Person Possessive

[Trudy]

What things can you do to help break a dog of being person possessive?

 

 

Abby came in and has decided she likes me and I'm very much worth protecting (I like that mentality, but not when she does it in regards to the dogs that already live here!).

She's working on her last strike and I need to work with her to correct that problem or determine sooner than later that she's not going to work.

 

Dogs aren't allowed on furniture here. They have their own beds and they have plenty of carpet on the floor or even the tile if they so desire.

 

If I'm sitting in a chair, Abby will come over and sit down to ask for attention and then put her head in my lap. T will come over and do the same (though he doesn't have to sit since he doesn't demand attention like she does). So I have 2 dogs sitting or standing in front of me with their heads on my lap while I'm sitting.

Abby thinks I'm hers and if she feels like it, she'll growl at Tavarish. She went after him a few nights ago when she had a toy in her mouth. We thought she was playing, but she was warning him - so when he went to grab the toy like they always do, she snapped and went for him - she had her toy standing next to me with her head over my lap and T reached in over my lap to get the toy. Last night she growled at him when she had her head on my lap and T came over and plopped his head on my lap. She let him stay for a minute or so and then growled at him and told him to GO AWAY, I was hers.

She doesn't do it all the time, but I have no clue yet what makes her decide she's willing to share me or not.

 

Trying to eat Jet and Tavarish is NOT acceptable.

How do we person depossessive her?

She can't stay if she's going to try to eat Jet or Tavarish when they want my attention too.

 

I'm usually the one that feeds them, so this morning I had Jeff do it and will probably have him do meals for a while and only have me feed them if he's not home in time to feed them.

What else?

[TheFullHouse]

When I have one that behaves that one, immediately upon growling, said dog is told to go to their bed. If I have to get up physically and take them to their bed, that's where they go and I tell them to stay. Kind of like a "time out" so to speak. I don't allow growling around here. There are too many dogs and once things get going it can be hard to stop. Having Jeff do the feedings and give treats is a good idea. I'd definitely withhold "high value" treats for a while as those will lead to a fight for sure. You may consider putting up the toys until you Abby past this phase. JRT's are possessive like that. When we first got Emmy, Jilly Bean was used to sitting on my lap. She went after Emmy every time Emmy tried to come up to me so Jilly was made to get down, go into a sit and stay while Emmy got her attention. That helped so much. She still does it with all the dogs so there is a rule in the house that Jilly Bean is not allowed in our laps unless the dogs are up for the night and any visitors are not allowed to hold her either. It's hard to have a possessive dog in the house, it takes a lot of training but can be done. You may find that Abby is not just possessive of you, she will transfer that to beds, toys, food etc. etc.

[BauersMom]

You may find that Abby is not just possessive of you, she will transfer that to beds, toys, food etc. etc.

 

I was going to say this - it sounds like she's possessive of things she deems to be high value - food, toys, AND people.

 

I've never worked on this particular situation, so I don't have any helpful advice, except to mention that the fact that she's already bitten means she will likely bite again in order to protect her "high value" things. (Bauer bit several times until we got his food aggressive under wraps).

 

Good luck.

[Batmom]

Sounds like she is already possessive of the toy as well as of access to person.

 

I allow dogs to grumble at each other in some small measure -- the "don't step on me," "I'm playing with this right now," etc. But I don't allow dogs to be butts, and I don't allow possessiveness of people. Pretty much like Judy, I remove the resource when that happens; then next time around, try to catch the dog behaving properly in the same situation so I can reward that (Ooooooooh, look! praise and a cookie when your brother/sister comes over and you are not a horse's behind!).

 

Depending on her demeanor, you could try teaching her what you want her to do -- now you may put your head in my lap; OK, that's enough, head over here alongside my leg now; etc. so that she is paying more attention to you rather than any other dogs. Possessiveness of toys and found objects is harder, especially if the others are used to trading around, playing tug, etc. Don't know what to tell you there other than to put the toys up when you can't supervise.

 

It is a bit disturbing that she goes so quickly from growling to wanting to nail the other party. But, everybody has to start someplace.

[MaryJane]

She's starting to assert her dominance which happens when a new dog starts to feel comfortable in the house. As someone mentioned, it's not really you she's possessive of - it's whatever "she wants" at that moment.

 

With big dogs - and a big dog knows that it's big, you are going to have jostling for the dominant position.

 

If you have not already done it, you need to take her to training classes with other big dogs (get into a training class that specializes in the big breeds) and since she is so big and maybe not so controllable, you'll might end up using a prong collar.

 

As a side note, you may want to consider taking both the dogs to training at the same time, sometimes when dogs are walked (or trained) together they start to realize they are part of the same pack but .... sometimes not

[Guest mbfilby]

Great Danes are known to single out one person in the home to become very attached to. In our case it was DW. With the dane and with Cy who is possessive of space and food, we do what Judy suggests. Growling is a time out or a loss of the object/space/etc.

[greysmom]

Yes to all the above. Our Danes were very possessive, and guarding behavior was prominent of everything they considered theirs. Goes back to being what they were bred and used for - boar hunting and guarding property.

 

YOU decide when you want to give her attention, not her. You decide if Tavarish coming over is OK, not her. Teach her a "leave it" command and use it. Teach her a "settle" (or whatever word) command that means "I'm done, go to your bed now" so she knows when attention time is over. Growlies over resource guardng earn an IMMEDIATE correction and removal of the object and a period of ignoring (time out).

 

Danes can be stubborn and slow to learn what they don't want to, so be strong and consistent!

[greytlucy]

She's a teenager isn't she? So you're dealing with adolescence and testing boundaries. Important time in her training, especially when it comes to resource guarding which is what this is. I haven't dealt with this with either puppy I've had...mostly because I started with them young learning to give up things on command and allow resources to be taken with them. Since you didn't have her young and she's already guarding you want to handle carefully and not escalate the situation.

 

I know Jean Donaldson has a book out on Resource Guarding that probably has some good techniques to work with. Starting with setting boundaries with her along the lines of NILIF would help a lot and working on the "drop" command(even if she isn't guarding "stuff" yet it will help her learn her boundaries and that "MINE!" really isn't hers).

 

Good luck!

Edited May 17, 2011 by greytlucy

[Guest mariah]

I agree that it's a good idea to look into other resources that Abby might be guarding as it does seem to be a compound issue with a lot of dogs. In my own experience with a possessive hound, the ugliest situations will arise when multiple valued resources are perceived to be threatened. I really recommend getting in touch with a good behaviorist, preferably someone who could observe her in the home with the other dogs. Having the problem clearly defined will make it much easier to fix!

 

In the meantime if you don't already, maybe put the toys away except during monitored play time, and try to avoid petting both dogs at once. If Abby is persistent when you're paying attention to Tavarish or Jet, just ignore her, angle your body away from her, don't acknowledge her in any way, and she should get the picture pretty quickly.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Giselle]

It really just all comes back down to NILIF and impulse control exercises. You can babble on about "dominance" and "jockeying for positions" until your eyes roll back and your breath gives out, but I'll tell you: the ONLY THING a dog really wants are rules.

 

+ Create a set of rules (NILIF or "Learn to Earn" program) and stick to it. That's it.

+ Teach Leave It.

+ Teach Give.

+ Teach Wait: Both a prolonged, formal "Stay" and an informal, prolonged "Wait".

+ Teach Go to Your Bed

+ Teach Back away

--> In order to be effective in teaching your dog impulse control, you need to teach these all with as little force as possible and, ideally, with as much free-shaping as possible. You want a dog with brains, not brawn.

- No putting heads in laps unsolicited. That's demanding for attention. Just get up, remove her reward (you), and tell her to "Go to Bed". Give her a frozen Kong to keep busy, and you're done!

- Toys don't just lay around in a solid NILIF/Learn to Earn situation, either. Toys are earned are must be actively played with, which requires supervision. Once done being played with, they get put away.

 

If you control access to resources through NILIF/Learn to Earn, then there should be no jostling amongst the dogs for toys, treats, food, or attention. Why fight amongst each other if it all ultimately comes from YOU? And why fight if the only way to gain access to resources is to perform (positive) behaviors for you?

[greyhoundlov]

All excellent advice, especially with a dog that is so much larger than the other two.

 

 

[Guest RichardUK]

Found that distancing yourself from the dog works well - Simply refuse to allow her to cuddle up. Greet the others first etc.

 

But also agree that strict guidelines work well because then all dogs feel secure and know their places.

[Guest greyhound1]

How is Abby doing for you now?

[turbotaina]

She's a teenager isn't she? So you're dealing with adolescence and testing boundaries. Important time in her training, especially when it comes to resource guarding which is what this is. I haven't dealt with this with either puppy I've had...mostly because I started with them young learning to give up things on command and allow resources to be taken with them. Since you didn't have her young and she's already guarding you want to handle carefully and not escalate the situation.

 

I know Jean Donaldson has a book out on Resource Guarding that probably has some good techniques to work with. Starting with setting boundaries with her along the lines of NILIF would help a lot and working on the "drop" command(even if she isn't guarding "stuff" yet it will help her learn her boundaries and that "MINE!" really isn't hers).

 

Good luck!

 

 

Mine! And it's available via Kindle as well