RESOURCE GUARDING

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I WILL NOT SHARE MY TOYS...FOOD...BED...........

[Adina P]

If my dog hoarded (and guarded from me...not just hoarded) I would remove all toys and work, ramp up obedience training and return toys as he/she earned them back.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Ginger is a food hoarder, but only with Milk Bone Dog Biscuits. She doesn't do it with her food or toys or anything else. But heaven forbid one of the other dogs goes near her "cookies." Most of the time she doesn't even eat them and eventually will leave it and walk away. It is the strangest behavior and I assume a throwback to something, but who know what?

[Adina P]

What is the definition of food hoarder and how is that different than resource guarding. I don't think I'm totally clear on 'hoarding' and what it looks like and when it goes 'bad.'

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I tend to think they are similar. Hoarding with us is more of keeping other's away from the "cookie" by growling and barking at them. Or I know other dogs who will run and hide their toys if another dog is around. Resource Guarding can be not allowing someone to take something away or growling when someone comes near if eating or similar thing.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yeah, I think the guarding behavior is the problem. It's kind of nice when a dog just collects or gathers things, assuming they're his things. Keeps the house much neater if all the toys, etc, are in one place, even better if the dog picks up after himself.
The very first time that Jack was left alone in the house, three days after I got him, he collected all the footwear he could find (six pairs of shoes & boots in all) and placed them in his bed, where he snuggled up with them for comfort.
I agree that if a dog tried to stop me from taking anything from him, he would receive a strong correction, followed by loss of the item and some serious training work. I'm not sure what level of hoarding/guarding would be a problem between dogs in a household; I think in most cases they work it out themselves.

[Lynne B]

I had this problem with my Aussie and worked with a trainer friend of mine on it, here were her suggestions (which worked perfectly).
1. Food guarding- put the food in the dogs bowl a little at a time while he is eating, when the dog gets the idea that you are the source of all food, you then begin messing with it, stir it around while he is eating, take some out, move the bowl etc, do all of this slowly and don't do anything so abruptly that you provoke aggression in the dog, watch your dog for signs and do this while he is relaxed, back off when you see tension, then when he relaxes start again- this is a little tricky but never let the dog think you are stopping because of their tension, otherwise you are rewarding that behavior
2. Toy guarding - trade the toy for a really high value treat, then give the toy back, after awhile 'fade the reward' so that you can take the toy from the dog.
Resource guarding is a survival instinct of dogs, it's not the dog being rude or selfish, it's their nature..its up to us to kindly and patiently show them that sharing will not deprive them of what they value.

[Jeannine]

Thalie did the collect thing after being home. It last a few weeks and she stop it. She was only collecting "her" toys and put them all beside the back door. When she realize that nobody was taking them from her and that all the toys, her and Gamine goes in the same basket she was fine with that.

[Kyoko]

Charlie resource guards against another dogs.... She will not guard at all with people, but she will not let the other dogs drink out of water bowl she is drinking out of, or share her ball with others. ( Except Butter - my other dog ) The trainer told us to refrain from the dog park for awhile since there is no need to continue to rehearse the behavior. I know there are a lot of thoughts on dog parks, and I think she feels insecure about it with strange dogs. But I think it will be nice if she can go to the dog park and share/play with other dogs....

[Adina P]

I don't mind a certain level of guarding when Rosco does it with Thule...if he has a bone and wants to go to a different room to chew it or he gives a little warning growl to her. FINE. They are communicating in their own way.

BUT--I don't stand for anything more than that because *I OWN* the bones, the water bowl, their food, the dog beds, EVERYTHING in and out of the house belongs to ME (and Clark). If it's mine then they don't have the right or privilege to guard or harass another dog who has something they want. If they are playing keep away with each other fine. But again more than that I don't allow.

A year ago or more Rosco began some serious resource guarding of food around Thule. As I would be scooping food out of the bin, he would be right there salivating and if Thule walked near he'd make a horrible menacing attack sound and lunge at her in a very UN-acceptable way. It was very scary sounding and NOT okay. The food wasn't even in his bowl but he loved it and wanted to own the mere idea of this food.

We put a stop to that ASAP by leashing him up in the future and putting him in a sit stay while I scooped food. ANY attempt to do anything other than a sit stay was met with an equivalent correction for breaking stay. This focused his mind on a task (STAY) so he could learn that life goes on even IF Thule is nearby at feeding time.

They all eat in the same small room now, butts facing each other, without a problem. He's tried being a jerk when leftover people Tuna was given out in one dish for sharing and again we had to let him know in no uncertain terms that guarding from any other dog was NOT okay and would make him lose out on the tuna entirely.

Otherwise, if I'm cooking and drop food on the floor ...they all rush in to get what they can without any fussing. And I can give them all treats while they line up without a problem.

[Kyoko]

:-(
Today was bad.... At the obedience class, the trainer was showing how we can reward the dogs with play time/toys etc... She was demonstrating with her demo dog and his tennis ball.....
Charlie got excited - not in a nice way - and barks, lunged toward and growled, like she was saying " I should be fetching that ball! Move! " She looked and sounded mean.....:-(
Luckly, trainer did not looked at her as a bad dog or anything, offer to give me some private time to work on that issue....
I don't even know why she is like that towards other dogs... She does not so this at home at all.....

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Ok I need to put my Hoarding discusion in here....lol....Normally "Resource" Guarding refers to essential "resources" such as food and water...but I also attribute it to hoarding of non-essential items as well.....

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Asking Blake to share toys means big trouble in my house! You may be able to reason with a child and get the child to "play nice" and "share" with other kids but convincing your dog to do this is another story.....Like a true 3 year old child, Blake has actual temper tantrums! His behavior reminds me of that classic Bugs Bunny episode with Daffy Duck screaming "IT"S MINE!...IT"S MINE!.....IT"S ALL MINE!" and ...."I"M RICH!...I"M WEALTHY!"