Leaderboard

It would be truly wonderful if dogs could share to the extent humans do.. it would make our lives much easier! Every now and then on Youtube we see videos of owners raving about their dogs sharing bones and food bowls. As endearing as this can be, sometimes there are very subtle signs of impending trouble and even if things seem to go well overall, there's always that chance that things may change at some point. Close supervision for alterations is always a must. "Humans may prefer sharing food widely, but this is not the case among canines," points out Adam Miklosi in the book: "Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition." Here's the thing: from an ethological point of view, the protection of food is a typical behavior that has been observed among a dog's ancestors, the wolf and that has perpetuated into the dog most likely because it's an adaptive behavior (that ups the chances for survival in case of scarsity). David Mech who studied wolves during the summers of 1986 to 1998 on Ellesmere Island, Canada, described an ‘ownership zone’ around the wolves' mouth, or within lunging distance, which was respected by others. Sure, dogs aren't wolves, but they retain several traits, albeit they may have modified with time. With domestication, breeders and then owners mostly control access to food food distribution. However, often dog owners struggle with their dogs having squabble albeit innocent over resources such as toys, food and bones. That's understandable considering our culture. Sometimes though dog owners may become intolerant of one dog repeatedly taking things from the other or guarding and he or she may reprimand such dog for guarding stuff from the other and for dogs refusing to share. Such unrealistic expectations though can risk making things much worse. "The expectation that dogs should inhibit this behaviour is either anthropomorphic or it assumes that this behaviour has been selected against during domestication. However, even in the latter case, many dogs need to be trained to show temperance," further points out Miklosi. "Dogs, being predators, come programmed to guard resources that are crucial to their survival as part of their behavioral inheritance from their ancestor, the wolf. Some of those resources may be in short supply at certain times of year or in certain environments, and are therefore valuable," says dog trainer Grisha Stewart. "Socially skilled adult dogs don't normally take things from each other by force. If it's in your zone it's yours until you relinquish it. These rules are not instinctive or innate. Dogs have to learn them. "points out Alexandra Semyonova. Of course, while dog-to dog guarding may be acceptable to certain levels where it's mostly communication and respect for personal spaces, we certainly though treat dog to human resource guarding differently, in terms of addressing it even if it's very subtle such as just a growl or a dog rushing to grab the resource as we're walking towards it. Early intervention in key. This doesn't mean we should ignore dog-to-dog guarding, we just need to constantly monitor it to ensure things don't escalate and no dog is emotionally impacted as it can come to harm both parties (the dog who lashes out is most likely always stressed due to compulsive thoughts of losing the resource, the victim dog can become stressed being about even innocent things such as just walking around and breathing). So the options to manage resource guarding are always these: strict management to prevent rehearsal of troublesome behavior (feeding food, treats, toys, bones or anything dogs seem to fight over in separated areas using crates, doors, exercise pens, extendable gates and baby gates. Cleaning up as much as possible, e.g. removing empty food bowls, pieces of bones, stuffing from toys and crumbs. Training obedience cues fluently e.g. training all dogs to respond promptly to leave it, go to your mat, down, smacking sound, and come so to redirect dogs at a moment's notice from each other as needed so to avoid conflict. And of course, enlisting the help of a certified veterinary behaviorist/behavior consultant for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification (desensitization and counterconditioning mostly to obtain that lovely +CER https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/ Yup, good things happening contingent on the presence of the other dog/animal. Treating resource guarding among dogs/animals who share the same home can be complex and requires years of practice, skill, careful observation, and the institution of safety measures. In some cases, meds may be needed along with behavior modification to pave the path to cognitive changes that evoke a better state of learning.