Possessive dog, should we withdraw the resources?

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Possessiveness is a problem that is not often talked about but is actually quite common. The dog can defend all kinds of resources. The moment the dog likes something, he may find himself making the decision to stand up for that thing.

To illustrate this, here is a small list of defensible resources, it's by no means complete because as we just said, anything, absolutely anything the dog likes can be defensible and defended.

- The bowl
- The sweets
- The caresses
- The couch
- Cart
- The water bowl
- Holes in the ground
- The droppings
- The other dogs
- ...

When one is with a possessive dog, one often finds oneself with the desire to withdraw the resource which makes it possible to remove the immediate conflict. For example, if the dog growls to protect his "sofa" resource when approaching with the intention (or not) to bring him down, it is tempting to decide that the sofa is off limits. So, no more problems.

When you try to give a treat and another dog walks up and gets harshly "yelled at" by the other dog for it, it's tempting not to give the treats anymore. And it is true that at the moment, this makes it possible to remove the problem.

I imagined a little tale to illustrate this a little bit and see if it really is the best method. Here it is.

In a distant land lived two dogs. One was golden like the sun and the other clear like the moon. Each day, they fought against each other to decide which of them would have access to the stream and could drink. Each day, the one who lost the day before, became even wilder to have access to the resource so desired.

The rain god hated conflicts and wanted to cry to see them hurt like this every time they returned from battle. So he refrained from raining for months and the stream gradually narrowed and finally disappeared. It was the time of drought.

The flowers and wild herbs withered, and the warm wind could raise more and more dust. The earth, once generous, cracked. Until the last drop, the two dogs argued for it, then there was nothing left at all. They could dig as deep as their paws allowed, they weren't even getting a vague trace of moisture anymore.

But quickly, the dogs withered away because drinking was vital to them and in just a few days they began to wobble on their paws. Mad with concern seeing them lying on their sides, motionless and almost dead, the rain god burst into a big sob. What had he done? Where the wounds hadn't had time to kill them, it was he who had hurt them like that. He cried so much and more that from the mountain where before the so small stream sprang a veritable torrent which flowed into the valley.

The two dogs crawled up to him and eyed each other for a moment, growling. Did they have to fight over who was allowed to drink? The dog with the golden coat stepped forward a little, revealing its beautiful teeth and immediately, the other dog gave in, too weak. Only, he was still next to the water and as far as the other made him go back, the torrent was so big that he was always near the water. So the golden dog ends up giving up to drink. Finally, water was running down her throat, healing that terrifying pain of thirst. Several tens of meters away, slowly, without really daring to believe it, the moon-colored dog took a sip of water. So soft. So good. So fresh.

The other dog lifted his head, noticing the mischief and growled, but he could only get the other dog to flee a little further, still close to the water and it was there that he realized that no matter how much water this dog drank, whom he had always considered a parasite, he could not dry up such a torrent. There was enough for hundreds like them. Reassured in his concern, he abandoned the case.

Since then, the torrent still flows, but the rain god smiles because the two dogs became friends.


Moral of the story, in the event of a drought, we risk fighting for water all the more ... So when we have a possessive dog, withdrawing the resource, it works for the moment, but over the long term. in the long run, that will not improve the situation.

To manage possessiveness, one can work from positive association or by "flooding" or ... but in any case, it may be necessary to work with a muzzle at first to avoid any accident. We are going to go into some detail on the sample exercises, but only to show what is doable. Possessiveness can lead to biting and therefore should not be taken lightly. I recommend owners of possessive dogs to seek the help of knowledgeable professionals to help them manage.

Example of exercise by "the flood" ...
In this exercise, we take the problem on the wrong foot and we make the defended resource so commonplace that it will become uninteresting. Around the protection of the kibble from another dog, here is a feasible exercise (of course, in a cage muzzle, allowing to catch while ensuring the safety of the participants at the beginning because an accident will not be able to improve the situation): throw Kibbles from all over a room where the 2 dogs are ... it is very hard to defend the whole room and little by little the dogs learn to relax towards the presence of the other near the kibble. There is no point in making him leave, there are everywhere.

Example of exercise by gain ...
In this exercise, to use the example of the fairy tale, the god of rain would be the moon-colored dog. To fight against him, to make him flee, would only drive away the water and therefore would be counterproductive. Here is what it can give around the protection of the hugs towards another dog: as soon as the other approaches, the hugs arrive in greater quantities. If the other moves away, for whatever reason, the caresses diminish until they completely disappear. If the possessive dog tries to scare the other away (show teeth, growl, ...) the caresses immediately disappear.

The other dog is a producer of the desired resource, so his arrival is great news, it's just a positive association.

Example of a learning exercise ...
In this exercise, we do not directly work on a positive association but we cut the grass under the dog's feet, we do not give him time to defend. This time, we face the possessiveness around comfort and the dog defends the sofa against the human. While we want to go on the sofa, we take a treat and we very happily call the dog who ends up getting off the sofa to take the treat. He is thus taught to "descend".

You should know that a resource defends itself all the better when it is already in the possession of the dog. If he has his butt on the couch, defending the couch is very doable. If it has all 4 legs on the floor, the sofa is much more easily accessible to everyone. So we let the dog down, we settle in and then let him get back on the sofa if ever we are OK to give him this access. By force, the dog will learn that going down is cool and that it does not mean that he really loses the resource, so it does not matter!

But ideally, it is not all these exercises that should be put in place but first of all to have good management of your own environment. If you have 2 dogs, offering 2 comfortable baskets may not be enough. You have to think about the locations, everything that makes one place better than another. If the house is a huge giant basket, the resource will be so abundant that there will be no reason to defend it against the other. So you have to think about your environment so that everyone can easily find what they are looking for and this will reduce the risk of conflicts.

So to conclude, possessiveness is a fairly common problem, which can be handled more or less easily but can also lead to biting, so this is one of the many issues where professional help can be found. a great thing.