Joe went for OH -resource guarding?

On Christmas day Joe had a few new toys which he loved He was brought a tennis ball on a rope and unfortunatly it lasted all of 30secs before he tore it My OH went to get the toy before Joe could swallow any of it and for the first time ever Joe snapped at him When I say snap, it was one of those 'air' snap type things if that makes sense. He has NEVER done this before. He was immediatly told a very firm 'NO' and removed from the room. He seemed to know straight away he'd done wrong and a few minutes later he allowed back in with no fuss made to him. The toy was taken away when Joe has gone. Now the ball has been cut off and he now just has the rope.

At the time Joe was on his new bed which he loves surrounded by his new toys, do you think he could have been over excited?

My OH went to get the toy before Joe could swallow any of it and for the first time ever Joe snapped at him When I say snap, it was one of those 'air' snap type things if that makes sense. He has NEVER done this before.

Sounds like resource guarding to me, he is objecting to having something he values being taken away.

He was immediatly told a very firm 'NO' and removed from the room.

Hmm, sounds like you need to actually TRAIN the dog that LEAVE and GIVE are not optional extras.


He seemed to know straight away he'd done wrong and a few minutes later he allowed back in with no fuss made to him.

Dogs do not know right from wrong, they understand cause and effect however.

At the time Joe was on his new bed which he loves surrounded by his new toys, do you think he could have been over excited?

Very probably, too much in one go might have overloaded his little brain, similar to children.

Dogs don`t know when they`ve `done wrong`. From a dog`s point of view he did right in defending his prize. He reacted because you were angry.
Putting a dog out doesn`t work like it does with children because the dog doesn`t `get it`. A child has it explained, a dog just knows you`ve pinched his toy and thrown him out.
Have a read of Jean Donaldson`s The Culture Clash which is great at basic understanding of how your dog`s head works.
And maybe teach Give and Leave?

Our female snapped once when she was a pup in the same situation.

I wouldn't worry. We taught her the 'give it to lucy/paul' command and she's great now, she soon learnt it and has never snapped again, and willingly brings us toys and bones all the time without us even asking now, expecting praise and a cuddle or a treat in return like she used to get when we were training her lol.

For us ignoring our female (who can be naughty quite often) works the best, till she calms down, and the situation is forgotten, it's the only thing that works actually in the house! I couldn't hit her, shouting would probably make her react or want to play and I think she thinks 'NO!' is her second name, my OH called her it so much as a pup!

Sorry to hear of your challenges with your dog. It is alwasy a chock when our dogs behave in a way that we do not expect. Understanding your dogs point of view however, may help a lot to prevent further incidents of this type.

The rules of "ownership" of posessions, in the dog world, are very, very simple.

If it is in my mouth or within a foot or so of my mouth (could be more depending on the dog), THEN IT IS MINE!!!

Your dog did not do wrong in air snapping at all, not in dog language at least. Your OH was stealing from your dog and the dog was merely saying so and a good dog for not actually biting.

It is possible to train dogs to give up things that are within their "I OWN IT" zone, but repeated violations of the "ITS MINE" dog rule, often results in dogs learnign to guard their "things".

Please find below an article I have written that is about food guarding so does not relate directly to your problem, but you may find the logic helps you understand your dogs behaciour and viewpoint.

If ever you want to take something from your dog, try swapping it for something more valuable to the dog (like sausage), so that your dog sees it more as a lucky exchange than outright theft.

Understanding and preventing food guarding.

Introduction

It is my experience, that dogs share with humans the basic inborn instinct to protect their food. It is a survival instinct. All mammals have this instinct to some degree or other.

The instinct to protect their food within the domestic environment may be latent in some dogs, but it is there. And it could surface at any time, if the dog feels the need to defend its survival resource has arisen.

It is my view, that what happens to this food guarding instinct, whether it remains latent, or develops into full blown food guarding with growling, snapping, lunging and even biting, is usually a direct result of its learning. The learning that humans provide.

The problem for the dog is that what is a perfectly natural and healthy behaviour, often inadvertently instigated by misguided human behaviour, can ultimately end in the dog finding himself homeless, or worse, dead. Food guarding is seen as aggression, which I don’t believe it usually is, aggression is seen as unacceptable in a dog in today’s modern society and it is the dog that often pays the price.

This document has been put together in an effort to bring an understanding to how food guarding can be prevented or resolved. I hope you enjoy reading it.

If I where to get cross with your for stealing my chocolate, or chips or pizza, you would probably consider that understandable. You might say, “don’t do that”, or “Eh, they are my chips!” No one would see it as aggression, just an attempt to protect what was yours, against the threat of my stealing it.

Lets look at this from the dog’s point of view………


How food guarding can come about

1 Fido the puppy comes into his new home. His owners love him and all is well.
2 As Fido grows, he becomes more confident and outgoing and one day on the park runs off and won’t return, is unusually pully on his lead and jumps up at a passing stranger with muddy paws, making both stranger and owner cross. Fido’s, owner has read some Old fashioned dog training book and wonders if Fido is getting “Dominant”?
3 He decides to test this out by seeing if Fido will let him take his food off him. He read this in a book..
4 When next feeding Fido, he reaches down and takes the bowl. Fido freezes and stares indicating his discomfort. Fido is surprised, there has never been a threat to his food before. The owner misses the signal that his dog was uncomfortable with this action, it was too subtle. But the dog didn’t growl, the owner is reassured. All is well.
5 Next Day Fido is really naughty. He jumps in a smelly pond chasing ducks and he stinks really badly. He refuses to come back when called and makes the owner late for breakfast. Owner decides that he must do something about this dog and he decides that he will implement a regular routine of removing the puppy’s food to show his authority.
6 Feeding Fido who is very hungry after a hard morning chasing ducks, tucks in to his food. As Fido is eating, the owner reaches down to take the food. Fido is more prepared this second time, he is now aware that his “stare” did nothing to prevent the removal of his food last time his owners hand approached his bowl. Fido is now ready to take more serious action. He utters a low warning growl as the hand approaches his food.
7 Fido’s owner, though aware he was testing his dog’s reaction. Did not actually expect this reaction, is shocked and withdraws his hand. Fido continues eating; glad his message has got across. All is well in Fido’s world. J But not his owners L.
8 Owner spends the day pondering Fido’s behaviour. He really can not have Fido behaving this way, Dog aggression as he sees this to be, is a dangerous business, he knows that. He decides to take further action.
9 When feeding Fido next day the owner decides if Fido growls he is going to scruff him, as it says in the book, or smack him to punish Fido’s misdemeanour and make it clear that he, the owner, is the boss, as it says in the book. His hand approaches the bowl, Fido growls, aware that this worked last time. Owner grabs Fido by the scruff, pushes him to the floor and shouts at him.
10 Really angry now, the owner removes Fido’s food and doesn’t give it back. Fido is very frightened and hungry too! He does not understand. Eating used to be a simple, necessary pleasure. Now it seems whenever there is an owner around when he eats, there is tension. Owner tries to steal his food, when Fido says he doesn’t like it, the owner shouts and causes him pain and fear. And takes his food away.
11 Fido decides the best thing is to keep the owner well away from the food in an effort to relieve the tension and avoid the shouting and scruffing and food removal. .
12 Next day, owner places food on floor, both dog and owner are now tense, wondering what the outcome of today’s feeding session might be.
13 Fido immediately goes into growl mode, summoning up his courage he gives his best “I’m not happy with you being here” stare and growls and curls his lips at his owner. He hovers over his food, standing stiff, glaring menacingly. “Back off” he growls. “Chill out about this food thing” he wishes, “go sit in the living room” he says. As the owner takes a step closer, he lunges, teeth displayed and snaps at the air. The owner, now scared, retreats. Fido resumes his eating, unnerved and worried that such tension arises at feeding time, but relieved that the owner has left his food, he is hungry!

14 The owner is horrified at this sudden display of ‘aggression’, his cute puppy has turned into an ugly, vicious, dog. He is outraged and has visions of what might happen if he ever marries and has children, with this dog around. He feels compelled to fix it. Adrenalin rushing and determined to show his dominance over the dog, he roars at the dog, and reaches down, once more for the dog’s scruff. The dog with reactions 3 times faster than that of a human, interprets the owners move and desperate to avoid more scruffing or the removal of his survival resource, bites the owner’s hand before it reaches the bowl.
15 All is far from well now in Fido’s world or his owners L.
16 From point 4 of this story, Fido has been progressively put in the situation where he feels it necessary to guard his food. He needs food to live. Fido feels that he has to be on his guard whenever he is eating. He also understands that humans do not necessarily understand, lip curling, snarling, staring, stiffening or growling. The only thing that really makes them back off is biting.
17 Whatever happens next to Fido, he will never forget that human hands can and do sometimes take away his food when he is eating. He is aware that he must be ever vigilant to the approach of humans. He is now aware that most attempts to communicate - growling, snarling, lip curling, staring, freezing, lunging and air snapping - all normal attempts to AVOID aggression or conflict in the dog world, are not recognised and responded to by humans.
18 As many food guarders do, Fido ends up in a rescue home. Others find themselves immediately at the sharp end of a needle.
19 His owner, ashamed at having such an aggressive dog, but too embarrassed to seek help himself, tells the home that he simply doesn’t have time to care for the dog anymore. Fido, an otherwise friendly, well-socialised dog, quickly finds a new home.
20 There are children in this one and he loves them. They play happily together all day the first day. Fido has good manners and the owners are delighted with him. He is gentle and respectful with the children even the baby. The children have read a dog training book and they give him treats in return for sits. All is well again. Fido loves his new home, his new owners love him and the children are delighted to have such a cuddly, playful new friend. Wouldn’t it be great if the story ended here?
21 At feeding time they place the bowl on the floor and walk away, Fido is relieved and happy, no action is necessary.
22 All is well for several weeks. The owners, children and dog are truly delighted.
23 And then one day, when Fido is eating, Fido’s friend, Rosie the baby, now crawling, toddles toward Fido, on her hands and Knees, as she gets closer she reaches out her tiny hand…In an instant Fido remembers that staring and freezing, growling, snarling, snapping, and lunging don’t always work with humans. He has only one option available to him to protect his food……. He doesn’t want to bite Rosie his friend and playmate, but he needs food to live…….

24 Rosie is scarred by the incident, mentally and physically. Her parents are distraught and cannot understand the sudden change in Fido – he had always been so gentle with Rosie before? And Fido, having bitten a baby is destroyed.

Food guarding is usually easily prevented – follow these points for happy relaxed mealtimes. .

DO NOT FALL INTO THE TRAP FIDOS OWNER DID!

If your dog is happy for you to approach his food or bones when eating, make him even happier, by adding to that food some higher value food like liver. Do this regularly.

Don’t give him things that you later want to take off him. If you do have to remove a bone and you are not confident of your dog’s reaction, call him into another room away from the bone. Bones and chews above all things are more likely to bring about food guarding behaviour because they are long lasting resources.

When my dogs are eating bones, I go to them and give them another bone. When my dogs are eating, I add food to their bowls.

Hand feeding your dog can to help make it understand that human hands PROVIDE food, not take it away. I often use my dog’s daily food for training purposes and this means I may feed my dog from my hand 100 times a day (tiny portions). They like my hands. Other people do the same – they like other peoples hands.

If you dog is the sort of dog who will have a bone, chew it, then leave it, but guard it from a distance, then only feed him bones when he is hungry enough to eat them, of the type that he can actually totally consume. Or give them in another room and leave him to it.

If ever your dog growls when eating or at any other time, remember he is only saying, “please don’t take my bone” or “please stop doing that”. If I said to you, please don’t take my chocolate would you scruff my or pin me to the floor??? If you did do that, do you think that would benefit our relationship? Do you think that it would make me respect you more???

If a dog growls and you leave him alone then he learns that growling is all he needs to do. GROWLING, IS NOT AGGRESSION, IT IS DESIGNED TO PREVENT AGGRRESSION. It may be undesirable, but it is not aggressive in itself. If you never remove food from your dog he may learn that even growling is not necessary.

If a dog learns that you always provide food and more food or bones and more bones then he is unlikely to guard his food at all.

If you have confirmed food guarder and do not feel confident to try any of the above, then just feed your dog in another room, where he will not be disturbed. At least this way, the food guarding behaviour is not likely to deteriorate.

If your dog regularly guards things or is over protective of his food, toys or other items, and you don’t feel that anything in this document can help, then GET HELP from someone and soon. Unwanted behaviours rarely just “go away” of their own accord, but they are, very often, very easy to resolve once proper understanding is brought to the situation.

If you want to understand more, have a look at the clip from my DVD on my website [Link removed] This DVD is no longer commercially available (though the website needs updating to reflect this) PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ORDER THIS DVD.

This document was produced by Denise Mcleod of CaDeLac Dog Training.

Copyright CaDeLac Dog Training

Thanks for the replies everyone. Since Joe's incident we've had nothing thankfully and fingers and toes crossed it was just a one off.


Thanks for the reply lotsadogs, very informative, sad too though, as I can imagine that happening in many houses and poor dogs end up as rescues


Re. the 'give or let go' command, we have tried this with Joe but just wants to play tug of war with us and sees it as a game. When we want whatever he has, we don't turn it into a game and stop but how do we get him to see we want that toy? Or whatever. He will do it for treats sometimes, exchanging his 'thing' for a treat but on the occassions a treat isn't nearby, he has nothing to trade for so won't do it! Cheeky boy! Any tips?

A good way to teach Give is when you sit down in the evening. Give the dog a toy. When he`s ready, offer a treat instead, When he gives you the toy say give. After a while he only gets the treat if he puts the toy in your hand. This game then translates to your outside games.
Re tuggy - when they are happy to give you the toy, an exciting game can be the reward itself. But you have to teach the Give first.

Someone I used to work with (who thought he knew EVERYthing!) was saying about how his dog growled at him when he took a cooked lamb bone away after giving it to his dog to eat the meat off it (!).

I said that his dog thought he was a rude bully for taking something that was in its mouth at the time but he replied "Oh no-he knows I am boss" to which I replied "But my dogs never growl at me and I don't take things from them like this-they are taught LEAVE and DROP" but you can't tell some people can you!

How long do you think it will take for the dog to miss out the warning growl and go straight to a bite or nip?

Re. the 'give or let go' command, we have tried this with Joe but just wants to play tug of war with us and sees it as a game.

The dog does this because you have not taught the dog the rules of playing tug and have allowed him to win, intentionally or not.

Playing tug is great, but there are strict rules for both you and the dog to follow, if ignored they can lead to problems.

So the first thing you need is something that the dog CANNOT play tug with, secondly you need to teach the rules of the game.

http://siriusdog.com/tug-dog-training-motivator.htm


When we want whatever he has, we don't turn it into a game and stop but how do we get him to see we want that toy? Or whatever.


He will do it for treats sometimes, exchanging his 'thing' for a treat but on the occassions a treat isn't nearby, he has nothing to trade for so won't do it! Cheeky boy! Any tips?

IME most dogs do not do something if a treat is not nearby because owners have not been using food correctly.

So have you been using it as a bribe rather than reinforcement?

Do you know the difference?

Bribing is when you hold a piece of food in front of the dog and the behaviour that you want is contingent on the food being available.

Reinforcing with food is when the food becomes available when the behaviour you want has occurred, so food should always be "invisible" eg in your pocket, in a pot nearby etc until the dog does not need the food EVERY TIME.

HTH

Ps with some dogs it is inadvisable to play tug unless you KNOW that you have COMPLETE control of the game.