Golden Retriever Problem

Hey Mark,

First of all, welcome to the forum!
Sydney is developing Possessive aggression, where she is very possessive over things which she believes are hers, eg. the crumpled bit of paper - which seems strange I know as it is of no value to her.
Taking her to classes is a brilliant thing to do to put her in her place and also training her to drop the item she has and let you walk over and pick it up. be careful though, don't take things out of her mouth if you feel you are in danger of being bitten, it is better to work on the drop command and get her to do that every time! Get other people to do it to, so it is not just you who she gives her 'special' toys up to.
I have more information on possessive aggression in my car so will post another reply later on with that.

Becks

Hi Mark,

I think possessive agression or resource guarding aggression is a natural behavior of dogs and it is easier to correct it right away before your dog realizes growling/snapping works to keep what she wants. You have been doing a great job on that!

Dogs try to protect anything that they see as his/her resource; it can be a crumpled paper, a chewed up tennis ball, something that has no value to us can be a precious resource for them. Sitting on a couch can be the same thing. One of my foster dogs growled at me when I told him to get off the couch. Another foster dog snapped at our cat when the cat tried to peek in my bag; the dog was guarding my bag and the grocery bags I just brought in.

Obedience training is the key to correct this behavior since it teaches the dog to be obedient to your commands, including "Drop it" and "Leave it".

In the mean time, you can make it as an exchange game; for example, when you play a tug with your dog let her win the rope. Show her another toy or rope and have her exchange the rope she just won with the new rope or toy. By repeating this game, your dog's protective aggression will lessen because she will soon learn that she doesn't need to be protective since you will give her back what she releases. She won't have to be so obsessed with something. The point here is that you will obtain your dog's trust by doing this.

I have 3 dogs and I only give one bone to those dogs. They have learned to take turns. I time it so that each dog gets a few minutes and there is a pecking order. When time is up, I tell him/her to drop the bone and give it to the next dog. Each dog waits for his/her turn nicely since they all know that they will get the bone eventually. They don't show any possessive/resource guarding aggression among them, or to us human beings.

I am sure Sydney will learn the rule very quickly since you caught it early enough and got right on top of it. I am sure she is a very smart and loving dog too!

Good luck!

Pick an object to work with, start with an object of no value to the dog.
Ask the dog to sit or lie down and the stay, ensure the dog is relaxed to begin with. Place the object 2 or 3 metres in front of the dog, so that they can see it. Praise your dog for relaxing. Instruct the dog to stay the pick up and quickly return the object. return back to your dog and reward for relaxed behaviour and if it did not move during the exercise. Repeat this exercise again and again each time moving the object closer to the dog in a gradual manner until the object is touching the dogs feet. Each time remember to return to your dog and reward them for being relaxed and not moving.

If at any point the dog picks up the object, instruct your dog to "drop it" and praise for obeying you, if the dog does not drop the object then leave the room, this is punishment as it deprives them of your attention and control of the situation.

Once your dog can do this exercise with an object it doesn't value, repeat again with an object of value eg. the towels or crumpled paper. Continue to repeat the exercise with item of more and more value to your dog, eg. oys and chew bones.

other useful exercises include getting other family members to repeat the exercise, repeating the exercise in different locations, teach your dog to "Take it" and then "Drop it"

Once your dog understands the "Take it", "Drop it" commands you can perform an exercise where you get your dog to take an object and hold it for 1 second and then ask your dog to drop it and praise if they obey. repeat the exercise but increasing the time that you get your dog to hold the object. Once your dog can perform this with an object it does not value then try repeating with objects of value.

Ultimately you should be able to request your dog to take and drop virtually anything.