Hello, I have a 3 year old black Lab named Cash. I got him from a known and trusted breeder at 7 weeks. At about 6 months he started refusing to release anything from his mouth. If you attempt to take it, he would growl. I’ve never had a dog act this way, but I know the growl is the warning. I read some forums and it said to offer the dog something in return for the item. Toys worked at first, but not for long. I started using cheese balls and immediately, he was releasing the item. I realize he’s turned this into a way to get a treat from me, but, today my adult son, (who still lives in the home), reached to take some kind of paper from Cash’s mouth and Cash actually bit him. It wasn’t a full on attack but it broke the skin on my sons hand. It was definitely meant to stop him from taking the paper! I have no idea how to handle this behavior. Cash is very strong minded but only shows this behavior when you try to take something away without offering him a treat. I love him dearly, but I would also love it if he would drop the item on command. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Ideally I'd say you need help from a force-free behaviourist, from an organisation such as the IMDT. However if this is not an option there is an excellent book called 'Mine' by Jean Donaldson which gives step by step instructions on a training programme to deal with resource guarding.
Thank you for your response! I downloaded and read the book this morning. Very informative! Also contacted a highly recommended trainer. We start private lessons in 2 weeks!
Your puppy is a retriever. They, more so than most other breed types, explore the world with their mouths. This is 100% entirely normal. Your puppy isn't borken or bad, you are not a bad owner, and it will all be totally fine. 192.168.100.1 192.168.1.1
