After all, the dog doesn’t know he shouldn’t take it and motivation to keep hold of that ‘thing’ is strong and innate behaviour. Learning to look out for the key warning signals and managing your environment will help reduce the chance of your dog taking something if it’s not left in reach – or – the dog’s does not have access to the ‘no-go’ areas or items in the house. It is important owners that are experiencing this type of behaviour from their dogs avoid provoking it further. Snatching things off our dog simply teaches them we are thieves, and owners miss out on teaching their dog vital life skills like sharing. We do not have a given right to take stuff off our dogs because we think we should be able to. But this idea comes from outdated and flawed research. Traditional dog training might suggest that you should be able to take items away from your dog to show them who’s in charge. Training methods can also influence behaviour. This means what may have started off as avoidance behaviours (such as dashing away) can transition to aggressive displays (Shepherd, 2009), such as growling, snapping and biting. Similarly, if the dog is attempting to maintain access to the resource by running away from the owner yet the owner manages to catch the dog and take the item off them, then the removal of the item is likely to cause increased attempts to maintain access to any valued resource in similar situations in the future. Any chase aspect can also be perceived as a game by the dog, so picking up items whether at home or on walks may then become a learnt attention-seeking behaviour. (2018) found such dogs were more likely to display resource guarding aggression.Īdditionally, if an owner has historically dashed after the dog and grabbed the item off them, then this increases the extrinsic value of stolen/scavenged item. Other factors can include breed traits (e.g.) gun dog breeds tend to ‘collect’ and hold things in their mouths, coat colour (solid-and part-coloured coats typically come from distinct bloodlines meaning the gene pool is reduced), where the dog has higher levels of impulsivity and fear Jacobs et al. If pushed enough, any dog will use aggression.įactors that can influence the likelihood of resource guarding can include pre- birth stress experienced by the mother, whether the dog was from a sizable litter size where one or few bowls of food were available, as this can create competition over food (this is indicative where “guzzling food” is observed). Therefore, aggression can be used to control or reduce this challenge. For example, taking something away from the dog like a toy or dog chew, which can cause frustration. When a dog uses aggression it’s almost invariably because the dog thinks that he’s under some form of threat. Possession aggression is a form of dominance aggression that’s primarily to do with genetic influence, meaning it can be inherited behaviour (NOTE: I am not suggesting this means the dog is ‘dominant’, this is about the contextual behaviour).Īny dog has the ability to use aggression, but it’s always dependent upon what they believe is happening to them. It can also be referred to as resource guarding.Ī dog that’s potentially possessive aggressive will display aggressive body language signals and some vocalisations to protect whatever he perceives himself to be in control of. ‘Possession aggression’ is the term used to describe threatening behaviour such as staring, standing over, showing of teeth, low to rising growling, snarling, snapping and/or biting, when it is associated with toys or other items in the dog’s possession.
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