Dog Community

Resource Guarding (sorry so long)...

Posted : 4/20/2006 11:50:59 AM

Wesley has recently stared exhibiting some resource guarding tendencies and I want to stomp them out as quickly as possible... Since it only occurs in very limited circumstances, and they are not consistent, I am not sure if I should implement a full blown protocol like from "Mine" with everything he might ever think about guarding, or if there is a more targeted approach I should use.

Here are some details - Wesley does not guard food (kibble or treats or table food that might fall on the floor), he is hand fed everything he eats, but when something does fall on the floor, I can pick whatever it is up or tell him to wait, or take it from under his nose, no problem. Wesley usually does not guard toys or bones he chews on from people (he mostly eats bully sticks) I sometimes even hold them for a while while he chews them and while

etting him and then I leave him to it, so that he gets a good association with me near his stuff; and with toys, I usually trade or have him drop it (we are working hard on that one) when I want what he has and I treat and praise effusively when he gives me whatever he has... BUT, randomly, he will growl and or show some teeth when one of us tries to take something. The 3 examples from the past month are:

1 - he stole a wire hanger and was eating it on his bed (for not more than 10 seconds, I saw him do it and went right over to take it away from him) and I said leave it and went to take it and he growled (I got a treat and then traded him for it and that worked but I would obviously rather not have to give him a treat in return for a stolen hanger to take it back safely)

2 - he was eating a stuffed Kong the other day, I wasn't home and he crawled under DH's legs which were up on the coffee table to eat it. He somehow wedged it so his teeth were hitting the coffee table as well as the kong, so DH went to move the kong away from the table and Wesley growled and showed teeth (apparently DH just pushed the coffee table back instead of dealing with it at that point)

3 - unclear on this one, he was playing indoor fetch with DH and ran upstairs (which he sometimes does to lay down and chew on the ball (maybe guarding it??), but will usually come back down with it when called) he wouldn't come back, so DH went up to get the ball and he may have growled while prancing around and playing keep away from DH (again, not sure about this one, but don't want to fool myself into thinking it is nothing if it is something).

Any advice would be much appreciated - I am happy to implement a full blown resource guarding protocol if that would work best, but was just wondering if there is something more specific we should be doing since his issues are so random?

Thanks!!!

spiritdogs

Posted : 4/20/2006 4:20:39 PM

I absolutely would do the whole protocol with a dog like this. The reason the guarding is sporadic may be that the things you can take aren't things he values as highly as a wire hanger (which you obviously wanted, so it must be valuable, right?), or a stuffed Kong.
I would not approach this dog to take things away from him - in other words, don't test him. That's how you get bitten. Do the protocol, and remember, if you keep having trouble, you can always re-connect with Jen :-)

)

Janey

Posted : 4/20/2006 9:25:37 PM

Since I'm a newbie on this forum, could you tell me about or lead me to the protocol on resource guarding?

schleide

Posted : 4/21/2006 11:15:24 AM

A full blown protocol for dogs who resource guard can be found in "Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" by Jean Donaldson. Also, below is a link to an old thread, where a poster more generally describes the kind of protocol I was referring to. If this is a problem you are having, and you weren't just curious, I hope this helps, definitely ask if you have any questions, a lot of people on the forum have a lot of experience with this...

[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=9469&mpage=1&key=resource%2Cguarding♽]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=9469&mpage=1&key=resource%2Cguarding♽[/link]

spiritdogs

Posted : 4/22/2006 11:02:55 AM

I would obviously rather not have to give him a treat in return for a stolen hanger to take it back safely)

Stop thinking like a human, and start thinking in "canine". You increase the value of the stolen object when you grab for it, or walk over saying "leave it" (this command is only supposed to be used before the dog has the item), and you are teaching him to protect his stuff - after all, he knows you always want his "good stuff".
My recommendation is to do the protocol, and include inanimate objects that you routinely give him something better for.
My new pup (guardy and herdy extraordinaire) will now give up just about anything to any human, and I can make her "leave" anything, including cats, rabbits, brooms, and a bunch of flying seagulls last week at the park.
If your DH keeps going after him, he will continue to feel like he has to play keep away. I'd rather have my dogs bring their stolen stuff to the cookie jar and hand it over!
Believe me, eventually, they think it's no big deal if I occasionally take stuff from them. But, it doesn't happen overnight with a guardy dog, and it never happens if you keep taking their stuff and there's never anything in it for them when you do.

schleide

Posted : 4/22/2006 1:49:55 PM

We will start working the whole protocol with food, bones, toys and random objects then ... Thanks for your help!!!