#resource guarding

[thesocklesswonder]

Edited bc someone told me this is resource guarding and the people are incorrect in their approach to retrieve the watermelon.

The dog is cute, but there are better ways to deal with this that don't harm the dog's mental well-being. Here's the link that was given by pitbolshevik to learn more.

[maisietheyellowlab]

Does anyone have any good resources on dog-dog resource guarding in multi-dog households?

I'm looking for force free resources of any kind, so videos, podcasts, books, blogs, whatever, as long as it's sensible and useful. Please, and thank you!!!

Navi has always been a typical little herding dog who takes it upon herself to "enforce rules" and it was usually not problematic at all, it was moreso a quirk. However, she's tried to guard her bowl and a cardboard box (love that for her) in front of Maisie and a friend's dog in the past month. I'm pretty convinced this is linked to her being in heat, since it's been a tough one for her, but I think we'd benefit from working on this regardless. Don't want it to escalate and create conflict with other dogs and I also don't want her to feel unsafe with her food etc. I already do a lot of things to manage it, and I know how to work on resource guarding between dogs and people, but I honestly don't have that many resources on dog-dog resource guarding and how to effectively manage or solve it.

[fbwzoo]

Emma has been doing amazing with her resource guarding over the past week or two & I'm so proud of her!! Tonight alone included one time with Phoebe sniffing an empty plate, as soon as I praised Emma for not lunging, her entire face relaxed & she gave me her attention for pets;

and then Phoebe jumped on the chaise where Emma had a snuffle mat with cat kibble - she didn't lunge even over such a big prize, only 2 hard stares & quickly cut off with big big praise from me & Jack. Phoebe left pretty quickly with no interest in working for her own kibble, so Emma relaxed & went back to snuffle! She's come SO far with her snuffle mat confidence!!

[flock-talk]

Noticed some very subtle signs of resource guarding coming from Mr Toto so we worked on building comfort with my hands around the bowl and building a consistent predictable routine for the bowl being moved away + returning with extra goodies

[wyrddogs]

Did you have any issues with Kermit’s RG when you started working him? Nettle snipes at Fitz today over a bird and now I’m all worried she’ll never be able to go after rabbits or rodents around other dogs 🥲

Noooot really?

He DOES resource guard holes when he’s digging in them. So when we’re out ratting and all the dogs are digging at tunnels, we just make sure Kermie has his own space.

When critters are running around he’s too focused on getting it to care about what the other dogs do. And once the rat is dead he stops giving a shit about it, so that solves a potential conflict.

He also gets overwhelmed if a bunch of dogs are all going for the same spot. He’ll hang back while the pointer and terriers are cramming themselves into the same three square inches.

With rabbits Kermit is basically purely a flusher dog. He’s too slow to be anywhere near the kill. So no resource to guard in that instance.

Honestly resource guarding, especially of prey animals, is such a natural behavior. Unless she is so focused on RG that she can’t do her job (locate more prey) I wouldn’t really worry about it? Kermit has a strong sense of ownership but he’s able to work in a high-stakes environment just fine. I just need to know what circumstance he needs space (digging holes).

I don’t know the context of the bird but finding a dead snackie is different than actively hunting in a pack, too, so the mindset would be different.

If you’re really worried about it you could try one of those RG protocols — I have several in my tag. But I think once she starts working, she should be too busy doing her job to RG.

[blueboyluca]

i know you're not a dog expert, but at this point i trust individuals more than random videos on youtube

have you ever dealt with resource guarding? and if so, how do you deal with it?

Hello! I have never dealt with resource guarding personally. There may be others on dogblr with experience they can share. What I probably would recommend is reading Mine! A Practical Guide To Resource Guarding In Dogs by Jean Donaldson, which is supposed to be one of the best books on the subject (I haven't actually read it myself).

[panda-eggs]

Resource guarding dog girl

[emma-the-brave]

Emma's been killing her potty training lately, she peed on living room pad & went back to bed on Tuesday when Jack wasn't feeling good, and she got access to the bed (with a cover) yesterday & today during the day with no accidents on the bed!

On the flip side, she's been getting a bit more food-hound, and also showing more guarding behavior. Specifically, she's been increasing her barking at Joel when he gets home, plus if she in bedroom and he's moving around the house. So we've been working out plans to help keep that from getting worse. There's a few things impacting the behavior & plan.

Background causes - I realized today, we've had like 4 different strangers at the house in 2 weeks between friend, repair guys, and fix it family member doing some stuff around the house for us. That's a LOT and certainly more than we expected for the first several months. No wonder she's on edge. She's been doing so good, we got complacent. So once we're done getting stuff fixed in the next few days, back to lockdown for 2-3 weeks to let her unwind. Then we can start again with having our quiet friend come over.

Complications - some of the things she doesn't like about Joel, are just Joel things and can only change so much. He's active, he moves a lot, he's tallest in the house, and he's got a deeper voice. There's a limit to what he's able to do right away on changing his routines without tanking his mental health, so there's some compromise there.

Planned changes from us - Joel now has a treat pouch in his work bag so he can give treats easier and faster when he comes in. He's letting me know when he leaves work and an ETA, give or take 5 minutes, so that I can be ready to manage Emma better - either giving her treats or taking her outside while he's coming in. We told him he should work on giving her treats more often in general around the house, so she starts expecting positive things from him too.

Additional changes after talking to her training team - going to dry some hot dogs for Joel to have in his treat bag so that he gets the high value treats. The rest of us can do regular ones, but Joel will have the good shit. Joel & Arte are also going to do a bit more of the positive dog things when possible, such as letting out & in, and giving food. They included Arte so that she doesn't just swap them in her mental hierarchy.

And a good one that hadn't even occurred to me, I can also just. Get up & move around when Joel's getting home & if she starts barking. She can't guard me if I'm not staying still, and she'll be more focused on following me & seeing what I'm doing instead of getting upset about Joel coming in.

It's opposite from what we'd been doing while she was settling in, which was giving her a safe person that stayed put while she processed everyone else moving around. But duh, it's 7 weeks later, she's past that point & now we have a different behavior & situation, thus different approach.

Looking forward to seeing how the changes work!

[novathesheltie]

Resource guarding and dog friendliness, an update

An update on Nova's reactivity and dog aggression/friendliness and how it's all related to his resource guarding (duh me).

Before

So Nova used to be very reactive. He's gotten in fights with dogs. He's bitten dogs. He's snapped at puppies. He's made a dog bleed. On leash, off-leash, you name it. Small dog, big dog, giant breed, you betcha. He's gone for anyone. He used to be triggered more by big fluffy dogs, particularly huskies, malamutes, and Samoyeds. But, really, anyone was at risk. Any dog accepted in Nova's inner circle first passed a lengthy selection process that went on inside Nova's head. Sometimes long exposure to a dog from a distance, with treats given every time he looked towards it, helped ease his reactivity. There was an instance where he went from rabid dog to friendly dog by doing just that. It wasn't a reliable technique despite several good results. He also had lived with at least one other dog his entire life, either Koa or Laska. We lived with Koa and a boxer for the last few months in the states.

Today

We've been in France for the last 6 months. We don't live with another dog, but we do see dogs every day, often the same ones. I take him out for 1hr walk every day after class. 20min to get to the park, 20min doing parkour at the park, 20min to get home. At home, he has the pleasure of living with two other housemates as well. He's content. His needs are met.

The first month or so, I avoided other dogs on walks to avoid piling up any problems as I was still dealing with the move. The biggest thing, however, is that I stopped taking my treat pouch on walks. I got lazy, essentially. I was happy to be back in my hometown, and I was glad to let myself slowly re-adapt to this lifestyle.

Turns out, this was an excellent decision. No taking the treat pouch. No treats have been distributed on walks since then. None. Not treats, not kibble, nothing.

Result? Nova stopped seeing me as a food dispenser. Nova stopped worrying about food on walks. Nova stopped worrying about his resource being threatened. Thus, Nova stopped resource-guarding me. Nova became "friendly". He greets other dogs, now. He's nice to them, and sometimes he even offers to play. It's clear he's not the best-socialized dog-he gets the zoomies with old dogs who aren't up to play, or with dogs clearly exhibiting aggression. He gets shy and reserved with playful dogs. He's still very stiff when another dog sniffs him-which, you'd say, "that's not good", but it's Nova's way of climbing those stairs to being okay with the interaction. A second later and he's acting normal sniffing the other dog. He's unsure, and he's not 100% comfortable, but he's still seeking the greeting and goes through the interaction with flying colors. I still make sure the greeting is destined to go well-I watch for any sign that may say otherwise, I keep the interaction short. I act very nonchalantly (continue on walking, calling Nova's name, or letting the leash looser if he's leashed) (if he's not on a leash, it's bc we're on a hike with minimal chances of encountering dogs, or we're at the park doing parkour.)

Nova hasn't gotten into a fight since we got back to France. Nova hasn't resource guarded in the company of strangers (dogs) once. He's shown his teeth at the appropriate moments. He's told off a dachshund who tried humping him. But he hasn't even acted aggressively when we've both been spooked by the sudden presence of a dog.

It's clear it's gotten quieter in his head. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's still a full-blown circus going up there, but the anxiety regarding food is gone. And thus, I have a much more stable dog at the other end of the leash.

What are our reinforcers, you ask? I still train with him, of course, though I am happy the bulk of it is done already. Today, we use play and freedom as rewards. It makes our walks much more interactive and much more pleasant, too. I feel like I am constantly conversing with Nova. We're constantly telling each other things, doing things, and directly interacting with our surroundings. A reward for ignoring a dog is to jump on a bench five meters away. A reward for listening during our walk is to be let off leash immediately as we get to the park. His reward for having perfect recall is to high-five me (he loves it) and "okay!" -> his cue to go do whatever he wants. Sometimes he goes back to sniff or goes up ahead to explore, sometimes he stays with me.

This means that we can walk in the park off-leash and I don't have to worry about Nova causing trouble. Most of the time now, he ignores dogs. He'd rather be with me and play. It also means that, even during a walk where we're kind of both doing our own thing (him sniffing, me on my phone) I can recall him and say "leave it" as he's running towards me and ignoring the dog he's running past.

It's a relief, and a happiness that is beyond description seeing Nova like this. I wish I had done this from the start, not using treats for his training. He's incredibly food motivated and will work tooth and nail even for a piece of lettuce, but the anxiety he gets from it is not worth it.

He's still not the silent, "at peace" dog, he is very vocal and very expressive still and has many things to say on a daily basis, including seeing dogs. But it's not aggression, it's not resource guarding, it's curiosity, want, general basic reactivity (like, "holy heck what is THAT?!", "It's a fluffy bush, Nova", "No DUDE, I swear, it's not that", "yes it is now come on and stop being weird", "BUT BRO", etc.) (or, "omg can i go see that dog over there pls...", "no", "im literally cryin why are u so mean:(", "dude stop whining", etc.) It's not 100% perfect, he is still Nova, after all.

But...he is much happier and much more stable in that nogging of his, and that's what matters.

[pittieandpoodle]

had a wee bit of a resource guarding moment this morning with Denver. for background, she's got some fun RG issues that stem from being a dog, me not being the smartest when i first got her, and a pretty nasty fight she got into with my older dog 4 months into owning her that started over a bowl of food.

so she's got some pretty understandably strong feelings about perceived threats to her high value items.

we didn't give her normal dinner last night (boiled potatoes, yum) because of some tummy issues, so this morning she was hungrier than usual. i gave her breakfast in a kong wobbler food dispensing toy and sent her into our loft/upstairs room to knock it around. there's a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep the puppy out of the loft, so it's a good room to send Denver to when she has a treat dispensing toy and i don't want to lock Shrike in the bedroom or expen.

however, the baby gate does create the perfect little place for the wobbler to fall and get stuck, which is exactly what happened this morning. Denver was already frustrated (i had to help her get the wobbler unstuck from under a bookcase like ten minutes earlier) and the wobbler was down to its last few pieces of kibble. i came over and said "let me help you", which is our cue for "i'm just going to unstuck this for you and you'll get it back" but she wasn't having it. she lowered her head, stiffened, and growled. Shrike came over to the gate to see what was up and that made her more upset.

so i had Lizzie (bless her soul) to keep Shrike on the couch while I went and got some treats to try and persuade Denver to let me help her. she's very suspicious of me trying to lure her away from something with food, so it didn't really work. eventually i had to just open the gate and hope she figured it out on her own.

she did not. i managed to toss freeze-dried chicken about a foot away, and while she very warily went to get it i put my foot on the wobbler, and then when she turned back to face me i said "let me help" again and picked it up. usually if i can pick it up, i'm in the clear. she watched me come into the stairway and close the gate and then followed me back upstairs where i gave her the wobbler back.

there were a couple of moments during the whole ordeal where i was pretty sure she was going to really try and bite me, but she didn't! i'm very proud of both of us and how far we've come in the RG journey that this was, actually, pretty easy to deal with. and i don't feel like our relationship suffered at all!

at one point i did try to use a pair of kitchen tongs to try and grab the wobbler, but she really wasn't feeling that method so i abandoned the idea pretty quickly, lol.

anyway. just wanted to share. love my difficult dog and how hard she makes me work <3

[hollow-knight-husbandry]

i found this certain nosk hoarding a shiny rock in my garden and everytime i come closer to it it screeches why is it so attached to a rock, is there any scientific explanation?

There may be a bit more to the rock—if it isn’t super small, perhaps it helps obscure the view of its nest where it’s keeping food and/or babies. Otherwise, chances are it’s not unlike how a dog protects its favorite toy.

[kiki-is-being-purples]

This kitten is not being a bastard, she is exhibiting high levels of stress via resource guarding. Probably because she has experienced trauma related to starvation.

The best thing her owner can do for her in this situation is to rig up a station where he can insert the bottle and she can walk up to it and suckle, thereby removing him from the actual feeding.

Though if she is chewing through the end of the nipple like that she should be given open access to a bowl of kibble and weaned from the milk.

Un p’tit mardi dans la vie d’une calico!

Causal friday in a calico’s life!

[fbwzoo]

(Long rambling post re: Emma & resource guarding)

Man, I'm so glad my household is all basically on the same page when it comes to animal care & management. It really makes it so much easier tackling some situations, like Emma's resource guarding.

Like, we got it almost gone within the household in 4-ish months. It's not fully gone, but a huge improvement.

Now that we're going to start adding back having people over slowly, we know it's going to make a reappearance due to the stress of the new situations. That's already happened with the first occasions we've had so far in the past month.

BUT lots of positives - she's relatively? Mild about it - a snarl & lunge, and then she retreats. She doesn't escalate or anything. Still a more dramatic reaction than we'd like, but could be worse.

She's also not too bad to redirect usually, either before or after, she's not fixated on the one she's trying to guard against. She's just trying to create space for herself and the guarded object - which is usually me. The habit isn't super ingrained, since both her foster mom & we have immediately been addressing it to avoid situations that cause it & redirecting when we can.

Our house layout could be better to work with, but we do have a game plan in mind for managing her with people over, and with Shilo as she's still touchiest with him out of the house animals.

For Shilo: more treats for her when he comes in the room or is on the couch to get affection. Especially for me, she'll get treats tossed away from me to reward her for leaving me & give her space from Shilo. She does lose me (in that I get up and move) if she lunges at him (or Phoebe, but she's much better with her).

For guests: I'll be out on the dog bed/floor or by the cat tree so that she can't camp out and have me + corner to defend. If she's showing increased signs of tension, like pacing, circling, etc. I'll do a treat toss towards the hallway or go to the bedroom to encourage her to follow me and give herself space from the new people. Treat toss towards the hallway/away from me if she does do any guarding as well.

I want to give her more options for either giving herself space or calming activities, but a) she still wants to be in the room with people even when she's stressed, and b) can't add anything too high value that would add something to guard or invite interest from the other animals & possible conflict. So that likely rules out lickimats and higher value chews.

I may look at getting some smaller Benebones bc she liked them at the foster house & they were fine to leave out there without guarding. The other two dogs aren't too interested in the bigger ones I got for Addy either. She's started to like shredding and chewing cardboard too, so maybe encouraging that as a distracting & calming activity for this type of thing?

[freyavlocke]

How Do I Stop My Fearful Dog From Resource Guarding Food?

Is your dog resource guarding food? Find out why, and what you can do to help them with this common struggle. #dog #dogbehaviour #dogtraining #resourceguarding #puppy #dogsarefamily #funnotfear

Is your dog resource guarding food? Find out why, and what you can do to help them with this common struggle. Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com Does your dog have a problem with resource guarding? Food is meant to be an enjoyable experience for your dog, but sometimes it can be a stressful and anxiety inducing part of the day. If, when you go near your dog while they are eating, and you…

[shatterthefragments]

More later when I have better connection but like.

I’ve been trying to be better about resource guarding and my anxiety but it really fucking worked against me here and “it’s one hour what would happen”, It is Gone. Fuck fuck fuck.

I should’ve just gone for it.

[jungbtseok]

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