Stop Your Dog Getting Possessive With Its Toys

By Richard Cross Terris
Some dogs feel that they have to guard their toys or food, so will get aggressive whenever people or other dogs come near them. This is a natural behaviour as in the wild a dog would have to protect what it had, but is not the sort of behaviour you want your dog to display.
If a dogs possessive nature is not addressed, it can become a serious and even dangerous problem. You need to stamp it out before it gets to this stage. For example if a dog lashes out in warning whenever people come near, it can be dangerous for people who aren't aware of this, especially children.
To make sure your dog doesn't get possessive with its toys, make sure that from a young age it is used to playing with its toys only around other people. Never allow it to take the toy to a place where it is alone, as it is then more likely to think it is his. Also when your dog is young, practice taking the dogs toy away from him. This could be a good time to start to teach the "give" command too, so in later life it knows you can take its toys from it at anytime.
The same problems and techniques also apply to food. You don't want your dog to be aggressive whenever it has food, so always feed your dog in a place people will regularly be so that it doesn't feel the need to protect it.Knowing what your dog is feeling is a vital part of dog training. To receive a free guide to dog body language, please click here.
Richard Cross is owner of the Pets Clinic website. Pets clinic provides health information and advice about all kinds of pets, with new articles added daily.