Checked with one of the guys from Charleston School for Dogs and he says I’m doing the right thing with the time-outs and taking away Simba’s toy. A strong and reliable ‘Leave it’ would help too if Simba and another dog started to face off over a toy. He also said that resource guarding behaviour is tough to train out of dogs and takes a lot of work, so I’ll just keep at it.
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Resource guarding is a tough one to break, since it is a natural instinct. Luckily for us, Juno does not have such behaviour. It does sound like you are on the right track though with Simba. I wish I had some magic trick to suggest; instead I will have to learn from your future experience.
Did the dog trainers suggest using a water spray bottle/pistol when you give the stern “Leave it!” command? That works like a snap at our dog park.
Simba’s ‘leave it’ is generally pretty good, although when he’s focused on something or thinks it’s time to play a game, he doesn’t always listen. That’s the part I need to work on. More proofing and making it more reliable with extreme distractions.
When working alone with Juno, her commands are pretty good. The performance degrades quite a bit when there are distractions about, such as, well, anything that moves!