Possessive Shiba! Any help?

Comments

• okiron

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Have you taught him "leave/drop it"?
• Zinja

  March 2009 edited November -1

  My puppy has food aggression problems. It's really bad.
  
  As Rina said, the "leave/drop it" will help. A few books that will be of interest is Jean Donaldson's The Culture Clash where she summarizes possible techniques for possessive dogs. Her other book, MINE! Goes into the possession more in depth.
• Calia

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Tetsu is like that at the dog park...if someone brings a squeaky toy, he's all over it, doesn't want to drop it, and gives a little growl when any dog comes near him. I've brought my own squeaky toy to help get his attention away from the toy he's got. You may also want to try to teach your pups the "trade it" game. It basically works like this, you have several desirable toys and let him play with one. Once he's well established with that toy, start playing with another toy yourself, and make it seem like the funnest thing ever. When he drops the other toy to get yours, reward him. Continue this several times before adding a command to it. This has definitely helped in getting Tetsu to give up toys.
• tsukitsune

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Beth's advice is great. You can incorporate the words "drop it" and "take it" as he does the action.
  
  And its one thing to teach the pup at home and have the system down, but its another entirely for them to be in an environment that is distracting and busy like the dog park. Perhaps you can try to go there when its not as busy and work on his training - you'll have a bigger success rate the next time it is busy and you need him to 'drop it'.
• StaticNfuzz

  March 2009 edited March 2009

  The advice by others above are sound...
  
  The taunting behavior about the toy while in other dog's company is not uncommon within the breed. You will need to teach drop it. Be sure trade one good for another, so he gets the idea that you are not snatching a high value item. Rule of thumb, never ever take away an item from a possessive dog without an equally temping object!
  
  At the dog parks around here they ask that owners not bring in toys or food. Shibas with the full "mine" behaivor will not usually ever be willing to completely share with other dogs even with good training. It is a deeply ingrained thing. Know this and be proactive when around other dogs. Most likely you will be able to work with the dog to share with you and I would work on that first and foremost.
  
  Snf
• sunyata

  March 2009 edited November -1

  Nola is not really possessive, as she likes to run away with something in her mouth that she is not supposed to have (leaves, rocks, sticks, ect.). She has never growled at us about it. However, we have taught her that "Look What I Got" means to drop whatever it is that she has, come to us, and look at the great new object we have for her. (sometimes what we have is an empty fist that we are waving around like crazy, a new 'better' stick, or a toy) Either way, she always gets a treat when she comes to see what we have for her. This is great for getting her back in the house once we are ready to go in and she is not. :-P
  
  We taught her this, mainly, by being really excited about what we had. This would be a wonderful tool at the dog park when you may not be able to get close enough to her to do the 'trade' command. Once we got really excited about what we had, we would say to her (loudly and excitedly) "Nola, come look what I got!" She would immediately drop whatever it was that she had and run to us to see what sort of awesome thing we had for her. We would treat her and give her whatever we had (if it was an empty fist, she got an awesome belly rub). Now she almost always comes to see what we have when we tell her we have something for her.