Hey all so I currently have my first Siberian Husky. He is 1 and a half years old, and I have had him since he was 12 weeks. Ever since he has been able to, (Since he's had all of his shots) I have been taking him to the dog park. We go about 2-3 times a week. It's great for him because he gets freedom of running around with no leash and the social aspect of always meeting new dogs.

He has never had any problems there until recently. He likes to chase dogs that are running and playing fetch, which is totally normal for huskies. However, sometimes he gets a little bit aggressive with other dogs' toys. He will chase them over and then guard their toy from them. He bends down and bares his teeth, and has even snapped at them before.   I do not want him hurting another dog or to have another dog snap back at him and hurt him. I am also scared that if I do not correct this soon it could definitely lead to something worse in the long run. I just do not know how to correct it.

He's a totally great dog otherwise, very outgoing and friendly with dogs and with people. It just turns bad when toys get involved. We have another dog around the house as well who is my boyfriend's 4 y.o. mix and they play together just fine with toys at the house. The only issue is when we go to the park.

Help?!  

Hi Mallory!

I don't really have any advice myself. But I am having the same issue with my 7mth old, Gus. He has separation anxiety so I was bringing him to daycare everyday, and I've never had a complaint from them for guarding toys or playing aggressively with the other dogs. And there are toys all over the place! But then he got giardia, so he couldn't go to daycare. I started playing fetch with him at the park to release some of his energy before leaving him alone at home, and only recently did he start guarding his toys if another dog came into the park. He is not neutered yet. And he got into a scuffle with another non-neutered dog over a ball. This other dog was acting very aggressively towards Gus though. The other dog kept barking and snapping at Gus while Gus was playing with the ball. Another time, he just tried to stand over the ball, but i took it away right away. It didn't stop him from trying to guard the spot where the ball was last though!

Then this past weekend, we went away and had to put Gus in a boarding facility. I told them about his recent toy guarding, but again, no complaints! They said he played very nicely with toys and dogs all around.

Is Balto neutered yet? I'm not sure if that will help. From what I've read though, it says it should. But I'm not sure if neutering is more to prevent it. If it's already happening, then it could become a learned behaviour? For now, we've just stopped bringing toys with us to the park. And although I haven't had to do this yet, I plan to completely remove him from the park if he does start to guard toys. If he can't share, then he's not allowed to play! Sorry if this wasn't helpful. But i'll be watching this thread too to see if anyone has any good tips

Good luck!

Yes, Balto is neutered. He got fixed when he was 6 months old, just over a year ago. I know that some dog parks do not allow toys for this exact reason, but the one that I go to always has extra toys lying around. It wouldn't bother me as much if he was defending his own toys, the issue is that he goes up to other dogs that are playing and takes their toys and guards them.

It is very frustrating, and kind of makes me want to leave the park alone for a while. However, I know that if this is an issue then I need to work on it, and not ignore it as it could get worse.

On another note having to do with the dog park, has anyone had someone tell them that their dog was being aggressive when they were just playing? I had a lady tell me that Balto was being aggressive when all he was doing was running around with other dogs and making "husky sounds". I explained to her that this is something that the breed does, and he is only playing. I told her that he is really being much more gentle than it looks. I didn't really expect her to understand because she had a chihuahua and a puggle, totally different kinds of dogs than Sibes. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?