Not all of mine come as pups either, and I have Dobermann fosters in and out too. My current one being a 4 year old male who appears to have never been taught anything other than sit and thinks the entire kitchen is his personal smorgasbord. I need eyes up my backside as well as in the back of my head but he's on a steep learning curve.

... sounds like a dog i know lol

If someone tried taking my cake off me I'd tell them to leave it the hell alone, I see a growl over food as the same sort of thing to be honest. Why should dogs not be allowed to communicate that they don't want something they value taken away?

I turned my quite severe food guarder around by playing swapsies, for 7 years he'd lunged and nipped at us if we got too close while he was eating. A few weeks of playing swapsies and he was happy to give up whatever he had. When I got Rupert I didn't know how he was around food so played it safe, didn't get confrontational and did the swaps thing, I've never had a problem and I don't have to bribe him into giving something up these days, just ask him. Most of the time I reward after he's given it up though. If we were out and I had nothing to swap I just took it as there was no other option. Having done so much work on swapping though it's never been an issue. Even the rotting maggoty hedgehog was given up without a fuss.

I agree with him wanting to keep the food but at the end of the day luck should be above him. Could you get luck to do some commands with him? So he starts to see him higher in the pack?
I personally wouldn't use the swap thing, your dog is trained so it's not like sitting for a treat. He should automatically listen to you. What if you were out and it was something he really needed to drop right away and you didn't have anything to swap
ATD x

This is an interesting thread. Bonnie, my childhood Springer went through a phase of growling at me when I got to about 12/13 years old (she would've been 7/8 years old). She only ever growled at me (I'm the youngest in the family) and only if I went to take something from her. To be fair to the dog it was only ever about something that was actually hers, rather than something she had stolen. Taking things from her that didn't belong to her was never a problem. My Mam said at the time it was because I was getting older and my place in the pack was moving above the dog, but tbh I don't really subscribe to all that mumbo jumbo. I think she was telling me to get lost as I was trying to get something from her that she had every right to keep! In the end we decided to do the swapping thing and I started to feed her every day and the problem eventually subsided. I have to add though, I never felt threatened by the dog and it never went any further than a grumble. I didn't push the issue, but I do believe if I'd forced her to give me the item she would have. She was an extremely submissive dog.

Yes, but if you stole some cake and your Dad told you to give it back would you do as you're told or tell him to F*** Off?

Having something taken off you that isn't rightfully yours and having a rightful possession taken away from you are two very different situations imo.

Dog's don't think that way. What they have is theirs - full stop

Dogs are fairly clever creatures and soon learn if it's worth trying to hold onto something or not.

Confrontation can often escalate the situation so training by force is a no-no. Teaching the dog to drop an object when told is far easier by playing swaps. Pleasant for all and doesn't take forever to achieve.

It's training, not bribery. Once the cue is established, just as in all other reward based training, the cue alone will be complied with. Most of us, of course, continue to reward on an ad-hoc basis. It keeps training sharp and gives both sides a 'feel good' factor

But I'm not a dog? Not to most anyway!

I would agree.

I agree too.

Once dogs that are trained by these methods learn that the consequences of doing what they are asked to do are rewarding, then it's far more likely that they'll comply with other requests.

IMO there's nothing to be gained by confrontation ~ all you're doing is demonstrating to the dog that it was right to growl/grumble as you are a threat to its resources. And in the dog world, possession is 9/10ths of the law. I've watched my 2 dogs with chews/toys/bones ~ whichever one has the "prize" keeps it & the other dog won't challenge. But the moment the other dog puts it down, its up for grabs & the other dog will take it.

Just in case anyone with less biddable dogs tries that, I`d just like to say that it is better to teach a reliable `Give` as an excercise outside of any possible confrontations.
Yes of course it is possible to demand forcefully and most dogs will back off. But one in pain or fear may not, and that can lead to disaster.
Is it not better to train your dog than to rely on being scary?