This afternoon I give Rio and Deuce a big marrowbone to enjoy outside in the yard. Often Deuce will daintily chew on his while Rio hides hers and then sticks around to get Deuce’s once he has abandoned his.
I go outside to check on them and this time I am not sure if Deuce has already finished his or if Ms. Rio has buried hers and is now chewing on Deuce’s. Since I cannot decipher what is going on, I give Deuce a second smaller one. I am walking close to Rio, who is lying on the dirt enjoying “a” bone, when I notice that she is protecting her bone by placing her body between the bone and myself.
Wow. She is guarding her bone! I make no attempt to remove the bone from her but instead I walk inside and I get a piece of chicken out of the fridge. I am heading out to do a cold trial and teach this girl that….
A. I don’t want her stinking bone and…
B. My proximity while eating something so valuable makes chicken rain from the
sky.
This is the first time that I have observed Rio truly guarding something from me. But I am not intended on making the problem worse by proving her right and removing what she wants to keep for herself. I believe it is possible that she was guarding it because as I walked close by her Deuce was lying down not too far away, and maybe she was (in addition) guarding from him too.
Guarding of a precious resource (from the point of view of the dog) is an adaptive behavior - one that serves the animal well in order to survive. But a dog guarding from a person can potentially be a disaster.
Depending on how severe and what the dog is guarding are all based upon how one should proceed. However, what appears to be very counter-intuitive is actually the best approach: Do not remove the coveted item from the dog! Instead teach the dog that you are no threat and you coming close to that precious resource is a good thing for her.
The next day I am dishing out bully sticks, and I am armed with more chicken. As I offer Rio her precious chewy I hold on to a side of it. Drop it, I tell her and she complies by opening her mouth and letting the chewy lay on top of my hand. I give her the chicken for her “effort” (and trust) and I tell her “good girl” as I give her back her bully stick to enjoy.
Because she does not have a strong history of guarding I can get away with doing one cold trial whenever she is given any edible that she wants all for herself.
Now I'm working with a couple of clients whose dogs are big guarders and who have been taking into their mighty possession bones and the like. Here the effort to teach the dog that you are really not interested in their bone, etc. requires a much more elaborate and tedious protocol that again aims to teach the dog that relinquishing a coveted resource has its benefits. In some cases, depending on a series of factors, managing the problem might be totally acceptable but the problem will not go away on its own. Again, it comes prewired in our dog’s brains so we need to teach them that in our world sharing is a good thing and that they can trust us to not want to take possession of that stinky bone for
our own chewing delight – they can have it all to themselves!
I go outside to check on them and this time I am not sure if Deuce has already finished his or if Ms. Rio has buried hers and is now chewing on Deuce’s. Since I cannot decipher what is going on, I give Deuce a second smaller one. I am walking close to Rio, who is lying on the dirt enjoying “a” bone, when I notice that she is protecting her bone by placing her body between the bone and myself.
Wow. She is guarding her bone! I make no attempt to remove the bone from her but instead I walk inside and I get a piece of chicken out of the fridge. I am heading out to do a cold trial and teach this girl that….
A. I don’t want her stinking bone and…
B. My proximity while eating something so valuable makes chicken rain from the
sky.
This is the first time that I have observed Rio truly guarding something from me. But I am not intended on making the problem worse by proving her right and removing what she wants to keep for herself. I believe it is possible that she was guarding it because as I walked close by her Deuce was lying down not too far away, and maybe she was (in addition) guarding from him too.
Guarding of a precious resource (from the point of view of the dog) is an adaptive behavior - one that serves the animal well in order to survive. But a dog guarding from a person can potentially be a disaster.
Depending on how severe and what the dog is guarding are all based upon how one should proceed. However, what appears to be very counter-intuitive is actually the best approach: Do not remove the coveted item from the dog! Instead teach the dog that you are no threat and you coming close to that precious resource is a good thing for her.
The next day I am dishing out bully sticks, and I am armed with more chicken. As I offer Rio her precious chewy I hold on to a side of it. Drop it, I tell her and she complies by opening her mouth and letting the chewy lay on top of my hand. I give her the chicken for her “effort” (and trust) and I tell her “good girl” as I give her back her bully stick to enjoy.
Because she does not have a strong history of guarding I can get away with doing one cold trial whenever she is given any edible that she wants all for herself.
Now I'm working with a couple of clients whose dogs are big guarders and who have been taking into their mighty possession bones and the like. Here the effort to teach the dog that you are really not interested in their bone, etc. requires a much more elaborate and tedious protocol that again aims to teach the dog that relinquishing a coveted resource has its benefits. In some cases, depending on a series of factors, managing the problem might be totally acceptable but the problem will not go away on its own. Again, it comes prewired in our dog’s brains so we need to teach them that in our world sharing is a good thing and that they can trust us to not want to take possession of that stinky bone for
our own chewing delight – they can have it all to themselves!
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