My First Real Puppy Problem

[TsarsMum]

hey guys i have come to realize my pup is a resource garder.

i have herd him growl before at the baby if the baby went to grab anything off the pup (he was told off and the baby was removed as well)

now he is getting bigger i have noticed it a few times in the past few days.

he started to eat one of the kids apples and when the older child (she is 9) went to take it off of him he growled at her she got it anyway.

last night i really saw it with my own eyes ;) He went to eat some chocolate off the couch and when the 4 year old said no and moved it further away from his he growled at her and lifted his lip.

good or not i jump up and growled at him said no and chased him out the house.

I have always and im sorry to say until reading on this forum not to take food off dogs etc always done this and now i have not and have a this.

oh he does not do this to me and i did not think he would to the others mainly the 4 year old as she does training with him (its so cute to watch he sits and drops she uses the clicker and food)

also please bere in mind my 4 year old is extreamly smart sometimes too smart

is there anyway to stop this behavior or curb it as with kids this is a dangerous thing i feel.

im not sure if this helps but this dog is a hoover he is always looking for food to eat.

[persephone]

this is a dangerous thing i feel

yep.

Not a good thing ...

Ok - a few things off the top of my head.

1: When kids have food dog is outside/crated/in another area.

2:when dog is fed- kids are nowhere around.

3 start T O T asap. CLICK HERE

because there are kids involved, I would also suggest you get a GOOD trainer in to observe/advise .Someone here will know of someone with a good reputation . ;)

[TsarsMum]

this is a dangerous thing i feel

yep.

Not a good thing ...

Ok - a few things off the top of my head.

1: When kids have food dog is outside/crated/in another area.

2:when dog is fed- kids are nowhere around.

3 start T O T asap. CLICK HERE

because there are kids involved, I would also suggest you get a GOOD trainer in to observe/advise .Someone here will know of someone with a good reputation .

thank you.

the kids are deffantly no where near him when he eats i leave him in peace. he is good with me i have not have an issue with him. we do the TOT and he watches me like a hawk full eye contact until i let him eat. should i get the kids to do TOT with him as they could both do it?

its more say the kids leave in this case an apple and he thinks he can have it he will growl at them if they try to get it. and the choc they where not eating they had ripped it out of the advent calender and he came in and decided he could eat it. and when he got no was not happy.

oh should say he is away from the kids if they are eating too. as its a big pet hate of mine dogs hovering around while you eat.

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this ;)

[Bundyburger]

If the kids are eating ANYTHING then the dog shouldn't be near them... particularly if he's trying to steal food off tables/furniture. You need to teach your kids to not leave food in his reach either (hard with young ones i know)... It sounds like he has no respect and thinks he can take what he wants when he wants.

I wouldn't be having the kids do TOT, what if something went wrong and he bit them??

[Sandra777]

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG. Get it out of your head that because he is a certain breed he isn't a dog first and foremost.

[persephone]

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG.

*nods*

lack of respect has nothing to do with breed .

[TsarsMum]

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this ;)

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG. Get it out of your head that because he is a certain breed he isn't a dog first and foremost.

yes i know he is a dog he is not my first dog and this is really his only issue but this breed is supose to be kiddy lovers. so that is why my comment is said. its hard i dont expect a purfect dog.

thanks i will try with not letting the kids leave food (very hard Lol) but how to do i get him to repect them? if i say leave it and i did test it by leaveing food he just left it. but if the kids leave it he just takes it.

ahh dogs and kids who would have them

[poodlefan]

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this ;)

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG. Get it out of your head that because he is a certain breed he isn't a dog first and foremost.

yes i know he is a dog he is not my first dog and this is really his only issue but this breed is supose to be kiddy lovers. so that is why my comment is said. its hard i dont expect a purfect dog.

thanks i will try with not letting the kids leave food (very hard Lol) but how to do i get him to repect them? if i say leave it and i did test it by leaveing food he just left it. but if the kids leave it he just takes it.

ahh dogs and kids who would have them

You won't. They aren't big enough or old enough to rate above him in his eyes. You can only supervise and manage them to prevent conflict over food.

Loving your kids and being willing to take issue with them for a valued resource aren't mutually exclusive. Family dogs are made, not born. No breed is bombproof with kids I'm afraid despite what some people might try to have you believe.

[persephone]

Loving your kids and being willing to take issue with them for a valued resource aren't mutually exclusive. Family dogs are made, not born. No breed is bombproof with kids

[TsarsMum]

thank you everyone its nice to not get my head bitten off

I hate failing and i supose thats how i feel. Im going to get someone out to help me as well but im going to deffantly take on what has been said here also.

thank you again.

i will let you all know how i get on with this and i do know he loves the kids as the carry on when he see's them tells me so

[Bjelkier]

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG. Get it out of your head that because he is a certain breed he isn't a dog first and foremost.

I agree totally with Sandra and the others who have said this.

It drives me insane when people come over to me at shows and say oh its a Samoyed, they are fantastic with children.

No, wrong, they can be fantastic with children, it's not a natural instinct in the dog to see a child and think, hey, I have to be nice to that becuase I'm a Samoyed.....

Honnestly it's like Labs and people assuming the come pre trained. ;)

Sorry if that sounded harsh (I'm not trying to bite your head of or anything), I've been dealing with some very weird puppy buyers lately who have said the same thing and it's wearing me a little thin

I agree with what Bundy's mum said about children having no food at all around him.

I can't remember how old he is, 5 months?

I think TOT would be great to start with, he sounds like he needs a very firm hand and I can tell you my Sammie's have also been resource garders,

Samoyeds are not soft dogs, they might look it but they are solid steel under it all.

What kind of training have tou been doing with him?

Edited December 3, 2010 by Bjelkier

[TsarsMum]

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG. Get it out of your head that because he is a certain breed he isn't a dog first and foremost.

I agree totally with Sandra and the others who have said this.

It drives me insane when people come over to me at shows and say oh its a Samoyed, they are fantastic with children.

No, wrong, they can be fantastic with children, it's not a natural instinct in the dog to see a child and think, hey, I have to be nice to that becuase I'm a Samoyed.....

Honnestly it's like Labs and people assuming the come pre trained. ;)

Sorry if that sounded harsh (I'm not trying to bite your head of or anything), I've been dealing with some very weird puppy buyers lately who have said the same thing and it's wearing me a little thin

I agree with what Bundy's mum said about children having no food at all around him.

I can't remember how old he is, 5 months?

I think TOT would be great to start with, he sounds like he needs a very firm hand and I can tell you my Sammie's have also been resource garders,

Samoyeds are not soft dogs, they might look it but they are solid steel under it all.

What kind of training have tou been doing with him?

Hi i think i thought that as everything i read about sammies says that they love kids.

i am deffantly not soft on him. I have being doing the k9pro puppy distance course. tsar can sit, drop, stand, stay, wait. he also does the tot. he is very good with me just not the kids. but in saying that he has very litle repect for my hubby (he is not home 90% of the week)

after chrissy or maybe before he will he will be going to dog training down the rd. i was going to go to the local dog club but they do not start back to next year in feb.

She owns sibes and knows the whole spiz temp well so i think she will be a better choice.

[Tassie]

It's good that you're doing what you can to deal with this issue before it escalates.

A few thoughts -

- loving kids is one thing - kids being able to earn a dog's respect is something quite different. My guess is that at present he sees them as litter-mates - which is good in some ways, not in others;

- be careful that you don't do anything which takes the growl away - one famous trainer has a phrase something like "Treasure the growl" - it's the dog's non-harmful way of letting people (and other dogs) know he's not happy with something;

- if you're working with K9Pro already, then take that advice.

[Fleuri]

i picked this breed as i thought they where very family dogs and now this

ALL breeds are dogs first. He is behaving like a DOG. Get it out of your head that because he is a certain breed he isn't a dog first and foremost.

yes i know he is a dog he is not my first dog and this is really his only issue but this breed is supose to be kiddy lovers. so that is why my comment is said. its hard i dont expect a purfect dog.

thanks i will try with not letting the kids leave food (very hard Lol) but how to do i get him to repect them? if i say leave it and i did test it by leaveing food he just left it. but if the kids leave it he just takes it.

ahh dogs and kids who would have them

You won't. They aren't big enough or old enough to rate above him in his eyes. You can only supervise and manage them to prevent conflict over food. Loving your kids and being willing to take issue with them for a valued resource aren't mutually exclusive. Family dogs are made, not born. No breed is bombproof with kids I'm afraid despite what some people might try to have you believe.

I agree with this. I had a similar problem with my dog and my youngest child who is one year younger than our dog. Even though I never allowed the children to eat around the him so he wouldn't get use to taking things from them and to prevent the a problem in the first place. One day when my son was siting at the BBQ table eating our dog jumped up and wanted sons food (dog didn't just take it) but when my son said "shoo go away" my dog growled at him (real nasty growl) son was four at the time and we had our dog since a pup.

I had to teach my child to give the dog commands like sit, come and to say NO! I had to teach my son to be more assertive with the dog. So that the dog will respect him also. I think Mambo saw himself as above the youngest in the pack or was trying to compete for it. They are all fine now everyone knows their place. :p

corrected spelling.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Fleuri

[Bjelkier]

As Tassie said loving children and automatically obeying them are not the same thing.

Its great that you are getting him into obediance, it will be very good for him and going to someone who understands Spitz breeds is even better.

I hope it works out for you

[Nekhbet]

you need a behaviourist to come show you how to curb the behaviour and see what else may be encouraging it. I can tell you if any dog lifted a lip at my child it would soon know never to do it again.

your dog knows tricks for rewards - but he has not learned respect. Dont be lured into the trap that because a dog listens to programmed commands he is 'obedience' or respectful. Until you work on that keep your dog and children + food very separate.

[TsarsMum]

thank you everyone. i have spoken to my hubby and ill get someone in to see what is going on.

he has been a wonderful dog so far this has only been issue.

i believe he respects me he will listern to me. he is really my dog.

and who ever said he sees the kids as litter mates i absoultly think this is the case. He loves the kids but they are his equals or lower then his equals.

Ill make sure all food is gone before he is allowed in the house.

the rest i do anyway as i hate dogs hovering while i or the kids eat.

[teekay]

you need a behaviourist to come show you how to curb the behaviour and see what else may be encouraging it. I can tell you if any dog lifted a lip at my child it would soon know never to do it again.

your dog knows tricks for rewards - but he has not learned respect. Dont be lured into the trap that because a dog listens to programmed commands he is 'obedience' or respectful. Until you work on that keep your dog and children + food very separate.

Interesting reading this thread. I have a 5 year old and so far we have not had any issues with my 2 dogs but I do supervise them very closely when they are together. The bolded bit intrigued me though Nekhbet, what would you do exactly so the dog would never do it again.

I love your second paragraph, very true

[alpha bet]

Im afraid I do have somewhat different attitude - with over 15 years experience of working in this specific area - that being - dogs fitting in with family life.

Of course I agree that the dog needs to be supervised around the kids, however it is possible and necessary to teach your dog that he is not to use any pressure towards any human. He just needs to understand that he is a four leg and the humans are two leg (even if that human is crawling).

It is nigh impossible to assure you don't have any food lying around before letting the dog in the house. You have a few kids and there is always the chance of a biscuit that has rolled under the couch or they have some food in their pocket (for example). There is also the danger the dog may decide he wants to guard a toy or a part of the garden where he might have a bone buried or even his bed.

Instead of separating I would aim to modify the dogs behaviour and attitude to food and toys etc. etc. with the kids around and incorporated into the sessions. The objective should be to foolproof your dog (as much as possible) to family life not create separation.

It is near impossible to explain how to achieve this online so you do need to talk to some trainers/behaviourist - Unless you have someone you know well who might recommend someone, then I suggest you talk to a few and see who seems to make the most sense before committing to anyone.

[Nekhbet]

depends what is happening teekay. I dont have children of my own though

If the child was tormenting the dog well, a dog has to exhibit warning signals and the kid would probably get a smack on the bum ;)

if the dog was simply intimidating a child and being a bully it would be receiving a pack correction from me and the families lifestyle would be changing in regards to behaviour around the dog, retraining to raise comfort levels with the dog around those situations (because realistically you do need to ensure you have a safety net when it comes to your children) etc. It's not a quick process but that dog would learn quickly the behaviour is incredibly unacceptable.

Alpha bet I dont believe total separation is necessary but at the moment until professional help comes in they should separate when there is food around. It's not a long term fix but at the moment its better then having the dog nip a child that doesnt understand what the dog is telling it.