Hi
We've had some really helpful feedback on this site before, hope there's someone out there who can advise us again....
Our b.c.boy is 7 months old now. We've had problems in the past with jumping & nipping but have pretty much got that under control now. But a month ago I had a scary experience where he wouldn't give up his bone. I stared him out but he wouldn't 'give' and when I went to take it out of his mouth he growled and bit me - no blood but nasty briusing &marks on my arm . It tookme a while to get back on that horse but i've finally regained confidence with him. it appears the problem isn't sorted however, he did it agin last week to my husband & then today to my 14 yr old son. These are isolated incidents where it's an object he really wants, usually an item of clothing he's stolen. We've had to tell our kids not to forcibly take something from him on their own.
Things we've done to try & sort this - had him neutered 2 weeks ago, he gets enough exercise, have done training with him but that has slipped a bit recently.... he can do sit, stay,lie down, take, leave it (sometimes!!), fetch, give (sometimes!!) + I've phoned a behaviourist but haven't heard back yet.
Sorry this is so long, any advice would be really valuable right now, thanks.

Bones are very high value to dogs and they can get very protective and guarding. Yes its the best idea to get a behaviourist in to assess and guide you. In the meantime dont make eye contact and "stare him down" as I think you did or at least originally. Direct eye contact with a dog is challenging and confrontational. If he is guarding and then further feels challenged that will make him worse. When he his food bones or chews leave him alone and maybe even let him have them in another room. Pinching stuff and running off is usually attention seeking, again if he has something like clothing he shouldnt have then do a trade with higher value treats, such as cheese chicken hot dogs ham etc. walk up quietly no fuss show him the treat and lure him away and make him sit for the treat. You can even lure him out the room and get him to sit and treat and close him in another room while you retrieve and remove the article. growling is a initial warning, dogs reprimanded for growling can go straight to lunging and biting. At this stage whilst you are awaiting to make arrangements with a behaviourist, these suggestions should keep things safe in the meantime.

I had this problem with a rottie I am looking after. He was awful with bones. If you want him to drop the item then you need to offer a item of higher value. So if your dog loves cheese, then show the cheese, give the drop command, take the item and give him the cheese.

Don't let your kids get involved with this and keep insisting, as you have done, that they do not interfer with the dog, when he has it.

Overtime the rottie gave me anything I asked for. I didn't do any specific training, I put it down to the fact that he recognised me as the leader and therefore dropped it.

Resource guarding is very common.

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Does he have any toys in the house such as chew toys, tug ropes or the like?

Does he get any interaction with these from the family or is he left with them to chew and play by himself quite a lot?

When you play fetch does he bring the toy back to you straight away?
Does he drop it when asked?
Do you throw the toy again immediately after he has dropped it?

One thing you might want to try is to play fetch with him and get him on a nice level energy plane so he's panting but not run in. Then with him near you place the ball on the ground and ask him to "leave". If he moves towards the ball or your hand then stand back up again and keep hold of the ball.
Once you have the ball on the ground in front of him and you are stood back upright then give him an "O.K" or a "Fetch" to tell him he can now pick up the ball. Get this down to a T so that you can say leave once, place the ball on the ground and then stand back up and the dog will only pick the ball up when you give the say so. You can do it with a tasty treat too if you want. Most folk do it when giving the dog their food and will ask the dog to wait whilst they place the bowl on the deck and say it is ok to eat.

Once you can comfortably do this then work on placing the ball on the ground, taking a step away and asking the dog to get the ball. If the dog brings it to you straight away then big praise, if not then coax them to bring the ball to you - a toy without play is just an object

Now you can expand the challenge and build on it how you want i.e. put the ball on the floor, walk 10yrds and give the cue to pick it up or put the ball on the floor, walk 10yrds away, walk back, pick the ball up, throw it, wait for it to settle and then give the cue to go get it.

Hopefully you will see a drop in the occasions he runs off with things and you can do this kind of training during the ad breaks on TV - ask the dog to sit. Ask them to stay. Go put the kettle on and get a treat out of the cupboard or a toy and hide it somewhere quite obvious to begin with such as by a door or in the middle of the kitchen floor. Go back tot he lounge and ask the dog to "go find". Follow him and as soon as he finds what you put down then praise him and fuss him.
Now the kettle has boiled as the dog to follow you back to the lounge. Ask the dog to stay again. In the kitchen put your tea bag in the cups and pour your water on, hide a treat or the toy in another obvious place and return to your dog. Ask him to "go find". Again follow and praise when he finds it.
Do the same again when you go back to put the milk etc in the tea and then relax to watch your programme.

Do the same again during the next ad break. This way the dog gets 3mins of interaction every 12mins of relax time so he gets challenged and asked to think, use his skills etc a great deal over the course of an evening. If you watch BBC channels then your dog will be very sad

As far as the bone stuff is concerned then remove the high prize possessions and only give him them when you want to settle him down and he can relax with them. If you sat down with your favourite choccies (it's choccie) and somebody was always trying to take them away from you then you would get agitated too so only give him his bone or high prize when he will have a decent period of uninterrupted nom time.
To get him away from it all you will have to do is invite him to play not try and get it off him. If you call your dog away from the high prize for an even higher prize such as interaction, a walk, his food etc then you will have a much more trusted dog. Make it a clear rule that if the dog is chewing his bone then he has been given it and he is not to be disturbed - a bit like the sign you hang on hotel doors If the dog isn't chewing then the bone or high prize is out of reach and sight such as a designated cupboard.

You can also mix up the toys that you interact with him with so a ball, a cuddly toy, a tug rope and anything else (plant pots are good - they are cheap, they roll funny, you can hide things under them and collies like to wear them ). This way one toy is not prized over the other as they are all getting interaction with you except the bone. The bone is a signal for him to chill out, take 5mins and when you are ready you will call him away from it.

That might give you some ideas to work with but just remember the dog must bring the toy to you when you have asked, not when he decides it is playtime. You are the one starting and ending play.

BRILLIANT response! Thanks for that. Will use this on my highly active/excitable GSD pup!

Oh your poor lad.
Just to save me writing it all out. Have a read of the following article:
https://sites.google.com/site/lucysd...ource-guarding

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The way dogs think is if its in my mouth its mine Bracken does sometimes pinch socks to play kill with I just get some treats put them in his ball and roll it past him works everytime without confrontation.

Hi
Thanks so much to everyone for your advice , tips & articles, we've also seen a behaviourist which was really helpful & gave us confidence.

Yes, Dylan (dog!) has toys in the house, we keep them in the cupboard and get a couple out at a time, sometimes we play with him with them- mostly balls! sometimes he has them to himself.

We are now practising 'leave it' & exchanging things for a treat/game every day, starting with 'low value' toys/items, the plan is to build up to high value items slowly.

I think the idea of giving him a bone & leaving him in peace with it is a good one - he hasn't had a 'proper' bone since the first biting incident! so he's missing out a bit there. I'll maybe give that a go ...

I think where we went wrong was we thought Dylan was challenging us (in the rankings) when he wouldn't give things up, whereas having chatted to the behaviourist about this & a few of his other more minor issues has made us realise he's actually a bit insecure . So we misread him which is a shame but as he's only 7 mnths I'm hoping we can help him get some confidence back. he's our 1st dog so steep learning curve !!!

Thanks everyone, it's good to have some help out there!!