Resource Guarding with puppies.

Not with people, AT ALL, but with dogs.

Ok, so my foster, 6 month old pit bull puppy, Luke, has some resource guarding issues with Ophie, my resident 3 1/2-4 month old pit bull puppy, I think.

But this happens, when he's in either his crate or the bed in the office.
The night we brought him home, he found a bully stick in his crate while he was in there.
Anytime Ophie appeared interested in him with his bully stick, he got that classic look on his face that is a, pause, stop, and the eyes got a little wide, then, if we didn't nip it there, he'd growl.
Ok, so common sense says, "No bully sticks or chewies left out and about for them because these are obviously high value items to him"

But Ophie left a chewie on the bed in the office, and yesterday morning, he grabbed it, and was trotting around the house with it as she ran after him. He did this with toys as well.
No snarkiness.

But, he is feeling under the weather as his kennel cough has worsened a tad, so he's been crated a lot because being out excites him and gets his cough going. Well, I had him in the office with me this morning, and he was laying on the bed next to me. I had Ophie crated. Well, I felt I had Ophie crated long enough, and I thought I'd see how she'd behave around him because generally she is puppy, puppy, PUPPY! with him and tackles him to play.
But she knows he's not well, and lays in front of his crate a lot since he's been ill.

She was well behaved, EXCEPT, she was being nosy. And he had the chewy next to him, and I guess she got a little too close, and he snarked at her, and she yelped. I was RIGHT THERE, though, watching to see what he'd do, and he did not bite her.

See, I'm confused on how to handle this.
Ophie can be annoying puppy, and I've been told to let them work things out for the first couple of weeks.
"He'll let her know when he's had enough, and she'll let him know when she's had enough."

But I don't know if he snarked at her because he doesn't feel good, or if he has serious guarding issues, or if he's just being a brat himself, or if he was correcting her for being a brat.

I don't want to seem stupid, but I haven't dealt with a multi-dog home before.

I think what you are dealing with is a pretty normal situation. One dog has an item (toy or food) and when the other dog gets too close, a growl is expressed which tells the other dog he is getting too close and to please back off a little. In this situation a growl is not as ferocious to dogs as it sounds to humans. The other dog should move away when he hears this.

My Great Danes do this regularly and the other immediately changes direction and moves away when they hear it.

As long as no actual fight starts, I wouldn't worry about it. I would watch the approaching dog to make sure he moves away pretty quickly but other than that, let them interact the way dogs interact. I don't even consider a quick snap in the direction of the approaching dog to be any big deal. It's just a little more forceful growl.

After you have seen how this works a few times, you won't think anything about it. The kennel cough is probably a contributing factor in this instance.

ETA: The less you intefere with their interactions, the better their relationship will be. Dogs don't behave by human rules and thats what we sometimes try to get them to do. They have their own rules and they know them and know how to live by them.

That's good advice, RFD.

You DO have to be a little more watchful with the APBTs, but it does sound like Luke and Ophie are behaving very normally. I wouldn't try to always make them share, but if it starts to get out of hand, like you said, Becca, common sense is to remove the object from both of them. I let mine know that if they can't leave each other alone they won't be getting it back, either of them. Amazing how quickly that settles things.

Some -- not all -- of the time it helps to have a second object to offer the one without. Then, if they want to trade off, fine, as long as it's amicable.

Sounds like normal dog behavior. But, you are wise to keep an eye on it.

Ok, so don't interfere with it unless there is fighting, right?
My issue with that, though, becomes that APBTs (not sure about puppies, though) can go from 0-100 in, like, a split second when snarking at another dog is concerned.

Now, while they are puppies, is the time to let them learn about the boundaries of snarkery. They really don't want to be separated most of the time, so teaching them that not respecting each other's warnings and pushing things too far will result in temporary exile will go a long way.

I would let Luke tell her to leave him alone like he is but if she doesn't listen after a few snarls I'd body block her away with some command (go away, that's enough, whatever you want to say) so that she does not push him to the point where he feels the need to escalate. Hopefully in the future she'll respond to the command alone and you won't need to get up. But do let him tell her first and see if she responds, she does need to learn to talk dog and respond to what they tell her but at the same time you don't want Luke to start getting really frustrated and escalate his behavior.

I am beginning to wonder if you are dog savy enough to own two dogs of this breed. You seem to be afraid of them and lack the knowledge and confidence to properly manage them. You have been given some good advice from several people but you are reluctant to follow it. Some APBT's are not good beginner dogs. Maybe Golden Retrievers would be a better breed for you.

And I began wondering a long time ago if you had enough decency and respect to be a human being. There are other species, like say a gorilla, that may be a better fit for you.

Every time someone comes on here looking for advice, you talk them down like they're a piece of dirt and your word is gospel. I guess someone expressing concerns they have, which stem from PAST EXPERIENCE, is just so horrible they should be banished from the face of the earth?

Becca's just showing a laudable excess of caution. She's already had one DA APBT, so she has an idea what is possible.

There's no real way to 100% predict how any dogs will act once they are older, so it's better to be mentally prepared for any possibilities.

You don't see Miakoda or Breeze telling Becca she's not fit to own an APBT, and they actually KNOW what they're talking about on the subject.

*shakes head*

RFD, if you would actually participate, or even just READ more threads than some of the food ones, you'd know that Becca isn't a "newbie" to the breed. Her girl Ella was an over-the-top DA type of dog, she has plenty of experience in how to manage. She's right to be a little cautious, because she's SEEN what this breed can turn into at maturity and she's taking the right steps in asking how to prevent something small from turning into something larger. You should have just left things at your first post.

Be that as it may, she is still afraid of them and IMO she would be happier with a easier to manage breed. She had one over the top member of this breed, why on earth would she want more?

Obviously, she doesn't have experience in managing two dogs, particularly two dogs she is afraid of tempermentwise. She doesn't seem to have the dog savy to handle this breed, regardless of owning a previous one. I think a gentler dog would be more to her liking and she would be much happier owning one. She wouldn't be asking questions about normal puppy behavior if she had puppies better suited to her. Someone owning 2 APBT's shouldn't have to ask that question.

And if you knew anything about ABPT's, you wouldn't be making such a fool out of yourself.

Actually I know people who have more experience with this breed then her that have asked that question

She is perfectly capable of owning multiple dogs of this breed. Thats coming from someone who has owned and raised them their entire lives

Youve been given some great advice already so Im just going to Echo it.

Actually, I've had experience with them.

I made my previous post because she was given good advice by several people that all agreed on the situation and proper course of action but she still expressed reservations about following that advice. And yes, my word is pretty much right on most of the time.

Not only does she not want to follow advice that was offered, I don't understand why someone who has had one over the top APBT would want another one, let alone 2 more. I merely suggest a gentler breed would be better suited to her. She obviously couldn't control the first and now she gets 2 more and is asking for help managing them?

I'm curious, what evidence do you have to support your claim that she couldn't "control her first one"?

Whoa.

So wait a minute.

In the, what, 1-2 hours from the time I posted the thread, to the time you replied with your advice, to now, I should get my healthy puppy to mess with my pretty sick foster dog, to test out your advice??

Why don't you give me some time???

And you know NOTHING about me, other than this one thread. What in the WORLD makes you think for one second that I am AFRAID of APBTs????

Where did I say that??? I wanted to possibly nip any issues, before they became BIGGER issues.

No, YOU stick with whatever "more manageable" breed you suggest, and I'll stick to whatever breed I want to own. Got it?
Because it'll be a cold day in HELL before some stranger tells ME which breed I should own and which breed I should not own.


What in the world. I swear to GOD some people think they know it ALL when really their brain is shoved so far up their OWN ASS, they really have no idea what they are talking about.

I know pit bulls.
I used to own the best **** one in the world before cancer started to take her from me.

I don't know everything, and I have a RIGHT to be cautious because my other girl was EXTREMELY DA, and I know that the breed is capable of becoming DA fast.
And, so what, I shouldn't give owning more than one a chance because YOU seem to deem me afraid of them???

Would you rather me just sit around and not give a crap and let my two dogs do as they please???

You've got some nerve.

she managed ella better then you can manage your fingers

Where did you get she couldnt control Ella? Ella couldnt have asked for a better more proactive owner

my responses are above in red.

GO, Becca Spoken like a true Terrier . . . .

And, for clarification, Becca's questions were not because she is inexperienced with the breed, but because she hasn't had a young puppy in a long time. There's a vast difference.