My 5 year old TT girl is causing problems by guarding treats etc. The scenario goes - Give both girls (her pup is now nearly two) a longer lasting treat, maybe a sterilised bone or carrot. Youngster immediately sets about devouring said treat. Mum takes her treat onto sofa or upstairs into her bed, places treat about a foot in front of her and then settles down. Pup finishes her treat, goes to find mum and tries to pinch treat. Up to now, mum has just warned her off, although pup seems to take great pleasure in taunting mum. Occasionally clever pup has barked to distract mum and nicked the treat for herself. Last week pup had her first phantom (here we go again!!) It was relatively mild, thank goodness, but the difference was that instead of taking a No from mum, they both ended up scrapping. This happened twice. (hormones I think) I havent given either of them this type of treat since. Does anyone know why  mum is guarding stuff like this and is there anything I can do to resolve the problem please??

> why  mum is guarding stuff like this

To show her daughter she is boss.

I would remove any treat that aren't being actually chewed and not allow her to do this.

I have had individuals so this usually with their food to show the others they can, I show then they cant if your going to guard it then it goes.

Your quite right the real issue is the balance of power between the two (the pups is approachign maturity) which is being rocked due to the hormones with the season/phantom.

I would step up discipline for both, sort of knock their heads together so they don't have time to be worrying about who is top bitch as they can see you are, and are too busy worrying about what your expectations/demands are.

Thank-you Brainless, such clear cut advice. I see what is happening now. Will definitely sort them out. Mum was spayed in October. Would that not have changed her status? Will she still feel she is boss simply because she is mum/older bitch?

Spayed bitches will be just as high status, all mine are spayed when their breeding lives are over and it makes not one jot of difference in their hierarchy.

What does rock the boat is bitches having a litter (and a phatom might also), as in the wild only alpha bitches have litters, so havng a litter elevates their status, and then of course we also spoil our new Mums with all teh extra TLC and food, they often get above themselves and need putting in their places if we want to keep the harmony in the group.

To be honest you need to keep a weather eye on group dynamics all the tiem and tweak if needed, or help smooth transitions.

I have kept five bitches for quite some time now.

Very interesting. A lot to learn here. Am hoping for a litter from the youngster in June when she will be 2 and 4 months so that will be another time to watch them carefully. Thank-you, I feel I have learnt an awful lot this morning, which can only be a good thing for my girls.