Resource guarding

[MarmiteAndButter]

I am going crazy reading about this online.

Dog has been taking seemingly random items and going completely crazy if we attempt to take them back. There is no rhyme or reason to what these items are, but they always belong to the children rather than me. One day, a ballet slipper taken from inside a zipped bag 🙄 The next a cuddly toy. The next a Sylvanian family. And then a random piece of paper (wtf?).

It is a real pain as she won't leave the item, despite the offering of much nicer high value treats such as a chicken wing or a bit of steak. It makes us late when I have to take her with me and I end up getting cross and then getting bitten taking the item away. And so now I leave her unless I have to.

But seriously, what to do? The items are so random we can't guard against it. And offering other better things doesn't work.

Anyone any ideas?

[RedOnHerHedd]

You get bitten?
How old are your DC?
I would seriously be concerned if she is biting you. Maybe one of those behaviour classes might be of help. I don't have any other suggestions though. Does she have her own toys? DH used to have a cocker spaniel when we got together in our teens and she used to have her "babies" which were stuffed toys. She would growl if you went near them. Could your dog be doing the same?

[MarmiteAndButter]

Yes, she has her own toys and we have also been to all sorts of classes.
It's just the things that get recommended don't work 😬
Thank you though. I shall keep at it.
No, the DCs would never get snapped at as they know not to touch when she has a stand off over a piece of fluff or whatever.
I try not to make it an issue either, other than when I have to be leaving the house with her like when she has a vet appointment.
It is recent. I am wondering if she has picked up on vibes about other things going on.
That is interesting.
Perhaps with patience it'll stop as easily as it has started.

[ADishBestEatenCold]

What does she do if you don't try to get the item back and just ignore her?

How old is she? Is she neutered and how long ago was she neutered?

Have you tried offering her a favourite fluffy toy with a squeak (that you can squeak to attract her) in place of whatever she has stolen and is guarding?

[tobee]

My dog runs off with things like the post and wants to start a game of chase. The thing that he usually gives them up for is Parmesan, especially if a bit smelly.

Also, if I look bored by it or have gone to get cheese from the fridge he just drops it.

[MarmiteAndButter]

Mmmmm, good question.
Eventually, she wanders off uninterested but it's hit and miss as to when that will happen.
She is not the slightest bit interested in swapping it for her own toy, a treat, or even raw chicken 😏
I have yet to try cheese though! That will be my next try!
She is three years old and was early neutered at 8 weeks old before she came to me (not a practise I like as it was too young imo, but not one I had a choice in.)

[MarmiteAndButter]

Luckily, where we live we have no postal system or she'd be after that too 😂

[ADishBestEatenCold]

Hmm. Was thinking that, had she been fairly recently neutered that she might be still feeling a bit hormonal (was even leaping into the realms of fantasy ... thinking false pregnancy, or something ).

Yes, try cheese! Or sausages ... most dogs would give up anything for sausages.

If her own toys are 'silent' ones, then you could try investing in a 'noisy' toy (squeak, quack, whatever) that is only brought out at such times (not for general play).

Talking of general play, you could start clicker-training during play. So when she relinquishes a toy (during normal play, not at these stressful 'stand-off' times) you click and reward, straight away.

Meantime, if you know you're going to have to leave the house with her at a given time, try putting her into her crate, or the loo, or somewhere quiet and small, with no toys and no stealable items, half an hour before you are due to leave. She could be picking up going-out/appointment signals from you and mis-translating them into high stress.