of negotiation. Just stepped into get it whereas normally, they'll both get a chew, crawl towards one another, one goes on their back and then they do swaps

I've been shaping the absence between her and Eddy recently, and I've found that actually allowing her to carry her ball through a group of dogs, instead of taking it off her so there's nothing to guard seems to work well. Perhaps I was worsening it by removing it whenever we saw a group of dogs.

She's constantly praised and intermittently rewarded for passing through a group of dogs, greeting a dog, ignoring dogs etc. and she seems to be listening to me a bit more now so hopefully my praise will start to take effect!

I've moved more of her reinforcement onto toys than food and it seems to be working - she'd rather play or have a ball thrown if we're out, than take a treat from me. Unfortunately she's no retriever so walks are getting expensive in tennis balls!

What you've posted has made me feel a little better because her behaviour never escalates too far (it did, once when she chased off a dog that was being fed by it's owner and then went and sat in front of the owner waiting for the treat - humiliating or what but we were so close to the car and I was so angry that she went for 2 minutes time out in the car before being allowed to continue the walk and didn't do it again ) and if another dog argues back, 99% of the time, she'll do a runner! The only time she retaliated was when a dog was having a go at me.

Thanks for that, I'll just continue praising what I like and call her away when I think the situation is a bit tense.

What I still find most difficult, even after working on it for three years, is not reacting badly to her behaviour just to look like I'm doing something. I'm so worried by what other people will think that I feel I have to do something. I really wish I could stop myself but it's almost a reflex now! I'm getting there though!