# Stingy pup



## lstrl (Jul 20, 2014)

I've got an 8 month old husky who has been the only dog in my house until about a week ago. I took in a blue heeler (pretty sure he's a young adult) from my brother, and now my husky is being very stingy with all of his toys and chews. He's not aggressive about it, but any time the blue heeler will take something (even if the husky hasn't touched it in weeks), then my husky just has to have it. He ends up taking everything from the heeler, even if I have two of something so they can each have one. Any ideas on how I can get him to quit being so stingy?


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

No. Sharing is not a natural dog trait , nor something you can train. If it's causing problems, separate them when they have chews or toys.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

Amaryllis said:


> No. Sharing is not a natural dog trait , nor something you can train. If it's causing problems, separate them when they have chews or toys.


^ This

My Moms 'hellers' are the same way. Ty has to have all of the everythings and Shenzi gets 1 ball-that-is-no-longer (they call it her raggy). 
Ty is also dog aggressive, so when we go over (if we bring Toby) we have to be careful about introduction depending on his mood that day - some days he'd kill Toby, others he doesn't even care, there's no known reason for why. Shenzi couldn't care less who's over as long as they kick her raggy for her.


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## lstrl (Jul 20, 2014)

Thanks. Luckily it's not a huge problem because neither one is aggressive toward the other, but I feel so bad for the heeler when he gets everything taken from him. It's actually quite amusing watching it happen though.


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## SoulDogs (Aug 14, 2014)

It may or may not be a permanent thing. We have 2 dogs as well, and got one nearly a year before the other. She stole every toy from the new puppy for several months until the puppy started to get as big as her and then bigger! Now they are much more respectful of each other  It could just be that they are figuring out their pecking order. Definitely watch it to make sure it doesn't become an issue, but also know it could be short lived! Do they get along otherwise, do they play with one another? If yes, then I wouldn't worry too much.


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## Raspberri (Aug 14, 2014)

My almost 3 month Husky was trying to hog the water fountain at the dog park yesterday! I think this is pretty normal doggy behavior.


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## Remaru (Mar 16, 2014)

Freyja is a toy hoarder. She picks up all of the toys and piles them up then chews just one. Any toy that another dog has is "the best toy ever" and she wants it. She isn't aggressive about it, she isn't a resource guarder, but she wants all the toys. The exception is rope/tug toys, she will actually play with the other dogs with those. I do try to give Remus time to chew with Freyja put up because he is very passive with her and will let her take his toys. He just gives up chewing when she wants something he has. Hobgoblin and Dove ignore her and continue chewing or Hobs will try to engage her in a game of "chase me to get the toy".


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I don't think it's something you absolutely can't train. My dog and his best dog friend (a heeler or heeler mix) are this way - the ACD wants anything my dog has. We keep all toys picked up or take them away as soon as they become a problem. When we do want to let them both work on something, we keep the toys lower value (nylabones, rather than bully sticks) and reinforce the ACD for staying with the toy he was given. If he gets up to steal my dog's toy, we verbally redirect him and show him his toy again. 

My own dog doesn't seem to mind his toys being stolen most of the time, but I also don't want him to get to the point where he thinks he needs to guard something either.


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