Possessive puppy?

kiwe1203

Its been 2 weeks since we introduced a male Kai Ken puppy (10 wks old now) into our home with our 3 1/2 yr old female Shiba Inu. For the most part, they get along great! Love to play chase and wrestle. However, our Kai Ken occassionally growls at our Shiba when she gets close to him while he is chewing on a toy, resting or approaching another toy across the room. His growl is very different from his play growl. I'm concerned if this is some sort of territory/object possessiveness/aggression delveloping. Any ideas or why this is happening or how to stop it?

BradA1878

All of our Kai will resource guard high-value items from other dogs - Akashi especially. It sounds like Ryuu is taking after his dad on this one.

The good news is, Akashi hasn't ever taken it farther than growling and putting on a show. We typically manage this by picking up the high value items and only allowing them (him) to have them when they are (he is) in their (his) crate or alone in a room (gated off).

Our Kai also guard their crates, they all do this. I'm not saying I like the behavior, but I do accept it as a Kai-trait.

I wouldn't correct him for growling, but you could offer him a treat for the item and then take it away and put it up to reduce the behavior.

In general, in a multi-dog household, I would recommend picking up high value items like treats and toys and only having them out during supervised play time. You don't want them practicing the behavior of guarding items, and having the high value items out gives them that opportunity.

I hope this helps!

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BradA1878

@kiwe1203 - Also, check out the book "Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" by Jean Donaldson - http://www.amazon.com/Mine-Practical-Guide-Resource-Guarding/dp/0970562942

BTW, Kai pups do tend to grow out of the resource guarding thing.

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jellyfish

hermm.... in regards to people and my dog.....With my puppy, the first time i gave him a bully or rawhide stick, or turkey neck, he would get frustrated if people (excluding dogs) messed with his chewies. The second time around, he would not care. I believe this is because he realized that this will be a reoccuring thing, therefore, not as valuable. Maybe this could apply to your kai puppy?

Now, in regards to other dogs and my dog.... Toki does "steal" other dog's toys and chewies, and Toki will get angry with them if the other dog tries to get back his things. Thus, I put away all toys and chews if we have a dog friend over. I set him up for success. He is the only dog in the household, so he isn't used to playing with toys with other dogs. I think this is why guarding happens, but I'll be interested to read all the comments in regard to your shiba and kai.

Just keep in mind, I have a japanese akita, and hardly ever are fucks given from him. He is extremely laid back and very stoic, probably very unlike your Kai puppy. My point is, maayyyybe once your puppy realizes the object is indispensable and not finite, maybe he wont put such a high value on it. Just maybe though.

Losech

I simply see it as "This is mine and I don't wanna share." Just make sure to keep the dogs separate when you give them high-value items and there shouldn't be a problem.

kiwe1203

Thanks for the advice and comments. I will definitely check out that book Brad. As I am typing now, Ryuu (the Kai) just got up from laying down and about to fall asleep to go after a toy Keiko (the Shiba) was chewing on. We generally keep all the toys in an open basket here in the living room but we may need to rethink the setup. Keiko seems pretty fine with him 'stealing' her toys and never reacts to him-just simply walks away. Maybe she understands that he's a puppy?

BradA1878

@kiwe1203 - Yea, he still has his "puppy pass", it will expire around 6 months of age. She probably doesn't value the toys as much since they have always been out and accessible for her. Over time he will learn the same - they they are always there, and there is no reason to fuss over them.

tjbart17

We have 3 kais. A 3 1/2 year old female at my parent's who came to us at 15 mos. old and was a major resource guarder. Koda who is 3. I have had him since he was 9 weeks old, and he is not a resource guarder. And a puppy from Brad and Jen, almost 13 weeks old.

I don't feed the females together at all. They are both fed in their crates. Being fed in their crates does make them guard their crates from each other. Well Mika, the puppy, guards hers from Mei the oldest. Mei actually doesn't guard her crate from Mika at all. Which is odd. She guards it from Koda. But then again, Koda only goes in there to steal her stash of treats that she likes to keep. She's been onto him for a while with that.

Mika guards high value treats, dried chicken. She goes bonkers over it and even growled at me the other day. I just give them to her in her crate. I'm also working with her on leave it and trading off with other treats. I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's always good to notice things and monitor behavior.

@brada1878 Akashi didn't guard his food or bully sticks with any of the Kais when we were in the OC together. He was actually really good. Shakko was the guarder that weekend. I actually think Koda and Akashi had a certain level of respect for each other.

shibamistress

My Leo (Akashi/Ayu) was a resource guarder when we first got him home at 8 weeks, and tended to growl a lot at the adult dogs who I suspect were just scary to him at first. However, he stopped! I was quite surprised, but it could be because the other two adult dogs are big resource guarders, and its like he learned rules of possession from them: don't go near them when they have something, and they also won't try to take things from him as long as he doesn't leave the desired object alone.

We do feed all dogs separately, and are even very careful with treats and toys, and are working with the AA on resource guarding because he's pretty bad about even guarding toys (though he also is happy to offer a toy to Leo to join in play, so he's a bit inconsistant in his toy guarding).

And yes, like Brad, we monitor toys/treats/food since we don't want to allow the behavior to continue. I've just been surprised, sometimes, by what ends up being "high value." An ice cube? Really? *lol*

kiwe1203

Ryuu and Keiko have no problem eating/ drinking together. In fact they will even drink out of the same bowl at the same time. His guarding is more towards toys. We don't give them any sort of bully sticks/chewy treats so that won't be a problem. Hopefully he'll learn that the toys will always be available to him and that he doesn't have to guard them. In the mean time we will use all of everyone's helpful advice to curb this behavior.
On a good note Ryuu is an awesome pup! He loves to run around the yard, wrestle with Keiko, snuggle and is a huge flirt! We started his pup training classes on Tuesday night too! He is doing great with "sit" and "watch me". He is housetraining very well and hasn't woken us to go out for the past two nights!!!
Thanks for all your help.