Greater Swiss and Food Aggression show

All true, but at the end of the show he did mention that the owners were continuing to have problems with the resource guarding and that he would be making another visit.  Just seems like he applies the same philosophy to every situation....

ORIGINAL: espencer

ORIGINAL: silverserpher

Somehow this whole thread feels like a matter of semantics.  What kind of pack leader would step in and separate another member from its food just to confirm status?

What kind of pack leader uses treats to make the followers do something? what kind of pack leader uses leashes? are those two things wrong? of course not

Let's say that no pack leader in this world separates another member from its food just to confirm status, did help the dog with his problem? yes, was the dog hurt? no, did help the owners to avoid being bitten in the future? yes

Tell me one part of the technique that made the dog being in a worse situation than the one he was before, is the dog more relaxed now that does not feel he has to be aggressive? yes, are the owners more relaxed not knowing they are not going to be bitten? yes

Whats there to complain about? they need to remove the dog from the food to keep the training, they are not going to wait till dinner when the dog is hungry again to continue and just doing it one time because "they cant take him away from the food" []

 
Logical, practical, realistic, and results which speak for themselves...hmmmm. [sm=wink2.gif]

ORIGINAL: Angelique

ORIGINAL: espencer

ORIGINAL: silverserpher

Somehow this whole thread feels like a matter of semantics.  What kind of pack leader would step in and separate another member from its food just to confirm status?

What kind of pack leader uses treats to make the followers do something? what kind of pack leader uses leashes? are those two things wrong? of course not

Let's say that no pack leader in this world separates another member from its food just to confirm status, did help the dog with his problem? yes, was the dog hurt? no, did help the owners to avoid being bitten in the future? yes

Tell me one part of the technique that made the dog being in a worse situation than the one he was before, is the dog more relaxed now that does not feel he has to be aggressive? yes, are the owners more relaxed not knowing they are not going to be bitten? yes

Whats there to complain about? they need to remove the dog from the food to keep the training, they are not going to wait till dinner when the dog is hungry again to continue and just doing it one time because "they cant take him away from the food" []

Logical, practical, realistic, and results which speak for themselves...hmmmm. [sm=wink2.gif]

 
The results were that the dog continues to growl at people who approach his food bowl....

Maybe the dog was just making a "yummy" sound.
 
Sorry, I'll leave now. [8D]

A more confident dog can have an object, a bone, far away from him and still be able to keep other dogs away from it

 
I really haven't seen that. Once a bone or something is basically out of paws reach, it is fair game.

ORIGINAL: Angelique

Maybe the dog was just making a "yummy" sound.

Sorry, I'll leave now. [8D]

 
I was suddenly reminded of the movie "Young Frankenstein."  Did you make a yummy sound? lol

ORIGINAL: silverserpher

ORIGINAL: Angelique

Maybe the dog was just making a "yummy" sound.

Sorry, I'll leave now. [8D]

I was suddenly reminded of the movie "Young Frankenstein."  Did you make a yummy sound? lol

 
Ha-ha-ha! I love it when people "get-it"! []

Thanks everyone for your input, yes I did get to watch it last night.
 
This was my dog, looks like him and acted like him.  That look on his face and that low growl when you approached his food.  I know that this resource guarding is the same for each breed but I literally felt like I was watching my dog on TV.
 
Anyway, this is where I know Cesar#%92s techniques would NOT have worked on River.  And since I was successful in curing guarding I don#%92t think those techniques were the best.  Even at the end he said they are still having problems but it took me a year so it#%92s not an overnight thing for sure. 
 
This has nothing to do with confidence; my dog is one of the most confident dogs I know.  It#%92s all about; this is mine and stay away!!!!  The more I would try to remove him or approach him the worse it go.  Like they said on the show, there space between him and the bowl became farther apart.  My Swiss started to guard the Kitchen when food was around and not want anyone to enter.  I have to add that if I fed him and put my hand in the bowl and he ate around he would without guarding, but the minute he had total control of the bowl, you couldn#%92t get near it.
 
My dog started this when he was a pup- little guy 3 months maybe, I did what they did.  I kept going into his bowl and showing him this is mine too.  People would tell me, just take it from him – so I did.  I would take away his bowl in mid eating and the problem good worse and worse.  When he was 8 months old, he started to guard his resting areas but never toys, I believe now that he was alright with toys because I always played with him with them.  He would guard anything really yummy like Kong#%92s for instance so we stopped giving them to him.
 
My first behaviorist had us open bowl feed, he believed that once the resource was plentiful he wouldn#%92t guard.  That may have worked but my dog got fat really quick so we stopped and started hand feeding; we did that for about 4 months with little success.  The second behaviorist had us start NILIF and for the guarding place the food bowl on the floor have him sit give him a handful and walk away into another room.  He would have to come “to us” for more food.  When he did we were to go and pick up the empty bowl, move it (even if only a foot – just move it) and have him sit and give him a little more and again leave the room.  The idea was for him to come to us for the resource if he wanted it.  It worked like a charm.  After about a month we were able to pet him while he was eating.  We were able to approach him while he ate to.  Now a year later we have confidence that the resource guarding is under control – he is 2 and a couple of months now.  Just the other night I bought him his first really yummy marrow bone EVER and sat on the floor and gave it to him while I held it.  Let him have some control over it.  I had cut up steak in a bowl by me too.  So each time I wanted to take the really yummy marrow bone, I called him to me and gave him a piece of steak.  I did this in 20 minute intervals for about 1-1/2 hours and then left him be.  Once it was bed time I just got up with confidence and walked over and took him bone.  Not a growl, not a bite of contention from my dog.  It was wonderful.
 
 

That makes a lot of sense, Dawn... thanks for the success story! [sm=wink2.gif]

Very cool.  That makes total sense because the overall result is that the dog becomes comfortable with the distribution of resources----the resources come and go and it's no big deal---I guess that's what I mean by confidence.

IMO, food guarding is resource guarding and is not a fear but an instinct and only give up to an alpha. When you train them not to guard the food bowl, they are still guarding, just in a manner in which you approve. If behaving and being calm is what is necessary to get the food, that is what they will do. You, the alpha, will see to it that no one messes with each other's food.
 

ORIGINAL: Stacita

A more confident dog can have an object, a bone, far away from him and still be able to keep other dogs away from it

I really haven't seen that. Once a bone or something is basically out of paws reach, it is fair game.

 
That may not be true with some dogs, but in our household it is.  When Sydney is done with her kong and Nigel gets up and walks away from his, he can keep her from going and getting his kong without even being close to it.  She will approach slowly and cautiously until he sees her and turns around and ignores her.  Then she will continue to pick it up and check it out, but if he doesn't want her taking it, he doesn't even have to go over there, she picks up on the body language and will leave it alone.  That to me is a display of dominance by Nigel over his resources, but he has never had to take it beyond body language for Sydney to get the message that she can't have it.
 
Nigel used to be a resource guarder towards me but he has since relinquished that and allows me to take the yummiest treats away from him, even if it is in his mouth.  I followed along with a combination of techniques, CM's stance of this is mine if I want it and being calm and assertive about it (prior to CM ever being on tv) and the use of what Dawn (Luvmyswissy) was describing.  Teaching that just because I want it doesn't mean that you won't eventually get it back or even something better in return.  Like Dawn, I now have a dog that I am completely confident in (in regards to resource guarding). 
 
If you look at pups in a litter, they will growl and tustle to get the resources and you can see that this is part of them pushing the lines with who is going to be the dominant dog.  I think that when they start doing this with humans it is the same thing, pushing the boundaries to see how far they will be allowed to go.  Whatever method or combination of methods you use, you must communicate that the resource guarding is not acceptable behavior and what is.