Food and Resource Guarding and Highly Reactive

[SuzanneMartin]

Hi,

 

We have a border jack puppy--5 months old. She is VERY food motivated and would say that all food and chews come before anything even herding the cats! She growls even if you come close to her while she is eating out of her bowl. She will growl if she is chewing on a high value meat bone. She will also growl and nip if she sits next to us and is tired and we pet her. I know she is still a puppy and we need to teach her what is the right way to behave. I'm trying all sorts of things, but she is still a little "B". LOL

 

Any suggestions for us to handle this aggressive behavior?

 

thank you!

Suzanne

[JMFS]

You're singing my song! Not the petting, but the food. I have a whole saga posted about that here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?92-Mo-s-Escalating-Behavior&highlight=escalating

 

I lived like that for 8 years and I'll tell you right now, it's worth Every last penny to get a force-free Behaviorist in there to help. That little dude and I are on such better terms as a result. I've admitted it several times, I seriously considered euthanasia or rehoming because I didn't think he could be "cured." I'm glad I paid the money to be proven wrong. At 5 months of age she's in a Great position to have her opinion shaped differently when it comes to food. I honestly wouldn't try this on your own because I did that for 7 years and it got me nowhere. Having the Behaviorist there to walk me through it and call to my attention Momo's body language was key to our success.

 

Some dogs, like people, want to be left alone. In that regard I'd respect her wishes. My husband likes to rub my back in the morning when he wakes up and I Hate it because it wakes me up and I want to sleep and be left alone. He perceives it as a loving gesture, I perceive it as a rude interruption to my Very valuable sleep. He gets pushed away or griped at (the human version of a nip). Conversely, he would Love it if I scratched his back or rubbed his head while he's sleeping. It relaxes him whereas it irritates me. Dogs are just as varied as humans in their desire for touch. Is there a Need to touch her, like are you giving massage or administering medicine? If not then I'd "let sleeping dogs lie."

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi,

 

We have a border jack puppy--5 months old. She is VERY food motivated and would say that all food and chews come before anything even herding the cats! She growls even if you come close to her while she is eating out of her bowl. She will growl if she is chewing on a high value meat bone. She will also growl and nip if she sits next to us and is tired and we pet her. I know she is still a puppy and we need to teach her what is the right way to behave. I'm trying all sorts of things, but she is still a little "B". LOL

 

Any suggestions for us to handle this aggressive behavior?

 

thank you!

Suzanne

 

This is something that you want to nip in the bud as early as possible since your puppy is still young. Your puppy needs to learn to trust and that when you move towards her it's not to take away her prized possession. This is accomplished through conditioning exercises using desensitization and counterconditioning. The goal is creating strong positive associations, to the point of eliciting what is known as a "conditioned emotional response." In other words, rather than dreading you walking nearby, your pup looks forward to it because great things happen.

 

For example, with puppies without a history of resource guarding, it's a good practice to feed the pup its meal, and every now and then, nonchalantly walking by the pup's food bowl and tossing some goodies in it. This is done often, once again to the point of creating a conditioned emotional response. This happens usually after several reps, when the pup starts wagging his tail in anticipation and looks happy as he knows that something really good is coming. It's also a good idea to do the same exercise when the dog is enjoying something valuable such as a chew or bone.

 

Now, the above examples are exercises that can be done in puppies who do not resource guard yet, and therefore, as a preventive step, with pups who already resource guard, it's important to use caution and work at a distance, ensuring the dog is always under threshold and then gradually increasing criteria. Because working on resource guarding, falls under behavior modification rather than training, for safety and correct implementation, it should be conducted under the guidance of a behavior professional who can monitor the process and make suggestions based on observations. Until then, it may be best feeding your pup in an area where she doesn't feel the need to guard so to avoid rehearsal of the problem behavior. If there are children in the home, it may best to crate her during meals and instruct the children to not approach. Resource guarding is something serious that you want to address sooner than later as it tends to get worse rather than better.

 

For the issue when sleeping, once again, you don't want to create rehearsal. This may lead to negative associations with hands. Like Jennifer pointed out, best to adhere to the saying "let sleeping dogs lie."

 

Some other differentials to rule out may include your puppy simply not being comfortable being handled (many pups don't like to be touched, but this would happen as well when awake) or her resource guarding her sleeping spot. Dogs that resource guard sleeping areas typically exhibit aggressive behaviors when dog owners approach them while resting in their sleeping spots, which are highly regarded as valuable places. And then there are actual sleeping disorders affecting dogs that cause dogs to act aggressive, but this is typically upon being woken up.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Adrienne Farricelli