I am heartbroken.... Update #33

[Pea-n-Me]

Marci, I came across this and thought it was a good article to post here for you.

Resource Guarding

By Kathy Diamond Davis

Resource guarding is normal dog behavior. Like many other dog behaviors, it’s dangerous when it goes too far. Also like some other behaviors, it is an instinct best kept dormant and never triggered in the first place.

Resource guarding that a dog displays toward other animals can extend to humans—especially to small children. People often try to prevent or cure this problem by forcefully or repeatedly taking things away from the dog. This actually makes resource guarding worse and can be the trigger for it in the first place.

A young dog who grabs something people aren’t willing to have eaten or chewed by the dog and then has that item snatched away by a human is being given a reason to guard things more determinedly in the future. It’s much safer to create the pattern in your dog’s experience that people are givers rather than takers. If you have to remove something from your dog, simply “pay” for it—and make the payment something the dog considers a great exchange!

When you look at a resource from the dog’s point of view, you’ll soon see that it doesn’t take a filet mignon to replace an expensive shoe the dog has found to chew. Keep an assortment of good dog toys in easy reach. The toy you pick up and start animating for exciting play with the dog will immediately become more interesting than the stolen shoe just laying there doing nothing!

Pay attention to the texture of the inappropriate items your dog picks to chew, and find a toy of similar texture for the trade. Dogs often choose specific textures to chew because that is what their teeth need at that time. If the dog has stolen food (and hasn’t eaten it yet!), swap for food.

Guarding Food

Interestingly, dogs enjoy food they pursue more than they enjoy food offered “free.” You will often see this at work with a picky eater who ignores food in the dish or just handed out, but eagerly accepts chances to catch or earn food. This can get dogs to eat who otherwise will not eat in a particular situation. That’s why an “eye contact” exercise that includes moving and having the dog move with you is more effective than just handing the dog bits of food. [See Eye Contact.]

The way you manage your dog’s day-to-day life will largely determine how much of a problem you’ll have with resource guarding. Avoid letting other animals or young children approach your dog when the dog is eating, and don’t let anyone tease the dog over food. Instead, walk up and add extras to the dog’s food.

Eventually you can include children in this exercise with your supervision and with a dog who is showing no resource-guarding behavior. But unless you are helping the child and watching very closely, children under school age are best kept away from an eating dog.

If you have a dog prone to resource guarding or if you have a young child in the house, feed the dog scheduled meals and take the dish up off the floor between meals. Keep the dog’s meal times to just a few minutes so you can supervise. Dogs need water available at all times, and usually don’t guard the water dish.

Let the dog know by consistent handling that you will distribute the food and that the dog has no need to worry about defending food. Then if a child does wander up to the dish sometime before an adult notices and moves the child away, there is hope your dog will not be on guard and ready to strike.

Guarding People

Dogs may guard humans as resources. If you have more dogs than time, a dog who feels a deep need to be with you might try to push other dogs away to get the closest position for petting. This will become more of a problem if you push that dog away. If possible, keep that dog near you while you pet others. Then the dog feels more security and less need to try to push others away.

Of course if the dogs don’t get along, having them both in petting range at the same time could put you in the middle of a dog fight, so we don’t want that. For dogs who don’t fight, try putting one on each side of you. If they do quarrel—or you fear that they would—make a big show of separate but equal time for them.

So that the dogs can recognize they are each getting fair turns, rotate the turns often. A human could understand that today is the other kid’s turn and yesterday was mine, but that’s too much of a stretch for a dog’s mind. Start with very short rotations—maybe just a couple of minutes with one dog and then move to the other—and then increase the length of each dog’s turn.

Another way to provide equal attention is to give each dog what that dog prefers. If one dog likes to cuddle with you and the other would rather chase a ball, you can do both of those things at once. Dogs will often adjust their activities to find a niche in the family.

When a dog leaves the family or a new dog joins the family, you will often see a change in other dogs’ behavior. This causes us to realize that much of a dog’s behavior is due to relationships in a social unit, not to that dog “being dominant” or having some other intrinsic trait. Like humans, dogs are adaptable to situations and to changes.

Sometimes a dog appears to be guarding a human when something else is actually happening. The person may feel safe and protected by a dog’s aggressive behavior toward others, when actually the dog is guarding things such as the warm spot for sleeping, the chance to catch crumbs when the person snacks, and petting from the person. Or, as is quite often the case, the dog is behaving defensively out of fear and is using the person as a human shield!

It’s a mistake to encourage a dog to behave aggressively toward people who approach you when the dog is with you. This is not a dog showing confidence. The aggression commonly escalates until someone gets hurt, and then the dog can’t be with you anymore.

If what you want is protection, encouraging surly behavior in a dog is not the way. Get the right help to teach your dog to accompany you courteously. Whether or not you decide it’s appropriate to teach your dog protection work, a good protection dog is not paranoid. In the case of a dog behaving aggressively toward humans, be sure to get the help of a veterinary behavior specialist. This expert will evaluate the dog’s temperament, take a complete history, and advise you of the risks and your options.

Guarding Toys

A dog’s concept of ownership has to be quite different from a human’s. After all, dogs don’t use money. Dogs use things to eat, to chew, to play (for exercise and practice of skills), to interact with others socially and perhaps for some other purposes as well. It’s easy for a human to misinterpret what an object means to a dog at any particular moment.

When a dog is highly excited and something suddenly shifts in the situation, the dog is likely to react without thinking. This can lead to fighting between dogs and bites to humans. You can greatly reduce the risks of these problems by how you handle your dogs in the moment, how you manage them daily, how you structure their environment, and the training habits you help them develop. All of these things are part of a safe lifestyle with dogs.

Dogs do not absolutely have to have some of the things that commonly trigger resource guarding aggression, such as rawhide. It is important that dogs have chewing outlets, for self calming as well as dental health, but you can use non-edible toys that are less likely to provoke fights. If you are going to use edible items (rawhide, pig’s ears, chew-hooves, etc.) for this purpose, treat them like food.

This means dogs need to be separated from other animals and young children when they have these items. It’s best not to wait and see if there will be a problem. Separate the dogs for things they consider to be highly desirable in order to prevent a problem. Having the dog enjoy these things in a crate can be the best practice if it takes longer to consume them than the length of time you can attentively supervise.

A toy in play is much more exciting to a dog than a toy just lying on the floor. You may be able to have certain toys around the house for your dogs to pick up and chew at will, unless a human starts tossing the toy. Until dogs are highly trained, you may need to play retrieving games and other exciting games such as tug-of-war with only one dog present at a time.

Some dogs can learn to take turns retrieving. One way to structure this is to have the same number (or more) toys with you as you have dogs. Say a dog’s name and throw the toy for that dog, then immediately do the next dog’s turn and the next in rapid sequence. Throw each toy in a different direction.

Two dogs can play this way fairly easily, three if they are amiable together. It gets harder with four. Don’t continue if the dogs start to spat. That tells you the excitement for this session has gotten out of hand. If you try again when they have had plenty of time to calm down, you may find—after a sufficient number of tries—that the dogs learn to take turns.

Dogs use toys socially in some strange ways. A dog may get a toy and lie down with it in a manner that “dares” another dog to try and get it. A dog may repeatedly take a toy away from another dog. To humans this behavior can seem selfish or mean, but the dogs are communicating important messages.

In a pack, there has to be order for the group to survive. Even in your home, the dogs need social structure among themselves to avoid living under excessive stress. They need to know which dog handles watching over territorial boundaries, which dog sleeps and eats in which spots, and other aspects of the daily routine. Dominance is not straightforward in many cases, because one dog handles one function while another takes the lead in a different situation.

The dog who takes the lead in protection may at times particularly feel the necessity of reminding the other dogs to obey him immediately without argument, by taking toys away from them. A female dog who has had pups or is unspayed may do this to other dogs, too. Perhaps she does this as a necessary pack discipline to maintain in order to provide for and protect pups. And some dogs are extremely possessive for reasons we just don’t know.

When you see this behavior, the best action from you really depends on how the dog who loses the toy reacts. If the “loser” accepts the other dog taking the toy, your best course is to ignore the incident. You may need to give this dog private time in a crate to enjoy chew toys. Don’t take the toy back from the dog who “won” it. A point was being made. If the dog who lost the toy accepted it, you’re better off accepting it, too.

On the other hand, if one dog swiping a toy from the other triggers an argument between them, they need to be separated to enjoy that toy. The rest of the time it should not be left out with them. Being able to have all the toys and chews lying around the house is something an “only dog” has to give up when you add another dog. It’s one reason some dogs really don’t want housemate dogs.

Risk Reduction

Many dogs become markedly less likely to fight over toys when toys are abundant in their environment. When a resource is plentiful, there’s less reason to fight for it. This can work with treats, too, when you distribute them by tossing small pieces all over the kitchen floor or walking a track in the back yard and dropping a few dozen small pieces of food for the dogs to find.

Some dogs will react to abundant resources by practically having nervous breakdowns trying to guard them all, though! So watch your dog’s behavior, and eliminate situations that create obvious conflict. Sometimes you can work things out by training and conditioning—over time, not in a hurry and definitely not with punishment. Punishment only makes resource guarding worse.

For the same reason it’s tricky throwing toys for multiple dogs at the same time—and never a good idea to throw just ONE toy for multiple dogs at the same time—toys in dog parks can present serious problems. Don’t put dogs in the position of feeling they need to protect these things.

If you train your dog with treats, it’s possible you have a resource guarding problem you’ve never identified. When a dog shows aggression to other dogs during outings with you, try leaving the treats at home several times and see if it makes a difference. Some dogs should not be trained with food in certain situations, and this is one such case. Find other ways to reward the dog when training around other dogs. This need not be a setback to training. It can make a better trainer out of you!

Resource Usefulness

All the things your dog needs and wants provide ways you can communicate with each other. The dog can ask for things, and can do things you like in order to persuade you.

You can provide resources in ways that shape your dog’s behavior to your wishes. How you distribute resources to your dogs can make them feel more secure.

Dogs can feel stress and anxiety over resources they fear will not be provided. Being a reliable provider raises you in the dog’s esteem. Including another family member in the dog’s care helps the dog learn to relate to that person.

The best reward for a dog at any given moment is the thing the dog happens to want right then. And yet, if a dog wants something TOO much, self-control may go out the window! Handling resources intelligently with our dogs is one of the most creative parts of having canine family members.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=153&A=2438&S=0

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Resource guarding is NORMAL dog behavior.

I guess I would be considered lucky then. I have had multiple dogs my entire life, grew up in the country with 11 at one time. Most of my friends have dogs. I have NEVER had one of my own dogs bite me, nor have any of my friends told me of this happening to them. I have taken dead opossums, squirrel, and all kinds of other stuff from their mouths when "drop it" didn't work. I have broken up dog brawls between my 3 females with no personal injury other than scratches from being in the fray. And I do not have small dogs (the smallest being a 25 pound Aussie mix).

Guess I've been lucky, but it doesn't change my opinion on this.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Aggression is a self-reinforcing behavior in dogs. Every time a dog bites someone, it becomes more likely that the dog will bite again. Left untreated, both the frequency and the intensity of the attacks will increase. The dog will not “grow out of it.” Dog aggression will not go away on its own, and it cannot be “punished” out of the dog. In fact, punishment can make aggression much worse.


Resource guarding is a natural behavior, but it is completely unacceptable for a family pet to bite or snap at an owner. Any act of aggression must be taken seriously. Your dog will NOT grow out of it. In fact, every time he bites or snaps it is a "self reinforcing" behavior that is likely to be repeated. Often the frequency and the intensity of the behavior will increase as well. Fortunately, we have a number of highly effective training protocols which can recondition a dog to regard the approach of human contact as a positive thing, not a threat.

Above is from a company that helps to rehabilitate and evaluate dogs for animal shelters and adoption agencies.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Aggression is a self-reinforcing behavior in dogs. Every time a dog bites someone, it becomes more likely that the dog will bite again. Left untreated, both the frequency and the intensity of the attacks will increase. The dog will not “grow out of it.” Dog aggression will not go away on its own, and it cannot be “punished” out of the dog. In fact, punishment can make aggression much worse.

Resource guarding is a natural behavior, but it is completely unacceptable for a family pet to bite or snap at an owner. Any act of aggression must be taken seriously. Your dog will NOT grow out of it. In fact, every time he bites or snaps it is a "self reinforcing" behavior that is likely to be repeated. Often the frequency and the intensity of the behavior will increase as well. Fortunately, we have a number of highly effective training protocols which can recondition a dog to regard the approach of human contact as a positive thing, not a threat.

Above is from a company that helps to rehabilitate and evaluate dogs for animal shelters and adoption agencies.

Dog aggression does not necessarily equate to resource guarding.

You seem to want this to be a black and white issue and it's not.

None of the above, which talks about aggression anyway (which would be debatable here), takes circumstances into account.

Yes, you are fortunate you have never experienced it. Nor have I. I do have friends that have, though - one I mentioned here on this thread ealier, and another was a young boy severely bitten by a dog guarding a stuffed Kong. That bite was severe and required surgery, and unfortunately the dog's history was horrid (it had recently been rescued). Those circumstances dictated the dog being euthanized (and fwiw I agreed with that decision). Every situation needs to be looked at on its own merits.

But I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you (or I) think this will never happen to our dogs, and we therefore become complacent, then we're fools who probably shouldn't own dogs. It can happen to any dog because it's a normal dog behavior given the perfect storm of circumstances.

 

[daisyduck123]

I will also warn other children when they come into my home that they should not startle or tease him in this way.

I would never even entertain the idea of allowing the dog around other people's children. I would make sure he's locked up in a room (or kennel) before having guests over.

As a parent, I would not be happy that my child was over playing at someone's house with a dog running loose that has a history of aggression. Please consider this.

 

[npmommie]

OP.......I may have missed it, but did you schedule a medical checkup for your dog?
I think you have gotten some fantastic advice about dog behaviors, Pea for one always has great info.
I think you are handling this correctly. I also would not put my dog down in this circumstance.
Your dog is lucky to have you, I can tell you are willing to work on this.
I also agree with the poster who said any dog can bite in the right circumstance.
we had a wonderful beagle, he was the sweetest little guy, slept right next to me every night.........but give him one of those darn rawhides, and he would have bitten my hand off, the hand of the person I know he loved the most!
Good luck and keep us posted on how things go

 

[Mikes:)Mom]

I'm SO sorry this happen! Hang in there!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

trampolines
air soft guns
BB guns
unsecured guns
smoke detectors
pools
child molesters
drugs
alcohol
poisons
ATVs
bullies
sports
fireworks
gasoline
power tools
construction
etc

oops, almost forgot
dog

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Dog aggression does not necessarily equate to resource guarding.

You seem to want this to be a black and white issue and it's not.

UH, NO I DON'T

None of the above, which talks about aggression anyway (which would be debatable here), takes circumstances into account.

Yes, you are fortunate you have never experienced it. Nor have I. I do have friends that have, though - one I mentioned here on this thread ealier, and another was a young boy severely bitten by a dog guarding a stuffed Kong. That bite was severe and required surgery, and unfortunately the dog's history was horrid (it had recently been rescued). Those circumstances dictated the dog being euthanized (and fwiw I agreed with that decision). Every situation needs to be looked at on its own merits.

But I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you (or I) think this will never happen to our dogs, and we therefore become complacent, then we're fools who probably shouldn't own dogs. It can happen to any dog because it's a normal dog behavior given the perfect storm of circumstances.

I DON'T ARGUE THIS, NOR HAVE I. MY POINT WAS THAT ONCE THE DOG HAS BITTEN, I BELIEVE YOU SHOULD KENNEL THE DOG WHEN COMPANY OR CHILDREN IS OVER.

I would never even entertain the idea of allowing the dog around other people's children. I would make sure he's locked up in a room (or kennel) before having guests over.

As a parent, I would not be happy that my child was over playing at someone's house with a dog running loose that has a history of aggression. Please consider this.

THIS! You would have a hard time convincing me, as a parent, that your dog biting you during Resource Guarding wasn't "history of aggression" if God forbid, your dog bit my kid.

OP, I hope that I haven't misled you. I believe what you are doing with your dog is fantastic! I think you should do whatever you can to accommodate your fur baby during this, and whatever you can to understand where that incident came from. It really sounds to me like you are being very responsible. My ONLY comment was that, like others here on this thread, it might be in yours and your dogs best interest to kennel during visits at your home. I feel my comments have been misconstrued in some way and I wanted to make sure that you, the OP, understand my position.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

bunkkinsmom, no need to yell or get upset. Your opinion is valid and so is mine. There's no reason we can't discuss it, is there? People reading like to hear both "sides" or various opinions and make their own decisions for themselves if they, God forbid, ever find themselves in this situation. It's all good, really!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

You would have a hard time convincing me, as a parent, that your dog biting you during Resource Guarding wasn't "history of aggression" if God forbid, your dog bit my kid.

And seriously, I would hope that if my child is visiting someone else's house, that they would be as careful with all the things I listed that can and do harm children, as they would hopefully be with a dog. From what I see IRL, that doesn't always seem to be the case. JMO

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Evidently my typing isn't getting across what I'm trying to say, as I am not upset at all. I will politely back out of the conversation.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

message fully received

 

[bumbershoot]

I will also warn other children when they come into my home that they should not startle or tease him in this way.

The problem is that humans have no way of knowing ALL the ways dogs can feel startled (or teased, though I bet dogs don't feel a "tease" the way humans do). The story earlier of a child going to say goodbye and getting snapped at is one...the dog no doubt felt startled or threatened in some way, but the human had no understanding of what she was doing in dog-"speak".

So the warning has to go well beyond that, and probably just needs to result in a situation of telling non-family people that you should be there to monitor ANY interaction with the dog (and tell them why). And during said interaction the dog should be calm, in a Sit, possibly leashed, etc.

Just going by what I'm sure my mom would have done in the situation...my main experience with an aggressive dog was due to the dog being *messed up*, probably from birth, and he grew worse and worse over his life until he finally guarded something so important to him he choked it down and it basically caused his death.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

My mom and dad had a Pekingese that they loved. It was given to them by a male couple that could no longer keep it. These guys ate with the dog, slept with the dog and spoiled him rotten. Lo and behold he comes to a house with two young (7 & 10) girls who just want to hug him and play with him. I learned that he didn't want to play with us. He bit me on his first day at the house. I didn't know I shouldn't pet him while he was eating. Go figure . He loved my dad and was "his" dog. I can't tell you how many times he bit us. Once he bit my sister in her face when she wanted to kiss him. Another time, he bit right through her foot. It got so infected she had to be hospitalized. At one point, they thought they'd have to amputate. After that, we really hated that dog and he knew it and my parents still wouldn't give him up. My mom worked at the hospital so she begged the workers not to report him.

Think long and hard about this dog. You are his master. You should be able to pull whatever you want out of his mouth. Get the behavior corrected or suffer the future consequences.

 

[hereyago]

My mom and dad had a Pekingese that they loved. It was given to them by a male couple that could no longer keep it. These guys ate with the dog, slept with the dog and spoiled him rotten. Lo and behold he comes to a house with two young (7 & 10) girls who just want to hug him and play with him. I learned that he didn't want to play with us. He bit me on his first day at the house. I didn't know I shouldn't pet him while he was eating. Go figure . He loved my dad and was "his" dog. I can't tell you how many times he bit us. Once he bit my sister in her face when she wanted to kiss him. Another time, he bit right through her foot. It got so infected she had to be hospitalized. At one point, they thought they'd have to amputate. After that, we really hated that dog and he knew it and my parents still wouldn't give him up. My mom worked at the hospital so she begged the workers not to report him.

/QUOTE]

On the hugging and kissing section: dogs DO NOT want to be kissed and hugged, so many kids get bitten this way. Look at it like this: you go in to hug or kiss the dog-something dogs don't do with other dogs, you are putting your arms around this dog, his first thought is you are trying to challenge him and he pulls away and bites.

It''s parents job to teach their kids how to act around pets. It's also the parents job to get rid of anything that would harm their kid repeatedly.