Kennel Garuding

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Hello everyone!
We have always had an issue with Yeti guarding. First it started with a bully stick, which was easy to just take away and never give him again. For a long time that was the only thing he ever guarded, until he got ahold of a sock he wasnt supposed to have. Around this time he started guarding things he got that he wasnt supposed to have (socks, towels, paper, literally anything). We try to keep things out of his reach so again, this wasnt a HUGE issue unless he got ahold of something randomly. When we got Phin things remained basically the same. About 6 months ago, Yeti started guarding their food. Neither dog are overly eager eaters, so we free feed. I know it gets a bad wrap, but thats just what worked for our family at the time. When we brought Phin home, we started putting their bowls in the kennels because they didnt eat the same food. When we got Phin onto the same food as Yeti we just left the bowls out for them to graze throughout the day.  We kennel them when we are not home, so if we knew that we would be gone a long time without anyone to come over to let them out (hardly happens) we would throw a dish of food in their kennels just incase they got hungry. Randomly, Yeti started guarding his kennel. The only thing i could think of was he was guarding the food in his kennel, so we stopped giving them food in their kennel period. Yeti then started guarding his food outside of his kennel, which i have regulated by having 4 or 5 dishes of food out for him (reasoning being he cant guard all the dishes at once) This has helped, but if you get close to him while hes eating (sometimes) he will let out a deep growl. Lately, he has not been wanting to come out of his kennel. This is SO SO SO unlike him. He never used to go in on his own, seriously never has done it until recently. When we go up to his kennel and ask him if he wants to come out he gives us the same deep growl. Taking his kennel away is not an option, so I came on here to ask if anyone has dealt with similar behavior.  Any advice would be sooo greatly appreciated.

[Carol and Truffle]

I don't have any suggestions, just wanted to say they are both so cute! Truly hope you get this worked out!

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

thank you so much :) its manageable now, but im afraid it will just get worse :(

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Haley, where are you at with training? I know we had discussed some of Yeti's resource guarding issues quite a while back. We talked about the Nothing In Life Is Free program as well as other suggestions. Have you implemented any of that? Worked with a trainer at all? Taken any classes? These are all training issues. Putting out 5 bowls of food is not the solution for food guarding, lol. Yeto needs training and a little bit of tough love. And you are right, it will get worse if you ket it continue. It sounds like it has gotten a lot worse since we talked about it here some time back. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is the discussion I was thinking about, and I think all of this advice still applies, because these are the same issues. A sock, food, crate, it's all resource guarding.
https://doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets/forum/topics/drop-i...

[GBK]

Do you ever do obedience training with them side by side and taking turns?  I wonder if this would make Yeti feel like having Phin there is a good thing and they each get treats.  I've done this with each puppy I've introduced to our family.  You know how puppies are, mine, mine, mine.  It always taught our dogs to have patience, wait there turns and that having the other dog close was a good thing.  I have a 6 month old at home now, and he is definitely getting the hang of it.  I use just the normal sit, down, stay, come, stand etc.  When they get good at it, the first one to do what I ask get's the treat first :)  I also practice with voice only and hand signals only.  Good Luck, I would look into getting some advice from a trainer also, my suggestion is just my experience and none of my dogs have been big resource guarders. 

By the way, I do all of this sitting on the couch and watching TV :)

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Thank you so much! The problem isnt necessarily with Phin and Yeti, mostly Yeti and myself and my fiance. He rarely guards things from Phin. 

[GBK]

The interaction between you and them with treats and commands is the other benefit.  You become the leader and good things come from you too.  You aren't taking away, but giving good stuff.  They learn to trust in you.  Trading is a great way to get the dog's to give stuff up too, chicken for a sock, worked everytime for us.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Both Yeti & Phin have been through starlet puppy obedience, star puppy obedience, and CGC twice. Phin has taken two rally courses classes and Yeti just started a trick dog class. 
Karen I feel like we have implemented the nothing in life is free style of training at home. Neither dogs get toys .. they rip them to shreds in seconds so there is no tugging or anything like that going on. Both dogs sleep in their kennels every night and are in them whenever we are not home. The sitting to say please could use a little help but they both do it on occasion. Im really in over my head with the kennel guarding though. I dont know why he thinks he's the Alpha dog.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think the "drop it" and "leave it" commands help so much with resource guarding, and I think it's something that needs to be practiced every day. Do little training sessions every day, using high value treats. Run through all the basic commands: sit, down, stay, come, drop it, leave it, etc. 
I would stop the free feeding. I think that would help so much with the food and kennel guarding. If there is no food sitting in a kennel or anywhere else, there is nothing to guard. 
And I would hand feed Yeti. If he only ever gets any food from your hand, he can't very well growl or otherwise protest if you are near him when he eats. I know this is hard to do, but honestly, this has already escalated quite a bit in the less than two years that we had that previous discussion. 

As far as his wanting to stay in his kennel, I'm not sure that is a problem. He's entitled to his "safe" place, and I don;t see any harm to let him be in there when he wants to be. If you need to have him out, such as to go outside or whatever, use really high value treats to get him to come to you. 
I think an in-home trainer would help a lot with all of this, if you can find a good one. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

No problem training every day around here, Riley is getting into trouble every day!  DH and I were just discussing last night how we must have just lucked out with Luna who was mostly just generally well behaved even in puppyhood.

Anyway I agree with the no free feeding.  If you are doing "nothing in life is free" that should include kibble.  It also makes giving meds easier should you ever need to.

Hand feeding sounds like a good idea and you could have him do basic commands too for it.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Thank you both so much for your suggestions! I will try to figure out a way to get them both to eat 2 meals in one day rather than free feed. Our problem there is Phin will not eat until after Yeti has. I dont understand why he does this, but he does haha. If i were to hand feed Yeti, would you suggest doing it somewhere away from phin?

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I think that would be best, put them in separate rooms.  Phin by himself with his bowl and yeti being hand fed.  If phin hasn't finished by the time you go back to him, take food away and offer again at next meal time.  Smae goes with yeti, set a time limit of 20 mins or so for finishing his meal.