Tips to Stop a Dog From Being Jealous When Other Dogs Have His Toys

For this Omaha dog training session we got to help one of our favorite puppy class graduates, Rex (pictured here on the left with his roomie Brooklyn and foster dog Opie who is available to adopt), a 1 year-old Lab who gets jealous when other dogs have his toys.

While Rex is an amazigly well behaved dog 99% of the time, he has started to show signs of jealousy when dogs his guardian is fostering show interest in any of the available dog toys. The last time it happened, a dog fight over toys broke out.

Ive had more than a few client’s whos dog became possessive of toys or became jealous when another dog got one of its toys. Many people confuse this with resource guarding. Although they share some similarities, they are different behavior problems. Regardless, no one wants a dog to act aggressive when another dog has one of its toys. I wanted to share some tips to help the dog learn to share his toys with other dogs using positive reinforcement.

While the problems are different, the trick to stopping dogs from being possessive over toys is similar to the way I stop resource guarding in dogs. I inverted things a bit; the other dog was the one with the item and Rex was rewarded for the other dog approaching the object or taking possession of it. This is an

While reviewing the above video, I noticed that at times Rex wasnt even looking when Opie approached the object. If this happens with the guardian when she practices this technique to stop dog jealousy, she should wait for Rex to reengage with the dog (looking at it) then treat after that happens. This is important as what we are trying to do is teach the dog that the other dog getting the object means something good is going to happen (Rex gets a treat). This is how to stop dog toy jealousy.

The guardian will need to arrange situations where she can control both dogs to maintain the appropriate amount of distance and delivery of the treat. As amazing as Brooklyn is, she may need to be put away with a bully stick or cow kneecap while the other dog’s practice this trick to stopping dogs from feeling jealous. This way the guardian can focus on Opie and Rex which is important as the timing of her treats needs to be on point (and only when Rex is looking at the approaching dog).

We covered a lot in this in home Omaha dog training session. To help the guardian remember all the dog behavior tips I shared, we filmed a roadmap to success summary video that you can check out below.

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Categorized in: Dog Behavior

September 23, 2020

This post was written by: David Codr