Obsessive Aggression

[Roxie01]

My 7 month old working cocker spaniel is showing signs of obsessive aggression with anything she nicks socks, gloves etc she has even went for me on a few occasions , can any one advise ?

[twiceover2]

At that age, she's probably just testing the boundaries but you need to nip it in the bud now.  All you should need to do is swap her for a really tasty treat.  Don't try and forcibly take anything.  If she has things you're not bothered about, then ignore her completely.  She'll soon become bored of them and once she leaves them, praise her and make a big fuss of her before retrieving whatever it is.

[Helen]

it's resource guarding  - and twiceover2 gives good advice 

[Murphys Law]

As above, a tasty treat will do the trick. This worked with Murphy when he went through a similar stage.

The only thing it doesn't work with is a squirrel

[Joules]

Good advice to teach her to swap for a tasty treat or a toy.  How are you getting things off her at the moment?

Never turn it into a confrontation as this can worsen guarding behaviour.  Best to use distraction or a swap so that she knows that if she gives you what she has something nice happens. 

Probably just pushing the boundaries now she is a teenager - they can be very "challenging" during this phase 

[AlanT]

These is deeply ingrained in the breed I think. It's very common anyway.

Some things are more "valuable" than others.
I still have some trouble with very delicious chews and beef bones.

Mainly I just go away. Boredom sets in and I just pick it up.

[PennyB]

These is deeply ingrained in the breed I think. It's very common anyway.

not unusual in any breed but as cockers are retrievers they will retrieve things more readily than others and often its us who set up the confrontation with them

Good advice from people re teaching him to swap (but not everything should be taken off him you just need to judge what is valuable to you and won't injure him) and the fact he is testing boundaries too - some dogs will eventually learn re giving things up on command which is what we hope to teach them with patience and positive training but in some dogs this will be the case their whole lives and you just need to learn to keep something around to swap with (a friend's old springer would do this a lot particularly when she was stressed so it wasn't a case of she wanted the treat this was her way of dealing with levels of stress)

[*MaryG*]

Swopping for a reward is very good advice. we had this with Pepper when he was little.now he is 5 sometimes he goesand gets something e.g.from the bin! and drops it as my feet when he fancies a treat!

[Murphys Law]

The treat swap method has saved many a letter from being shredded over the years with my dogs. With murphy, I just say 'good boy' and pretend to reach for a treat in my pocket and he will drop the offending article. I do make sure he gets a treat from the kitchen.

Murphy is not aggressive when he steels things, he just refuses to give them back

[Koslg]

Humbug is 5. We do 'swap' I go and get a treat. Sometimes I call him to me sometimes I go to him. I did this so that it is varied - and when I really need something he doesn't know. I haven't tried it with squirrels yet but it works with socks, toys, random things (and - shhhhh knickers!).
Sometimes now I vary the treats boring and amazing. He never knows.
It doesn't work with tissues very wel as he seems to enjoy ripping them as much as he can.

[lescef]

Maddie goes looking for socks and has taken a liking to our grandson's soft toys. Kibble doesn't result in a swop, it has to be high quality treat -peanut butter works well,  we have it down to a set routine!

[daw]

Definitely high value treats seems to work. But with an ingrained habit it does take time, so good to start while puppy is young. Our corgi x came with horrendous guarding aggression and two and half years later it's finally down to manageable.