Ok, so Dakota has never been interested in toys. If it looks like a bone, then he likes to chew on it for awhile but otherwise leaves them alone. Willow, loves toys and I mean loves them! So, I have bought quite a few toys since I got her. If Dakota shows any interest in them she will literally take them away from him and he has never cared before....until tonight. I bought the first squeky toy tonight. She loved it ofcourse, but then Dakota decided he wanted it. He pretty much followed her around the house until she gave it up and then when she did, he took it and started chewing on it. Willow wanted it back and tried to take it like she always does except this time Dakota was having none of it. He gave her a warning and when she continued to try to take it he got rough with her and growled like I have never heard him growl before. She backed off immediatly but I knew she still wanted it. I took it away from them. So, do I get rid of the toy? Or is this healthy? This is new territory for me.

If she responds to the growl take that as a good sign and just monitor them when they have toys together. As long as you are able to get the toy back if needed (basically a good "drop it") I wouldn't worry too much. Perhaps pick up toys when you are going to be leaving them alone.

I'd begin to worry if Dakota begins to guard the toys, not just growling when Willow wants to take it from Dakota. For example Dakota starting to stand over all the toys or aggressing when Willow has a toy.

Sounds like Dakota is just saying "Hey! You can't just take $#&% from me!"

All her toys are strewn about and he could care less about them for the most part...even right now she is chewing away on a toy bone and he is laying next to her without a care in the world. So it seems it is just this squeaky toy he wants. Ok, so now I have another question. you meantion the guarding of the toys....Willow does this, but she never ever shows agression if Dakota decides he wants one. She watches him with it and then she can't stand it and takes it from him. Which he has always allowed. So should I be worried about her? She really never shows any agression when he does decide to take them and when I take them from her, she immediatly releases it. When he protested with the squeaky toy, she backed off and did not show any resistance, but continued to watch him as if she was plotting how to get it back, so I took the toy away.

I wouldn't worry too much about it to be honest. How old is Willow now? Perhaps her puppy license is starting to expire Dakota seems capable enough to give fair warning of what is and isn't acceptable. Mickey was this way with Cheyenne. He let her do whatever in the beginning but as she got older he became more confident that she was able to handle a correction and/or a growl every now and then when she was being a serious PITA.

Thanks Kristina! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't starting something bad with them.

I was taking a video once of my male mal and male sibe chewing on a nylabone together, one had one end and and the other the other end and they were kind of playing tuggy with it. They were doing this for at least 10 minutes without showing any aggression whatsoever, no growls, whines or anything. All of a sudden a fight errupted while I was videotaping them! I didn't miss anything, nothing changed my male mal just pounced and attacked him! That was the last fight we had and now noone has toys or bones outside their crates!

I had to take away all inside toys away when we first got Kody because would TOTALLY guard them and I know she would attack him if he came near it. Now, with the outside toys she's ok...sounds weird..I know..lol. Anways, I figured out that it's the squeaky toys that she can destroy that she has an issue with. If it's, for example, the kong wubba, she'll share with Kody. He respects her though...so if she growls at him he'll run away. He is starting to do the hair standing up thing so I'm hoping he doesn't take it too personal one day =\

I have the same thing with the outside toys, they seem ok with those.

I personally do not allow fighting over toys in my pack. I don't allow one dog to take another's toy either unless the dog has left it. Those are just my pack rules and my dogs know them. If there is a fuss over a toy, it gets picked up and put with my things for a day or two. Then it goes back in the toy basket. If the fussing bothers you or makes you nervous/worried, be strict and don't allow it. If you don't think it's a problem, then leave it alone.
However, with a puppy, she is still learning what is acceptable. I would not let her take a toy from your other dog just because what happens when she thinks she can do that to a different dog who will not allow it? It's a poor habit for a dog to have.
My husky/lab mix will entice other dogs to play tug by poking them with a toy. Everyone is ok with that behavior and a game of tug will commence. I think that's ok and allow it as long as everyone is having fun. If it gets too rough or one of them seems annoyed, I stop the play.
Dogs don't share by nature. Even if it looks like they are sharing, they are likely trying to figure out how to get the toy from the other.

Willow is realy bad about stealing toys. I even bought two of everything that way if Dakota decided he wanted one, she would have hers as well. Didn't work...she would want both of them. I was butting in and making her leave him alone, but as soon as I turned my back she would go right back at him and take it. She has such a need to chew that I don't feel like I can take the toys away from her. She is constantly chewing on her toys and if not her toys then something she's not suppose to have.

I see no problem with this, my pups normally play over toys. Just keep an eye on the behavior. I have more problem with my one husky fighting with the cats over their toys.

LombardoCC1 wrote:

I see no problem with this, my pups normally play over toys. Just keep an eye on the behavior. I have more problem with my one husky fighting with the cats over their toys.

That's pretty funny.
My cats do not like toys. I pretty much had it made before I got Willow cause the cats and Dakota could care less if they had them. Now that I have Willow, I don't even want to mention how much money I have spent on toys just for her so she will not chew up any of my things.