Let him have it!

This week I have a client’s dog staying with us for board & train. The dogs have gotten along just fine. Just a few “that’s my bed, ball or toy” “conversations” that have been curtailed readily.

Yesterday as I am attempting to play with Deuce and Rio and our friendly visitor, I realized that the lab is running hard after the “sacred” orange ball. Deuce and Rio continue to run and now I am worried that the little- tank of Labrador is going to crash into Deuce. Oh no!

Both males get into a minor … “It’s mine!", “No! She kicked it for me” kind of a thing. We continue to play with the ball. And once again there is a minor exchange of “words” surrounding possession of the ball.

I get smart and I go to fetch the second orange ball - now partially destroyed. I call the lab and I throw the ball for him down the driveway. Off he goes after it. Good, now I can play with Deuce and Rio as we normally do.

Occasionally Gator turns to our game and goes after the ball. I call out to both my dogs to let him have the ball and they kind of looked relived that they do not have to compete with Gator over the ball and are running back to me.

Yes, yes, yes pups! Well done! I slip them both a piece of dried liver that I happen to have in my pocket to thank them for diffusing and taking the high road.

I continue to send Gator for his own ball down the driveway with everybody minding their own ball.

On the occasion that Gator decides to join “our party” I let him run full throttle after our ball and I ask my dogs again to just let him have it.

Situations like these are great learning opportunities for all involved. I get to practice with my own dogs important behaviors such as stop engaging with (you can fill in the blanks here of all the things dogs love to engage with and that on occasion can be a problem for us). I am also teaching my dogs to share. Really. Dogs, just like people, have favorite stuff that they like to claim their own and they are not always ready to “just share” with this new dog that is now in their space.

If we want our dogs to have polite manners towards others we have to teach them what that looks like! On these same lines, I am a big fan of telling the dog what to do instead. Say I tell Deuce and Rio to “leave the ball” then I proceed to call them to me so that we can begin the game again with either the ball that Gator has graciously brought to my vicinity or incorporate the second ball. In this manner, not only am I avoiding a conflict, but I am also teaching my dogs that listening to my requests pays off. I will make sure that they get to play too even if Gator has not yet learned the rules of our games and it is being a bit of a putts by running full speed toward the ball.

Life and our dogs give us so many opportunities to teach and learn. Even the most mundane of circumstances are golden opportunities to either teach something new or continue to practice what we have taught before. In addition, we get to experience dogs being just dogs… animal planet in the comfort of our home…

Single child (dog)

Our friend’s Robin and Lisa come over for dinner and they bring along Skylar who is one of Rio’s and Deuce’s BFF. The dogs are excited to hang out together - first inside as it was still hot. Just as the sun was setting we all step outside to go to the field and let the dogs play hard. They run and take turns chasing balls. My eye caught Rio at least twice politely deferring to Sky her big red ball. Good girl Rio! I told her as I smiled with motherly pride. They continue to play for a bit and now the ball is back between these two. We are all kind of gathered around the dogs when a spat took place between Sky and Rio. It did not last long. We quickly remove the ball from the field.

They keep hanging out and I see that both dogs are back to “normal”. Good, their relationship is intact.

Afterwards I am thinking about single child/dogs and if they are at a deficit when it comes to learning how to share with other dogs. Similar to some single (human) children who find it difficult to do so. I sustain this thought for a few minutes and I reach the conclusion that any being that is alive will have to learn to share resources and protect them as well. Yes, it is true that when there is more than one dog in the household the dogs get daily practice in negotiating all sorts of stuff such as places to lie down, food and other goodies.

It is also a fact that some dogs really like their toys and they might not be as happy about sharing with others. Here is the case of Sky and Deuce. I am not sure if this is an ongoing problem between Sky and her other doggie-pals because this was the first incident of her guarding the ball from Rio. Or perhaps Rio was the one who began the posturing because she was not willing at that point to have Sky keep the ball. Who knows; it all happened kind of fast.

Deuce, for example, is so good about sharing almost everything. He totally looks the other way when Rio (food monger - per excellence) steals his half-eaten chewy or a Kong. However, I need to separate them when I roll out food-dispensing toys (with the exception of the Kongs - go figure!).

If I don’t separate them, Deuce will give Rio and the food-dispensing toy a hard stare and begins to vocalize in a very high pitched tone. If Rio remains close to the toy, he will go towards her and sort of peck on her with his muzzle. Since I know this, I just don’t expose Rio to this sort of nonsense. So they get to eat and play with the food-dispensing toys always apart. Now, Deuce and Rio have a toy box filled with all sorts of goodies that they can access at any time. They each have their favorite toys, with balls ranking # 1 for Deuce. Rio loves them all!

I don’t recall if they have ever felt possession over one of these toys. Perhaps because there are so many to go around that there is truly no need to guard them.

Conflicts between dogs are potentially dangerous for them. That is why for the most part, (unless the dog has learned that pulling his weight around pays off) most dogs tend to exhibit ritualized behaviors that never escalate too much. It is evolutionarily advantageous to remain injury free.

Either way, I try really hard to keep the relationship (yes, it is a true friendship what these two have) between Deuce and Rio as conflict free as possible and the same goes for their other doggie-friends. Playing it smart and anticipating any possible conflicts pays off and will allow for many hours of fun play with or without a precious ball.