Sharing Toys

[Teal]

My dogs are having trouble sharing toys!

I have two boxers, one male 13 months old and one female four months old. The older dog is OBSESSED with toys, always has been. If you touch any toy he goes mental trying to get it (in a playful sense, definitely not aggressive). He also thinks everything belongs to him (which is fair enough as untill we got the puppy, everything did belong

to him!). Polly (puppy) is not as interested in toys, she prefers to play with dougall (older dog) most of the time. If she does pick up anything to play with (dosen't have to be a toy, they have done this over a

blade of grass before!) dougall won't

let her have it, he steals it from her, chases her or if he can't get it

for some reason, stares at her looking devastated. I have tried buying a

few toys specifically for Polly and keeping dougall away at

first but he always gets them and hides them

away! I have tried giving them one each but as Polly wants to play with dougall she loses interest in playing by herself and goes to dougall and it starts again!

The dogs are left alone together outside when I am at work, and obviously I want to leave them lots of toys to play with but I don't want them to fight, or stress about the toys.

I should add that there has never been any aggression over toys, just chasing and trying to grab it back.

Any ideas to help Them share a bit better? Poor Polly never gets to play with anything, and dougall is freaking out over the toys!

[Sandra777]

Sorry, dogs aren't children, they don't do "share".

From your description it sounds as though Dougall has resource guarding like issues which haven't gone over into "guarding" as in aggression but he is still guarding "his" stuff from everyone - you included by the sounds of it.

IMO you need to combat his issues using a method which makes sense to you - giving the new dog things he can't have isn't going to solve the problem as long as he thinks "everything" is his to guard (hoard).

There's lots of methods of reducing resource guarding, so you'll have to do some research thinking and planning before deciding on a method of attack

[Teal]

I have had dogs happily share toys before...

Dougall is a bit strange about his toys, as he will bring them to you, put them on

your lap etc to ask to play and stare between you and the toy untill you pick it up (he does exactly the same to Polly as well!) and as soon as you touch the toy he goes mental trying to get it...which made me

think it isn't really resource guarding (at least not with me,

may be different with Polly) but more that he thinks it is a fun game? I have taught him to give his

toys to me on command which he does, but obviously little Polly just tries to grab them

from him which results in chasing or if I tell dougall off he will sit two inches from her while she has the toy looking very sad. I am a bit worried about what they do in this situation when I am not home, although dougall is extremely tolerant and had never even so much as growled to tell Polly off. In fact I

think Polly is more dominant than dougall...I still would like to stop or reduce this behaviour if possible.

[W Sibs]

The scene in my house with toys:

Emmy only wants the toy Charlie has. Or Charlie only wants the toy Emmy has.

Despite having more toys then some toy stores!! There is no such thing as Charlie's toy or Emmy's toy at home anymore... all the toys is free to all. They have a few that they particular like but it's first come first serve (or Emmy's case "if I can steal it, it's mine").

Emmy will steal Charlie's toy, hit him over the head with it and run away. Charlie chases, barking, growling and so forth... then Emmy jumps on the couch and hide it up high, because she knows Charlie can't reach it. She's a real B!@#$ sometimes. Poor Charlie sometimes doesn't know what happened because it happens all so fast!

Or

Charlie will walk over to Emmy and just simply take the toy out of Emmy's mouth and then stands there growling while she trys to get it back. She starts whinging, barking and carrying on... then eventually pulls Charlie's tail so he has to drop it, and then takes it away and runs somewhere to continue playing with it... which will start Charlie chase, barking, growling, whinging.. then look helplessly at me to get the toy back off Emmy.

If they are at a stand off over one toy... I get the toy box and dump all their toys over their heads... both gives me filthy and walk away as though saying 'she has to wreck out fun, didn't she?' Problem solved

Charlie often brings toys to me to play, but he knows that Emmy will come in.. then that's his chance to "pounce" on her. Once they start playing.. both ignores me.

[Sandra777]

I have had dogs happily share toys before...

No, they are playing together with the toy as the focus - "sharing" is a human concept.

I too have had lots of dogs who will happily play together with a toy however I have never thought of it as sharing it out of the goodness of their hearts or because that would be "fair" - they are accepting each other as playmates and ignoring the pack dynamic between them for the moment.

I don't have dogs with resource guarding issues which affect people because a) I don't have a breed prone to it and b) I raise my dogs to accept they do not guard things, not from me, not from any person

They will have an argument with another dog about ownership of a toy on occasions, but I don't expect them to play nice and share and it would never occur to me to expect this to happen in all circumstances.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Sandra777

[Greytmate]

I have had dogs happily share toys before...

Dougall is a bit strange about his toys, as he will bring them to you, put them on

your lap etc to ask to play and stare between you and the toy untill you pick it up (he does exactly the same to Polly as well!) and as soon as you touch the toy he goes mental trying to get it...which made me

think it isn't really resource guarding (at least not with me,

may be different with Polly) but more that he thinks it is a fun game? I have taught him to give his

toys to me on command which he does, but obviously little Polly just tries to grab them

from him which results in chasing or if I tell dougall off he will sit two inches from her while she has the toy looking very sad. I am a bit worried about what they do in this situation when I am not home, although dougall is extremely tolerant and had never even so much as growled to tell Polly off. In fact I

think Polly is more dominant than dougall...I still would like to stop or reduce this behaviour if possible.

No, Sandra 777 is right.

Your interpretation is to assume the dogs are thinking like little people. They don't! They think like dogs.

Please take resource guarding seriously. Any aggression in dogs needs to be understood properly before it can be modified. Sandra's post was good advice.

[Red Fox]

The toys should be YOURS, not your dogs You decide when they get them, you decide when to put them away. I dont know if this will help with your problem at all but it may help your dog to stop seeing the toys as 'his'. If you are worried about them being alone then perhaps seperating the dogs during the day is a wise idea. If nothing else it will reduce your own stress levels

[Kavik]

Sorry, dogs aren't children, they don't do "share".

From your description it sounds as though Dougall has resource guarding like issues which haven't gone over into "guarding" as in aggression but he is still guarding "his" stuff from everyone - you included by the sounds of it.

IMO you need to combat his issues using a method which makes sense to you - giving the new dog things he can't have isn't going to solve the problem as long as he thinks "everything" is his to guard (hoard).

There's lots of methods of reducing resource guarding, so you'll have to do some research thinking and planning before deciding on a method of attack

Completely agree

I don't leave any toys outside with my dogs - safer that way (one is a resource guarder with the other dogs)