What are your views, opinions and thoughts on possessiveness...

My 3 month old GSD bitch, is getting possessive of her KONG. Especially, if i've put the tasty paste inside it..

She growled today and even had a snap towards me when I tried to take it from her.
I continued anyway and showed her that the 'toy' was mine and not hers etc...

I'm really walking on eggshells at the moment, finding the balance between worthy correction and letting her character etc to develop..

You know, not wanting to knock the zest out of her as a pup etc...

Although she likes a puppy jute roll, she doesn't seem to be as possessive of it as the tasty kong.....

Any views or methods to deal with it....?

Thanks

I am by no means an expert but I belive Ed wrote to take it away for a month.

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=146102#Post146102

Here is a great thread that talks about growling snapping pups.....

Let us know if you have more questions.....

These articles are linked in the thread Carol provided for you, but I wanted to post them for you here, as well.

http://www.leerburg.com/groundwork.htm
http://www.leerburg.com/dominantdogs.htm

If your dog is becoming possessive at 3 months, these articles should be mandatory reading (if you haven't already read them, that is).

It's good that you didn't let the dog "win" the Kong by growling at you. If you had, you would have reinforced the behavior. But growling over food/toys can be an indication that action needs to be taken in all aspects of the dogs life (see the articles). If you've been lax on those things before, time to tighten the reigns!

Well...

What do you mean by "especially"?

Are we talking about -f-ing with the dog while she, from her perspective, is trying to simply eat? To *us* it looks like a toy with some incidental flavor. Doesn't mean *she* thinks of it that way.

My dog was the same as a young puppy. His opinion of food dwarfed his interest in toys...yes, to the point of growling over it (but not toys). Food is life. The drive for it comes right outta the box. If you're not already, use it as a great motivator for obedience. Start today. Your scent will be all over it, and it'll be dispensed contingent upon her performance.

And maybe leave the dog alone while she thinks she's eating (and/or don't add flavor to the kong) and deal with unflavored toy nastiness seperately....if there is any.

 Quote: Steven Lepic

Maybe leave the dog alone while she thinks she's eating (and/or don't add flavor to the kong) and deal with unflavored toy nastiness seperately....if there is any.

Ditto to that. A dog shouldn't have to worry that their food is going to be taken away. If I was really hungry and just as I was digging in...someone came and took it away...I'd be pretty ticked too, and more likely to snap the next time.

Toys are different than food and maybe the lines are being blurred with your pup by putting food in a toy.

I may be in the minority, but my last two dogs were allowed ZERO food aggression. I don’t care if they are chowing down on raw hamburger; if I want to stick my face down in the bowl and take a bite they better let me without a peep.

I’ve done this with Starbuck about a dozen times. I also occasionally take away her raw bone so that I can take a taste. I always give it back to her and other than barking to get her bone back she seems “ok” with it.

 Quote: keith larson

I’ve done this with Starbuck about a dozen times. I also occasionally take away her raw bone so that I can take a taste. I always give it back to her and other than barking to get her bone back she seems “ok” with it.

I am wondering if you have done this to her a dozen times because she is being aggressive???? If so, I would say that a dozen times should tell you that whatever you are doing is not working.

If you do it just to show her you can, then I misunderstood.

I like my dogs to give stuff up to me also, toys, food, stuff they are NOT supposed to have ect....
I do have food gaurding dogs and all I care about is that they let me take it when I need to....my BH will body block me if I walk by him while he is eating which I allow, however any growl or head turn at me gets his food taken away.
Normally while they are eating I am wandering around cleaning kennels and such so all of them are used to me being around while they eat, but I do not make it a point to take food for no apparent reason.

I used to have the "I'll take it cuz I can" attitude, but after reading articles and threads here, I have learned that it is better just to leave them alone. If I give it to them, why would I want to take it from them right away. I wait until they are done or ignoring it and then I take it.
It is not like I am going to chew on a recreational bone after it has been slobbered on by my dogs, so what's the point?

She has never been aggressive at all. The only growl I ever hear is during tug-o-war.

I don't know that I have a specific reason, but it worked well with Tasha. I figure if I do it while she is little then it will never become an issue.

This area is probably the greatest area of debate ...

In one of the first books that I read, it stated that you should take the food away from the PUP while eating ... as a way to "desensitize" the pup to a person taking or touching their food, like maybe a young child.

I only did the take away a couple of times in the very beginning, what I started to do instead was just wiggle my fingers around in the food while he was eating.

My thought process was that if my niece or nephews were here and were going to do anything, it would be to either take the food and eat it themselves or try to feed the puppy. He has never shown any food aggression, and then after reading the articles here, I stoppped doing the finger wiggle in the food, too.

I can see both sides of it. The dog should be able to eat without interruptiong, but you also want to know that the pup/dog would not "bite" if for some reason someone did take the food away. So if you never take food away, how can you be sure?

Just curious.