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90 Posts
Hi everyone,
Two days ago, I gave Chance a marrow bone from the butcher...every time we even walked past him, he growled (something he's NEVER done before). Needless to say, we were bothered by this behavior since seemed very uncharacteristic of a golden. After about an hour, the bone was taken from him after distracting him with something else...we couldn't even reach down to take it from him because he was so intimidating. Yesterday, rather than give him the bone, he was given one of his bully sticks since our 3 year old daughter was playing in the same room...previously, he had never been obsessive about his bully sticks but htis time, he went after my daughter when she reached for him. He did not bite her because my husband was right there and between them. I was very upset about even the possibility that my golden would behave this way. I've owned 2 goldens before Chance and this was never an issue. We did not let him keep the bully stick after this but when I went to take it from him, he bit my arm--hard enough to rip my sweatshirt and bruise my arm. He was put in his crate (which we don't even use anymore because he has been the model puppy until yesterday) and I cried for about an hour. I realize that dogs can be overly protective of prized possessions but goldens? Is this an indication of a bigger problem that will be more difficult to control as he gets older? Please help--I love this boy so much and this is tearing me apart. Now I'm afraid to give him anything special if this is going to be a problem.
Two days ago, I gave Chance a marrow bone from the butcher...every time we even walked past him, he growled (something he's NEVER done before). Needless to say, we were bothered by this behavior since seemed very uncharacteristic of a golden. After about an hour, the bone was taken from him after distracting him with something else...we couldn't even reach down to take it from him because he was so intimidating. Yesterday, rather than give him the bone, he was given one of his bully sticks since our 3 year old daughter was playing in the same room...previously, he had never been obsessive about his bully sticks but htis time, he went after my daughter when she reached for him. He did not bite her because my husband was right there and between them. I was very upset about even the possibility that my golden would behave this way. I've owned 2 goldens before Chance and this was never an issue. We did not let him keep the bully stick after this but when I went to take it from him, he bit my arm--hard enough to rip my sweatshirt and bruise my arm. He was put in his crate (which we don't even use anymore because he has been the model puppy until yesterday) and I cried for about an hour. I realize that dogs can be overly protective of prized possessions but goldens? Is this an indication of a bigger problem that will be more difficult to control as he gets older? Please help--I love this boy so much and this is tearing me apart. Now I'm afraid to give him anything special if this is going to be a problem.