Resource Guarding? 8m old DDB

[Mark_G]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and to owning a DDB, having owned a Rhodesian Ridgeback and 2 Boxers in the past I thought I was equipped for anything.

We have a 8 month old DDB who despite being trying (as all pups are) has been very trainable and incredibly affectionate since we collected him from the breeder at 10 wks old.

Last weekend we fed both him and the boxer raw hide - a treat which is reserved for special occasions, we were all sat as a family in the front room, Bear was on the bed and I stood up to move out of the room, he immediately dropped the bone, began salivating and air snapping and moving towards me, he wound himself up so much he pee'd on the floor. He was utterly unresponsive to all commands. The main command we taught him of "calm" which stops any undesirable play went out of the window.

Neither of us have experienced a dog Resource guarding before - the behaviour has come as a shock especially as its completely out of the blue and his character.

We let him outside where he dropped the bone and my wife called him inside with the promise of biscuits.

Literally as soon as the bone was gone he was back to normal (although he had clearly scared himself).

Roll forwards a week and he's now started to growl if you touch or give him a command when he's eating.

Obviously this needs to stop, any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Mark and Bear (the DDB)

 

[DennasMom]

Hmmm... could be a few things going on, but I agree, you should address this asap.

Depending on the source of the raw hide, I wouldn't rule out some sort of "drug" type interaction with the processing chemicals.

8 months is about time for another "testing" phase, and one of the more major ones, as he's just coming into his adult perspectives.

I would practice some NILF, and also 'trading-up' for a while - anytime he starts to get really focused on a toy or treat, go get something better (cheese or people food normally is considered very high value for this type of thing) - tell him to 'drop' what ever he has (using what ever key word you've taught him) - and take that item while you give him the higher value item.

I'd also go back to practicing some plain ol' obedience work, too... just to make sure he's staying in the habit of doing as told (for rewards, of course! I don't expect dogs to work for free on a regular basis... there must be some sort of 'payment' involved to keep it interesting).

Keep enforcing the rules, be calm, confident, patient and generous (when he's being good) try not to respond to his bad behavior - if you can ignore it, he'll come to understand it won't get him what he wants faster (IF you can ignore it, some behaviors you can't ignore)... guide him through this 'testing' phase and he should let it go shortly.

I'm sure others will chime in here with more.

There have been some recent posts on resource guarding here - so if you do a search on the forum, you should be able to see some other threads with suggestions and recommendations, too.

 

[Rio]

i would start with giving him food as usual ( he should not do this guarding thing as i understand it ? ) and add more food as he is eating , so he will be comfortable with you while heaving this valuable thing .

If you are not comfortable with this , take a feedbox , put it on the ground before you , and go on putting some treats / food in it while he is eating . Then give food as usual , and go on adding food while he is eating .

Then i would do the things as described above , but would not trade , just let him leave the treat ( raw hide , whatever )


Then i would do the same , and take the treat , let him sit or something , and give it back .

Then finally i would not give it back only when there is a very good reason for it . Reward him generously in that case.

I would try to prevent him from guarding by being intelligent all the time , so start with something you can be sure about .

Be sure no other dog is around .

 

[musicdeb]

Great advice given by Dennas Mom and Rio. Resource guarding requires consistency in training and LOTS of patience. Titan had resource guarding when I first got him and it took me about 3-4 months to resolve the behavior.

There are a number of posts about resource guarding.

Re: rawhides. Rawhides are proven to be hard to digest for dogs and the chemicals in the rawhides can either may the dog sick or worse, especially the ones made in China, which most are made in China. I had a dog many years ago that died from eating a rawhide.

 

[Mark_G]

Thank you all for the advice, it really has helped.

Also the raw hide was from a well known supplier in the UK - Pets at home. It's strange that its not happened with Bear before last week - I suppose it could have been some weird reaction.

Last night I started hand feeding Bear his dinner and so far no issues with him! I'll definitely go back to basics with the training, it certainly can't do any harm and I'll keep you all posted on his progress!

Pic to follow!

All the best

Mark

 

[musicdeb]

Just keep on keeping on...

 

[Hector]

Here are some videos

[video=youtube;ALpvuFIoZxc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALpvuFIoZxc[/video]

[video=youtube;nJ2qFglIfAE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ2qFglIfAE[/video]

[video=youtube;PhPgVZE__C8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhPgVZE__C8[/video]

[video=youtube;i60q52DqIuc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i60q52DqIuc[/video]

[video=youtube;kImnp2F-9Z4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kImnp2F-9Z4&index=5[/video]

You can also train a dog to back away from the food bowl once a person approaches. I can't find the video. Another technique people use is to teach a place command. I can't remember how it goes, but once an "out" command is given the dog will stop eating and go to a place mat nearby and wait for a release. This is shown in one of Cesar Milan's episodes with a bulldog I think. I can't find the videos.

Another good thing to do is make the dog work for the food if you are not already doing that. You can ask for a bunch of commands or just a simple sit in the beginning until your dog starts offering a sit by default.

Leave it and drop it exercises are also good to teach, but that might be better later on once the dog is not so aggro over high value food items. You can always start with low value foods like kibble or items and start with the basics.