Finn bit him- and drew blood.

I'm afraid we have a policy not to advice when a bite has occurred like this. The potential for well intentioned advice to be wrong and make the situation worse is too great.

We need to advise you to find a good behaviourist, preferably one who has experience in RG. And I can't stress enough that they should only use modern, scientific, reward based methods. Anyone who talks about being alpha, dominance or pack leadership, or who says you should be able to take things from your dog just because you are the boss, will make this worse, not better.

If you find someone and would like us to look at their website, please ask.

Meantime, don't take anything from Finn. Wait until he has left it and has gone to another room. I'd also do things like prep his food while he is in another room, put it down, and only then open the door and let him get it. If he empties his water bowl, have a second one to put down.

 

I agree you should get a behaviorist involved. There is a good book on resource guarding, called MINE! by Susan Donaldson. I think you should familiarize yourself with this book as you make your selection of a behaviorist. I am not saying to use this book in lieu of a behaviorist; you need eyes on the situation to make sure you are correctly interpreting the signals you are getting from the dog. However, if the behaviorist is telling you do do things that are vastly at odds with what the book suggests (e.g. punishing a dog for growling, or leash popping a dog for various situations), then you should question that behaviorist's qualifications. A good behaviorist will probably set up a program similar to what the book suggests.

In the meantime, I agree that you should start to think of managing the situation. Continue separating the dogs at meal times or whenever they might conflict over an object. I agree with Joanne that you should avoid taking anything away from him or handling it while he is in possession of it. In the case of something you absolutely need to get away from him, or if he lying someplace where there is a danger of him reacting to someone innocently passing by, try calling the dog into another room for a treat. Hopefully he will abandon the precious object to come to you. Don't then lock the dog up while you go back out and grab the object. He'll realize he's been conned. Instead, as long as he has abandoned the object, stay in the other room with him. Give him some attention, more treats, and maybe take him outside for a pee. Abandoning his precious in order to follow you should be a great thing for him. After your detour he will hopefully have forgotten whatever he was obsessed over.