Resource Guarding with puppies.

And I couldn't control my dog???
That's TOTALLY laughable!!!
hahahahaha!

You know, not to toot my own horn because, yes, I made mistakes with Ella, but a LOT of people, in my position, would have given up on a dog like Ella.

She was over-the-top DA. But I still walked her. I still took her to training. I still worked her.
And I still loved her.
I loved her enough to accept her for who and what she was.

And, honestly, she loved me enough to keep trying to live even when the cancer started paining her so bad she could barely climb stairs.

THAT is why I will ALWAYS own a pit bull.

And THAT is why I refuse to listen to less-than-intelligent-more-judgemental people such as yourself, RawFedDogs.

Because of several posts about her first one being over the top DA. Over the top DA is out of control.

Uh, no, it's not.

Your ignorance of the breed is showing, just stop now.

Ummm not in a APBT it isnt.

@Becca, I can at least give you something useful. Mind, this is Great Dane not pitty but still a large and potentially dangerous issue. I have a similar situation, and it seems like for us, the answer is "it depends."

Cheza will guard her food and high value chewies from Lyra, but never us (I can stick my hand in her mouth and take something away, and she will always, without fail, "drop it." She also growls when Lyra gets too close to her to cuddle.

But only sometimes, in all cases.

She doesn't always growl with her food, just when she's hungrier than usual. She doesn't always growl with bully sticks, except when it's a brand spanking stinky new fresh one. She doesn't always growl at cuddles, she has moods where she welcomes them (strangely always in the same position, so it might just be a comfort thing because Lyra is heavy.)

Other than that they get along just fine. I take care never to leave a fresh-ish chew out when we aren't home. I pay some attention during feeding time (the first time it happened, Cheza actually bit Lyra on the chest and we've set down some rules since and now she just rumbles a bit) and the rest they just work out on their own.

Supervision and not setting them up to fail seemed to work well for us. Eliminating the guarding didn't work, period. I can call her off her food easily, but she continues when I allow her back. I could feed them in separate rooms, but there's no point if the reasoning is Cheza just being a grump. I make sure they each get their own new bully stick as well, and if Lyra tries to steal the one Cheza has, I just entice her with the new one and lay her down at more of a distance.

Yes and its not "testing out my advice", its following sound advice from years of experience of handling all breeds and all ages of dogs.

I'm not the one not giving you time. You asked how to handle the "situation" and I told you. Simple as that.

Because of statements you made about "over the top DA dogs" and "0 to 100 in one second" and the fact that normal puppy behavior from these puppies concern you enough to seek help.

They are not "issues". They are normal dog/puppy behavior.

Yep. BTW: I have 2 Great Danes and they can be much more of a handful than any APBT.

I'm not "some stranger". I'm someone with 15 years of animal training experience with all breeds and ages of dogs and other animals. You should try to learn from me instead of bitching because I don't say what you want to hear.

Oh, I do know what I'm talking about.

There you go, proving my point. THAT'S EXACTLY why I said you would be happeir with a gentler breed and why I said you are afraid of the pit bulls.

Yes, exactly. Now you're leaning.

When it comes to interaction between them, basically, yes. There are times you should intervene but, from your post, you haven't come close to that point yet. The less you intefere with their realtionship, the happier everyone will be, both human and dogs. People tend to want to impose people rules on dog relationships and that often causes conflict.

Thank you, I try. Now leave the puppies alone and let them be puppies.

I laughed so hard at this I nearly peed myself.

I have two of the most off the wall, deranged Danes I've ever met (and I've met a lot), one of whom is deaf. I have no excuse for the other one, at all, she's just strange, but she's a massive handful, so rail on me for that all you want.

That statement right there that I quoted, is absolutely freaking ridiculous. If it IS correct, you've got more issues than Becca does, and you should be learning to look after your own dogs and quit policing her about hers.

I haven't met a lot of pitties, but I've met enough to know that a 9 month old female puppy was strong enough to pull me clean over - something my own dogs can't even do. Combine that with the predisposition for DA, and you have a little ball of muscle capable of immense destruction.

Size holds no barrier here, and it doesn't impress me when people think that because their dog is large they can throw around statements that disregard the build, attitude, and temperament of a smaller dog. APBT Vs. Dane? The Dane would lose, period.

Disclaimer; that isn't something I would even like to imagine.

Back on track, I'm pretty sure you're just here to stir the pot at this point. I hardly even post here and I'm aware of your reputation for doing so. Go play somewhere else and let the people that actually want to help this woman and offer useful advice get back to doing so.

I've owned 3 Great Danes, another family member currently has 2, if space wasn't an issue, I would GLADLY bring one into my home again.... That being said, I don't think I'd ever want to own an APBT... why? Because they are MUCH harder to handle than a Great Dane.

RFD, have you ever actually read this? Particularly the first one.
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/t38570/

I honestly don't know how you are still posting here with the number of posts you have made that are passive-aggressive or just outright rude. You seem rather incapable of posting in a manner that is not insulting. There's another member here who was just approached about the fact that he comes off rude and insulting in his posts and he was quite receptive to the comment. Might be something to consider.

lol! So true!!!

Wow, just WOW! I have thought that you have offered good advice in the past albeit terribly abrasive advice, but good underneath all of the conceit. This however is just rude and WRONG!

Have you ever heard the saying NO QUESTION IS A SILLY QUESTION??? Yes, this behavior is normal puppy behavior, you know this, others may have known this, but nonone should be ridiculed over their breed choice for not knowing this when they are taking the time to learn. I am blown away at how tactless you can be. Becca is not afraid of APBTs she is trying to set up an environment where 2 can coexist easily. Someone who should not own such a powerful breed would be the person who did not want to learn as much as they could (even if the questions seemed elementary to others) to provide the best home possible.

And to say that danes are more to handle than APBTs??? Come on!!! You have Danes...Danes!! I don't even know what to say to this, a dane doesn't hold a candle to the drive and tenacity that APBTs have.

What is funny, is Rebecca came to Chaz with this question thinking people would be less friggin' judgmental than the regular pit bull forums. I guess all it takes is one to throw a wrench in that thought.

Scared of the breed? Get real. I know Rebecca is not scared of them. Respectful of the demeanor, but never afraid. It was a simple question regarding a common outcome during APBT growth and development.

The idea is keep interactions as positive as possible to eliminate all variables except their own brain development. The question sought advice from people that have seen this multiple times and could offer sound advice. We have good sense of course, but the resource is right here, so why not ask.

I think Rebecca handle herself quite well along with the other commenters. Gave me a good chuckle.

Remind me never to tick you people off :lol-sign:

For the general amusement of the board, perhaps?

RFD (to paraphrase a famous political rejoinder) is no Pops.

Becca is smart and savvy enough to ask questions and doesn't have an egotistical streak to make her think she HAS to know it all. She's also intelligent enough to separate the sincere, good advice from the the posturing and apply what works best for her family.

Oh, and she "handled" Ella far better than many would have. One thing she's got in spades is the ability to keep a cool head, something you really need if you're going to own APBTs.

Oh, and the Great Danes being difficult thing . . . thanks for the good giggle. Even the badly bred ones I've dealt with were lovely to handle and easy to direct, a little over-exuberant, maybe, but otherwise benign creatures. Even the one fight I had to break up was a piece of cake.

Well, I can't imagine . . . unless Becca tells us you're being mean ;rofl1:

RFD, you may have some good advice buried in your posts, but its so deep under that layer of DOUCHEBAG that people don't learn anything from them.

Your 15 years of dog experience etc.. goes to **** because for some reason you have no idea how to make a polite informative post!!

Becca is a great dog owner, and a great APBT owner at that. she is VERY dog savvy, but like most people with new puppies who haven't had pups in a while, had some questions and came here for advice.

I still can't believe this person is coming on here and throwing their weight around like this. I hope you guys will not stop posting stuff about your puppy saga on here because of them.

And as to the Raw Food Fanatic--are we actually expected to take your word for it that you are an expert and are pretty much always right? Why would anyone do that? Just because you say you have masses of experience, we don't know if you are a liar or what the experience consists of. So far you just seem to enjoy coming on here and harrassing our regular members. And your advice is pretty far out there, as well as being delivered in an abrasive and hectoring way. No thanks.

I find it interesting that RFD is an authority on what breed of dog Becca should have--incredibly laughable! I would think that he would know better--since he seems to know all.

on topic--I have had and do still have some snarkiness between the hound brothers over food items. However, by supervising them, and not leaving things out and available (bully sticks and the like) we have harmony. It takes diligence at first--but we all know you are capable of managing some difficult situations. I bet you will be successful with this one as well.

I think some growliness around high value items is normal. Blackie and Rose, who lived together without any issue whatsoever for twelve years, would snarf at one another if they had a bone. It never escalated past that, but one would tell the other off if they got to close and the other respected that and walked away.
It is when there is no respect for the other dog that things get dicey. For example, Rose and Chloe. Chloe has no respect whatsoever for Rose when it comes to things of value and she would rather take offense at Rose telling her to back off than to just back off. So the girls, while they get along fine, are not allowed loose together with no one home to supervise and they also aren't allowed to have high value items (bones, rawhide) loose together and the bones/rawhide get picked up when they are loose together.

We haven't had any issues at all after we started keeping an eye on things. And Chloe is a resource guarder, both towards animals and humans. I worked with her for the better part of a year to get her okay with humans around "her" possessions. I think the only animal she has never resource guarded against is the kitten. She even lets him take away her rawhide without a fuss. LOL

Just wow RFD.

Becca did an amazing job with Ella, I have so much respect for her for the effort she put into that dog. I also have a DA dog and I know how downheartening it can be and I take a lot of inspiration from Becca.
I'm also adding a puppy soon and will probably have tonnes of questions regarding its upbringing eventhough I've had dogs all my life and taken part in raising every one of them, I know how it feels to just want the best start for your dog.
Glad I will get decent advice from nearly everyone on this forum.


On topic, Buster is extremely stable with the other dogs in the house, he usually uses his killer snarl to tell Mac to back off when she is pushing it, if she really pushes it she occasionally gets snarked but usually she knows not to force it.
I think its just a matter of knowing your dogs and supervising. I try to let ours sort out as much as they can on their own but if it looks like its going to escalate thats when I step in.

I've seen Harry go from 0-100 before, its not fun. 1 second Mac was wandering over to his food bowl, literally 2 seconds later he had made his "hard eye" look at her, flipped her on her back, scrubbed her over to the other side of the verandah and had her around the neck before we could grab him, we were just opening our mouths to tell Mac to get away and we couldn't even get a word out.
He didn't hurt her but he's just too fast, thats why they are seperated now, 95% of the time he's fine, but when he does decide to go, its so fast.

Absolutely on the speed of it. Rebecca is better than me at spotting the signs. When they occur you can't even get out "Oh Sh..!" before it's over. It has been years since I've been around a pup so we will ask questions a lot. I appreciate the solid advise so far.

Becca, ignore the self-proclaimed prophet. It's a normal question to ask. Even my 2 adult dogs will snark at each other over high value items, and I've seen one minor fight over a tennis ball, it happens, no matter the breed. I'd just keep an eye on them and as long as it doesn't start getting violent with posturing and a fight is about to break out, let them settle it.

I have to say that I'm not at all amused - in fact it makes me extremely hesitant to post, particularly on the subject of raw food. And now he's giving, uh, "training" advice too? Hm.