Resource Guarding and New Baby

[alycia.ammar]

Hello!

We have two dogs and are having our first baby in February. We have been putting baby items (swing, bassinet etc) in the house one by one to get them used to these items before baby comes. Our husky/shepherd gets quite guarded of the items toward our other dog, we have been ignoring the behaviour and eventually she gets used to it and stops guarding the item. However A couple times the dogs have gotten into a fight over these things which we have had to break up. My question is how do we go about this resource guarding properly, and especially when baby comes? I am nervous the baby will become something the dogs will fight over and that is definitely not something we want! And my second question, what is the proper way to break up a dog fight?
 

A bit of background: both dogs will guard random household items if it is something not normally there. Example shoes left out, wrapper on the floor, something unusual on the coffee table. We try our best not to leave things out but when it does happen they often get into a fight over it. They have never actually hurt each other, and also never display aggression towards us but the fights do sound dramatic and scary. 
 

thanks in advance!

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome back!

You are caught between a rock and a hard place here, because on one hand, you want to get your dogs used to objects that will be commonly around your new baby, on the other hand, you don't want to evoke fights. And with a new baby in the home, you'll certainly deal with a significant increase in novel items around the home on a high frequency basis as that's inevitable. 

Management is always a good option to implement, and it sounds like you are already doing a lot of that by keeping items that your dogs may fight over out of reach. Management is helpful because it prevents dogs from rehearsing problematic behaviors. While it's true that management doesn't treat behavior problems directly, it can prove beneficial on various fronts.

In the case of dogs fighting over objects, management would therefore involve preventing access to such items. As the saying goes "out of sight, out of mind." With no novel items around, your dogs should have nothing to fight about.

By doing this, you are preventing rehearsal of the problem behavior. Here's the thing, if one dog is guarding, say something like a baby's blanket, and growls/barks at another dog who comes near, the growling/barking behavior is reinforced (the guarder gets to keep his perceived possession and since his strategy often sends the other dog away, the dog will keep rehearsing this type of behavior over and over). When behaviors are rehearsed, they put more roots and happen more frequently. 

On top of this, management allows your dogs to relax and it keeps them safer. Resource guarders are often on edge and hypervigilant.  You therefore won't have to worry excessively as you have lower chances to face the upsetting ordeal of breaking up a fight. 

Of course, adhering to strict management can be a very arduous task, and micromanaging can put a big toll. On top of this, many dog owners look for a direct solution to their dog's behavioral problems, rather than strict avoidance. A time may come after all when some item falls to the ground or is forgotten on a table or just can't be moved. With a new baby, new parents are often sleep-deprived and become distracted.

In such cases, training dogs what we want them to do in presence of certain novel items can turn out being a good compromise. We often tell dogs what we don't want them to do, when dogs do best when instead we tell them what we actually expect from them. So you would have to think of a desirable behavior you would like your dogs to engage in when in presence of an object that may trigger fighting. 

*Please note: these exercises are risky. Have a dog behavior consultant guide your through for safety and correct behavior modification implementation. With a new baby arriving in the home, you can't play it safe enough. Consider that with a new baby there is more stress, and stress can lower a dog's threshold for acting aggressively-so if we already see problems now that we're ahead of time, they will likely get worse if we don't intervene. 

Therefore, these are just samples of behavior modification. Every case is different, and may warrant a different, individualized approach.

For example, a baby's rattler drops on the ground? You can cue your dogs to go to their mats as soon as it drops to the floor. Once they are there, you can grab the object, stow it away and you can then release them from their mats.  

Initially though, you would have to train your dogs a strong response to going to their mats. You would therefore start training this without any of your novel items around.  Here is a guide for this behavior that you would start practicing one dog at a time, and then involving both dogs having one mat for each dog place at a distance from each other.  *Caution if they are food aggressive and too close to each other. Your behavior consultant can help you gauge distance.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

After you have obtained a strong response always with the help of a dog behavior professional, you can start adding the presence of some novel object. Place the belonging on the floor and ask your dogs to go to their mats. Practice this several times every now and then to keep the response fresh. 

Other behaviors that you can train when a baby's belongings is around is to have your dogs walk away from the item using a cue word such as "off!" or you can train them to come and get you to let you know. This is more advanced training that will require some time to master as the desire to guard from each other can be quite strong. 

If the items are very large and placed in the new baby's room, you can block off access to such room using a baby gate, but you can every now and then invite each dog individually to explore them as you praise them. Train them individually to disengage from the object at some point by asking them to come target your hand or just make a smacking sound with your mouth to tell your dogs to look at you and come to you  If one of your dogs though starts guarding the room because he sees the novel object through the baby gate, close the door. 

 For Breaking Up Fights

Breaking up dog fights is a delicate situation. If one intervenes wrongly, it can lead to a re-directed bite. This implies, that owners should never get in between two dogs who are fighting and using their hands, arms or legs as that's the easiest way to get injured.

Noise-making tools can come handy. Always keep handy a pocket sized marine air horn or even two pot lids to clash strongly together. Some dog owners have had success using compressed air. These can startle the dogs enough to stop the fight.

Water can be helpful too. A bucket of water tossed over them, or a water hose directed in their direction may do the trick. Sometimes,  tossing a blanket or towel over the dogs when they are biting each other may confuse them enough to detach and separate.

Large and long objects can be used as well to place between dogs such as a folded chair, trash can. 

Spray Shield is a spray made with citronella which can be used to break up a mild dog fight. Aim towards the nose. It is always best practicing in spraying this outside randomly at things just so you get a hang of how to use it so when the need arises you know what to do.

Importance of Consulting with a Professional

It is worthy of emphasizing the importance of working directly with a dog behavior professional, especially when there are dogs with a history of fighting and new babies joining the household.

Behavior modification is often needed more than actual training since resource guarding  is a matter or emotional responses that need to be altered and defused. A lot of skill is needed to read the dog's body language carefully, while providing a systematic approach that aims to change the dog's emotions and increase coping skills with certain scenarios/situations.

Behavior modification though comes with risks and requires one-on-one coaching in order to increase safety and allow its correct implementation. These experts in the field are board-certified veterinary behaviorists (DACVB) and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (CAAB).

In some cases, medication may be needed so to help reduce some of the stress of novelty, particularly with a new baby, along with ongoing training. When dogs are stressed, dogs are often too over threshold and this lowers their ability to cognitively function so that they can learn new behaviors.

I hope this helps!

Here is a read for getting dogs used to the baby's first cries:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/get-dog-used-crying-baby/

And here are more threads on resource guarding, please note that these are specific tips and don't apply to each case scenario, every case is different and only a dog behavior professional assessing the individualized dogs can make specific, customized plans based on every situation. 

Feel free to post if you have any particular questions.  

Best,

Adrienne

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog is aggressive, please use caution and consult with a dog behavior professional for in-person coaching, safety and correct implementation.