Resource Guarding

I gave Ginger a chewable milky bone, I think she like the taste to the extend she went sheepish and sneaked away with it. Then, her body went tense (tail up, stiff body) when I approached her, she growled at me.

Crap, even though she is just 3 month old, the growl startled me, LOL. I was very annoyed and asked her to drop it which she refused, and I chased her and picked her up by grabbing her back neck, just like picking up a cat and took away the bone by force.

Feeling kinda weary, I went to google on dog's resource guarding topic and found out that what I did is wrong. By taking away the bone by force when she was guarding it will only reinforce her guarding habit. Ref : Read the best answer in My dog growled at me normal or bad behavior?

I went to take a few treats which she highly valued (blueberry treats) and flung it in front of her nose then say the command "Drop It", there, it happened. She drop the bone and came to get my treat, I praise her highly and give her back the bone. I repeat this exercise a few times and I noticed she went relaxed while chewing on the bone. I'm going to practice the food exchange more often from now onwards.

Very important point for dog owners, do not punish your dog if it growls. Growling is a warning, if you punish your dog, it won't growl anymore but jump right to biting. You don't want a dog who bites unpredictably.

Good article to recondition your dog if it shown resource guarding behavior :
Resource Guarding