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Issue with bully sticks - need advice

LucyDog

LucyDog

Well-known member
I have noticed that Charlie Brown gets VERY aggressive towards me over his bully stick. When I come up to him to try to touch him he growls quite loudly and acts like he might bite if I take it away. I don't think he would actually bite me as he is only 3 mos old but I really don't want him to learn that this is acceptable behavior. I have played the trading game with him and he is willing to do it with other toys but even when I tried to trade him another bully stick for the one he was chewing he was growly. I know that part of the problem is that Lucy has taken toys away from him and I am sure he got a little bullied when he was at the breeders by the all the adult girl dogs. He was allowed to play with them during the day before he came to us. Now I crate them both separately before I allow either of them to have a bully stick. Should I just not allow Charlie Brown to have them at all? Both the dogs just love them and it keeps them occupied for a little while if I need to vacuum or get things done BUT I don't want to create a future problem.
 
This is exactly the age at which you need to start training your dog to happily trade items with you. What he is doing is called resource guarding and it can accelerate into a very very serious problem (probably the leading cause of dog bites in the home). If you search on this topic you will find lots of information on the board from previous discussions. Also if you read the nearby thread on aggressive snapping in this section, I posted a large number of useful links on exactly this topic.

These are all very common training issues that the owner needs to take responsibility for. It is important to emphasise that these are NORMAL if unwanted behaviours in a dog and that WE have to be the ones to train a dog in a positive way towards behaving in a way we find acceptable. A dog (like a child!) cannot know what it should be doing unless we put the time into training and a positive relationship. The time to start is when the dog is a pup so now is the perfect time.

I'd really recommend downloading Dr Ian Dunbar's FREE version of his book After you get your Puppy at www.dogstardaily.com -- or else order it from Amazon immediately. He addresses exactly this type of issue, and this will give you the guidance you need to end up with a well rounded, well behaved adult dog further down the line. So much needs to be done in the coming months to achieve this and a solid guidebook is an absolute must for every dog owner. (y)
 
Karlin said:
This is exactly the age at which you need to start training your dog to happily trade items with you. What he is doing is called resource guarding and it can accelerate into a very very serious problem (probably the leading cause of dog bites in the home). If you search on this topic you will find lots of information on the board from previous discussions. Also if you read the nearby thread on aggressive snapping in this section, I posted a large number of useful links on exactly this topic.

These are all very common training issues that the owner needs to take responsibility for. It is important to emphasise that these are NORMAL if unwanted behaviours in a dog and that WE have to be the ones to train a dog in a positive way towards behaving in a way we find acceptable. A dog (like a child!) cannot know what it should be doing unless we put the time into training and a positive relationship. The time to start is when the dog is a pup so now is the perfect time.

I'd really recommend downloading Dr Ian Dunbar's FREE version of his book After you get your Puppy at www.dogstardaily.com -- or else order it from Amazon immediately. He addresses exactly this type of issue, and this will give you the guidance you need to end up with a well rounded, well behaved adult dog further down the line. So much needs to be done in the coming months to achieve this and a solid guidebook is an absolute must for every dog owner. (y)
Click to expand...

So from what I read it sounds like I need to hold off on trying to play the trade game w/ the bully sticks and use something of less value to Charlie until he is comfortable and secure enough to work up to the bully sticks. I guess that means I shouldn't let him have bully sticks until we achieve this level of confidence. Is that right?
 
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