I'm currently staying at my dad's house, and his girlfriend has a pomchi who always raids his crate for food, toys and chews whenever she thinks she can sneak past him. He used to bark at her whenever she got near his food, but nowadays he just warily watches her as he's eating or chewing on his bones. If she manages to run away with something of his, he'll just stare at her as she runs away with his stuff.

Just now, we were all settled in and quiet, Caper in his crate and me sitting nearby studying. Suddenly he dashes out of his crate barking and pounces on her as she is walking by!! She is screaming as he's on top of her barking, and everyone ran out of their rooms thinking that he was going to kill her! She was shaken up and had a bit of saliva on her neck but was fine.

At first I couldn't think of what provoked him behave so shockingly, uncharacteristically aggressive, then I saw a rawhide bone on the floor that she may have been going for. I put away all of his toys, bones, and food so that she isn't tempted to steal them or give the appearance of stealing them, but I am unsure of what to think of this incidence.

Should I be worried about the other dog's safety around Caper or is this a totally preventable thing? Needless to say, my dad's gf would be heartbroken if anything were to happen to her dog.

Hmm maybe it's an age thing. Ajax is about the same age and has started to act the same way.

Other dogs antagonize him by barking and nipping at him at the dog park and before he'd just run away or stand there and take it. Now that he knows he's bigger he'll take it for a while, and then turn around and bark them out of there. I guess he can only take so much before he gets mad.

He's also starting to food guard, which is not OK with me. I've been trying different things, but no luck thus far. We'll see what happens.

I would say its very preventable. Don't let her take his stuff. Hopefully, he only needs to tell her off this once, which is what he did. Since you know he has an issue with her taking his things (I would too if I were him lol) don't let her in his crate to start with (that's supposed to be HIS safe place, where he can put HIS things, not a place where she can go raid his stuff.) Also, she has her own toys and chews and stuff right? I would start taking his things away from her when she takes them and giving her something of her own. This prevents him from having to tell her off himself (which could get her hurt) and shows her what she can and can't play with.

cinnamonbits wrote:

I would say its very preventable. Don't let her take his stuff. Hopefully, he only needs to tell her off this once, which is what he did. Since you know he has an issue with her taking his things (I would too if I were him lol) don't let her in his crate to start with (that's supposed to be HIS safe place, where he can put HIS things, not a place where she can go raid his stuff.) Also, she has her own toys and chews and stuff right? I would start taking his things away from her when she takes them and giving her something of her own. This prevents him from having to tell her off himself (which could get her hurt) and shows her what she can and can't play with.

Yes I think she hit the nail on the head. From your description though, it sounds like the little pom brat (I say that with love) will think twice before stealing from Caper again.

Good for picking up his toys. I would keep those picked up and hopefully there is no issue with the resources not a issue. That sounds like the issue from what you describe.

Was the rawhide in the crate by caper or on the floor away from him? Guess to me that makes a difference. Though I always closely monitor highly prized toys and food with my dogs. Just easier to watch over those closely as things can escalate quickly as I found out about a decade ago when my dogs were left with one huge rawhide bone. Resulted in ripped ear and $800 bill or so.

Also, staring is how my dogs communicate to my puppy to back off when they have something in their mouth. I try to redirect him as he should not pull things out of their mouth or from between their paws. I think dogs usually use staring, then go to things like teeth baring or growling, followed by snapping and fights. What is important is to catch before it escalates. The staring is pretty intense stare down. Sounds like caper may have been doing this in past and that is when pomchi should be redirected I would think.

not to be mean but it sounds like the GF's dog needs some training and a chapter on manners with other dogs! i hope she learned her lesson with Caper telling her its not cool to take my shit.

Personally, the Pomchi deserved it and had it coming. It kind of blows my mind she has been allowed to steal his stuff..this was just waiting to happen IMO. His stuff should be HIS stuff and her stuff should be HER stuff. No stealing should ever be allowed.

I don't allow stealing. Swapping, which is totally different than stealing, is allowed when both dogs are okay with it. If one dog gives the other a stare down or watches as the toy/treat is slowly being dragged away, or the thief is giving the "dare you to mess with me" eyes..NOT ALLOWED.

You are your dogs protector. You need to show him you are there for him and won't allow this little chew toy of a dog to steal his crap. If you don't show him you are there for him, he will take matters into his own hands.

Correct the mop dog when she goes for his stuff. It will be a hard habit to break since she has been allowed to do it for so long, but that should never have been allowed.

I personally don't think it a resource guarding issue. I think it was Casper telling the other dog, "ENOUGH TAKING MY SHIT!!". Very preventable.

I certainly DO give her a sharp scolding and take away her stolen goods if I catch her!! Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of the little beast gnawing on one of Caper's antlers and I'll immediately run over and rip it out of her mouth and chase her away. I'll also clean up his toys and put them in his crate when I am leaving for the day, but he ends up scattering them all over the yard and house again. I am not sure whether putting his toys away completely while I'm gone is a good idea, since he will have nothing to play with and might resort to making my things into his toys.

I have told my dad's gf about it and she's bought her dog its own toys (the dog didn't have any toys for the entire 10 years of its life, lol), which hasn't helped much. My dad's gf is home most of the day while I am not, so I have little control over what happens unless Caper is locked up in his crate the whole day. She is uneducated and doesn't believe in dog training (she thinks that their behavior is fixed and you just have to accept it, which is why her dog has so many terrible habits like barking throughout the day AND night!!)... I talked to her about it and framed it as "Listen, I am concerned that YOUR DOG will get seriously hurt if you continue to let her take Caper's stuff." And when I put it that way, she seemed more compliant.

The bone was on the floor a few feet from his crate when the incident happened. I will make sure to immediately return his toys and chews to his crate if I catch them on the floor ever. I am not sure what else I can do beyond trusting her to keep her word while I am away.

IMO, both parties are at fault. Remove all toys and bones unless she is in her crate with the door shut, u til you'd an work TOGETHER to have both dogs cooperate.

Sadly she doesn't have a crate/has never been crated so she has full roam of the house (everyone was actually shocked that I would put a Caper in a "cage" - they don't know about crating and don't like the idea). Thank you everyone for the suggestions though. I've successfully gotten my dad's gf to agree to lock her dog in a separate room whenever either of them have a high value item. This just means that chew toy time will have to be more structured and Caper will have to stick to chewing on his lower value plushie toys while I am away.

It makes me angry that you have to structure YOUR dog's time with HIS items because of their furry football's lack of training and manners. Unfortunately it sounds like that's probably the easiest and most immediate solution to the problem. (Though I would just let the dogs sort it out themselves!)

Maybe I'm biased because as a kid (like 4yo?) I punched someone for stealing my stuff too!! They say dogs function at a 2-year old's level, so yeah. I guess I can relate LOL

"small dogs don't need training" This is what i see all the time "it's small so it doesn't matter". I had a maltese and she was trained to a perfect little angel, she wasn't allowed to get away with crap, and we never had a crate but still. It's sad to see people think small dogs don't need it.

KCheshire wrote:

Maybe I'm biased because as a kid (like 4yo?) I punched someone for stealing my stuff too!! They say dogs function at a 2-year old's level, so yeah. I guess I can relate LOL

Lol, Kristin! I bet they never tried it again!

It makes me really angry too when they can't see things from my point of view and don't believe me when I am trying to explain dog behavior. Their dog jumps up on people, is extremely food aggressive, snaps and growls at people, bites, begs, barks 24/7 (yes, even at 3am in the morning... oh my god... if it weren't for ear plugs!!) and doesn't get corrected at all!!