How to stop a dog guarding a ball?
Christopher Wintheiser
2025-06-21 20:23:49
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To stop a dog guarding a ball, you can use the same technique to prevent your dog guarding their toys or chews. When your dog is settled with their chew or toy, place a few treats down on the floor near to where they are lying and give them the opportunity to leave the resource to take them. Move away as they do so, then approach them again and put down another treat nearby. Repeat this a few times and once your dog is comfortable, put down a few treats and then pick up the toy/chew. By using positive methods your dog will continue to associate you being near their resources with positive things happening, like treats. If you do have to remove something from them, make sure it’s an exchange rather than just taking something away. When you are trying to exchange items with your dog, put down some food or treats a good distance away so that your dog has to move. This will give you the time and distance to safely pick up the item. Another helpful tip is to teach your dog the “leave it” cue. This will allow you to ask your dog to leave whatever they are guarding in a safe and positive way.
Otho Koch
2025-06-21 16:17:52
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: 6
Remove the toy when other dogs are about – this removes the stress of defending it for your dog, and means that there is no danger of the problem occurring in the first place. Give the dog an alternative to guarding their toy – if you see another dog approaching, before your dog has a chance to react call them to you and reward them with a treat. They can’t be guarding their toy and coming back to you when called at the same time. This does mean working hard on perfecting your dog’s recall, but it’s worth it for so many reasons that it’ll be time well spent. Personally, I rarely take a toy out on walks for my dogs. My feeling is that dogs need to be dogs – perform doggy behaviours like sniffing, seeking out scents, enjoying their opportunity to be off the lead and investigate their environment.
Braxton Runolfsdottir
2025-06-21 15:22:18
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: 10
If your dog shows guarding behaviours, leave them well alone when they are enjoying food or playing with toys by themselves. If you need to take something from your dog, swap it for something else that your dog considers to be equally or even more valuable. Offer your dog the better item before trying to take what they have away. You could drop several treats on the ground near your dog, so they have to leave the item to go and eat them. Then you can calmly pick up the item while they’re enjoying themselves. Always swap the dog's item for something else, being consistent and always swapping items will help dogs learn to share without being worried. You can teach your dog to drop and swap during fun training sessions, when your dog is playing with a toy, get something they like even better, offer this to your dog a little distance away from what they already have. Once your dog has the hang of this, you can add a cue word ‘drop’, over time, your dog should associate the word ‘drop’ with letting go of their toy, and you can ask them to ‘drop’ what they have in exchange for a tasty treat.