How to stop a dog from being possessive when playing?

If your dog shows guarding behaviours, leave them well alone when they are enjoying food or playing with toys by themselves. Being consistent and always swapping items will help dogs learn to share without being worried. 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. 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. 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. Your dog should be enticed to drop what they have and come to get the new item. You can then pick up the original item. Where you can during training sessions, return your dog’s first item to them soon after you have swapped it. This will help them to learn that letting go of something they love can be a positive experience. 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.

To stop a dog from acting possessive when held, you need to help the dog understand that when people approach, they are not going to hurt the dog or take the guardian away. The secret way to stop dogs from acting possessive is to make them feel like the new person is a positive. We accomplish this by making something wonderful happen when the person arrives. I like to do this using treats. By going at the dog’s pace and making something nice happen when someone approaches the dog and guardian, I was able to help Lovie see my arrival as a good and positive thing. If the guardian is able to re-create this with friends and neighbors, she should be able to help Lovie stop acting possessive when held. This is an easy way to stop possessive behavior in dogs, but you have to practice at a level low enough for the dog to not feel triggered. After you stack enough intentionally positive experiences together, it’s possible for many dogs to develop a new behavior pattern after a few months. My hope is that Lovie starts to associate people approaching as an indication that good things are happening and not that someone is going to take her away from her favorite person.