Should I take my puppy's toy away?
I have a 10 week old puppy. He's been with us for almost 2 weeks already, and I can say that he's a pretty smart pup. In those 2 weeks, he's been able to learn commands such as recall, sit, stay, give paw, fetch, and go find (when I hide treats around for him to search). He only has one toy for now as we're still under quarantine and I have to buy him toys online instead. It's been with him ever since the day we adopted him. He had no issues with it in the beginning. However, in the past few days, I have noticed him being more guarding of his toy. Sometimes he would stiffen when I try to touch it to play with him. I've started to train him "out" and exchange it for a treat. He drops it right away but only when he knows I have a treat on hand. The same goes for when we play fetch. He brings it back and drops it in front of me when he knows he'll get a treat, but when he knows there isn't, he won't. Nonetheless, he's very very obedient when following commands that have nothing to do with his toy.
The past couple of days, I've also noticed that a few minutes after he plays with his toy, he would then bring it in his den (it's a small cabinet with no doors but a curtain, and he loves staying in there ever since). I'm worried it might be another sign of him guarding it.
The thing is I think it started only when he noticed that I would sometimes put it away when playing is done, although I reward him with a treat afterwards. I did so because when I read articles, some would say dogs should not have constant access to them all the time but only when you allow them to. However, I've also read a few who says they should always have their toys around. I'm confused which I should follow. Meanwhile, I think we'll continue with training the "out" command.
Do you leave your dogs/puppies with their toys or do you take them away? How has it affected them? And maybe you have some tips that we can do so as to avoid further developing resource guarding? :)