It’s not a secret that our beloved dogs really love their dog toys, especially if their still very young adorable puppies. If somehow they get spoiled with really fun and cute toys, they might develop this unwanted behavior of guarding their toys. But when is this seemingly innocent behavior not healthy for your dog?
Toy guarding is surprisingly normal for puppies that are still on developing stages, these dogs try to hide the toys you’ve given to them more so if they own many of them to play with. The first thing you can do to control this kind of behavior is slowly decreasing the number of toys your dog has. With less number of toys at your dog’s disposal, they will then slowly lose that unwanted toy guarding and hoarding behavior.
When Should Be Worried About This Type of Behaviour?
There comes a time that your dog’s behavior might become somewhat aggressive when it comes to guarding their toys. They might actually try to bite or bark at anyone they notice has the intent of stealing their toys away from them. This might be a varying symptom of a bigger behavioral dog problem called resource guarding. This happens when your dog is concerned that other people or even other dogs are becoming a danger and might take away their security and resources, so they start to act aggressively as to protect the things that they need.
This unwanted behavior might be the result of your dog’s unnoticed worry and insecurity, that they are scared of the unknown that might come in their lives, so they cling to the things that are giving them that safety they are needing.
What should you do with your dog’s toy guarding?
When you notice even for a bit that your dog is starting to develop this very unhelpful behavior, you should immediately take action to address the problem at hand. A great and fun way to solve this problem is by providing your dog with an exciting and enjoyable way of receiving their toys.
You can start playing with your dog, and giving the rewards when you command them to pick up or release their toys. This would encourage your dog to behave better because of the rewards like treats they are getting. You can even give a toy as a reward for them following your commands, this will make them feel that they earned getting that toy.
Making the toy giving the part a little bit more fun and interesting is a very cool way of treating this problem. As soon as your dog gets the hang of this game reward system, they’ll eventually acknowledge you or other humans not being threats to their resources and safety, making them love you more and reducing the unwanted bad behaviors of barking and biting.
Having your dog develop this toy guarding behavior might become a nuisance. Your dog might steal toys from your children. The trick here is to improve your bond between your dog, let them know that you are their owner, their one true best friend.
