LIVING WITH DOG-DOG RESOURCE GUARDING PART 3

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MY bone!
Posted on May 3, 2011 by pawsitivedawgs
LIVING WITH DOG-DOG RESOURCE GUARDING PART 3



MODIFICATION
Behaviour modification involves changing behaviour and the underlying emotional causes of behaviour and works to teach the dog appropriate behaviours in specific situations.

We have already looked at ways of preventing and managing dog-dog resource guarding problems so let’s look at some ways of teaching guarding dogs to be more comfortable and give them more appropriate alternatives to aggression and stress.

Safety First

Resource guarding is an aggressive response and work on it takes much time, understanding and experience – get professional help if you think there is an issue with dog-dog resource guarding in your house.

During training we will be setting up lots of situations on which to work. It’s important that the guarding dog is restrained at all times and cannot get close enough to stooge dogs.

Use crates, barriers such as babygates, tethers, leashes and muzzles to prevent any harm coming to any dog.

If your dog is not already muzzle trained, this is a priority; here is an excellent step by step video on teaching your dog to love his muzzle.

Sub-threshold

During training it’s also important to keep the dog under thershold. This means to prevent him becoming so uncomfortable that he responds aggressively.

This usually means working in such a way to keep the other dog/s as far from the guarder as is needed. The guarder should just note the presence of the stooge and no more. This means that the stooge dog should come no closer at this point, and may need to be removed altogether.

Outside of training set-ups management must prevent the guarder being pushed over threshold.

To keep the guarder sub-threshold establish a working distance. At this distance the guarder should be aware of the presence of the stooge dog but not actually showing any distance increasing signaling towards him.

If the guarder glances at the stooge and then begins to eat quicker, or sees the stooge and attempts to take food away, or sees the stooge and becomes agitated – this would be an early indication that you are working too close, you need to remove the stooge and start again with greater distance.

Teaching a solid ‘leave-it’



All dogs in the house should have this skill well proofed so that they will respond on a verbal cue, regardless of the tempting item and whether or not other dogs are present.

Teaching leave it is easy: Good Things Comes to Calm Dogs ;and can and should be taught without intimidation too: How to teach ‘leave it’ without intimidation.

Start with the easiest ‘leave-it’ lessons and once the dog gets the game begin to practice with different items and in different places.

At higher levels practice leave it exercises in the presence of other dogs. All dogs should be tethered, leashed, crated or separated by a barrier such as a baby gate.
Practice ‘leave-it’ exercises with each dog at the same time – you might need an assistant for this one. Go through the same proofing work and practice ‘leave it’ with different items and in different places.

Your Turn, Then My Turn

Once a safe working distance has been established, play this game with each dog secured and safe. This game is basically a version of Leslie McDevitt’s Look At That game (we discuss LAT here).

This is particularly suitable for dogs that guard food or toys. This exercise teaches the guarder that another dog getting something means they are about to get something that they want.

You need two handlers and the dogs leashed. Each handler has some food for their dog.

This exercise is contrary to lots of traditional advice in relation to guarding dogs – that you feed the guarder first. The problem here is that we, as humans, may not be able to interpret complex social relationships that exist among dogs so it’s too risky trying to mess with it! Better off to stay safe and work on behaviour that we can see and be more sure of.

establish the safe working distance and stand with dogs on leash
feed the stooge dog a small treat directly from your hand\
make sure the guarder sees this and once he does click or mark with a YES! and feed him
We want to teach the guarder to look to you upon seeing another dog being fed.

You can play this game with toys too, perhaps tossing one ball for the stooge and then tossing one for the guarder.

This game should be repeated over a couple of sessions a day. I often recommend that clients with guarder/s in the household feed each dog their entire daily rations this way for a week or so.

Soon you will notice that the guarding dog looks to you immediately upon seeing the stooge being fed. This is a good indication that you can take one step closer to the stooge and begin working at this new distance.

If the dogs shows discomfort move further away and build again. When the dogs are within reach of one another it is vital to work with a barrier in between such as a baby gate – still have those dogs leashed too.

Classical Conditioning

This training game is probably the most versatile and can be adapted to work on dogs regardless of what they guard. Playing this game helps to teach the guarder that the active approach of another dog means something good is about to happen.

Start this exercise with the guarder on one side of a barrier such as a babygate. You can also play this one with the guarder in his crate which is especially useful if this is one of the guarding situations.
Both dogs should be on leash so as to maintain safety.

At the very beginning we are going to start out easy by not allowing the guarder something that he guards. Hopefully you have been working on previous exercises so your dog is becoming more comfortable with proximity.

relax the gaurder as much as possible by having him lie down and massaging him
have the stooge and handler approach to within the guarders safe working distance
click (or mark with a YES!) and feed the guarder
it doesn’t matter what the guarder is doing – we are working on emotion right now rather than behaviour
but if the guarder becomes agitated or shows discomfort work at a greater proximity
Soon the guarder will look to you upon the approach of the stooge – now they can begin to reduce proximity and work a little closer.

When you get to a point that the guarder is comfortable with the stooge approaching and can come quite close (remember, maintain safety) begin to mix it up a little. Have the stooge move quickly, slowly, approach directly head on or from the side – this is called proofing and involves helping the guarder feel more comfortable in lots of different types of situations.

After working on this exercise to a point that the guarder will allow different types of approaches up close begin to introduce guarded items such as chews, Kongs, food bowls, beds, toys, guarded people (you may have been working on that already).

But when you do this, go right back to working at the furthest distance and build gradually again.

Functional Rewards for Guarders

This is a BAT type protocol for helping modify dog-dog resource guarders.

The function of guarding behaviour is to get the threat to move away and to keep possession of the item. Guarding behaviour often escalates because the guarder’s polite, subtle distance increasing signaling is ignored or worse punished and therefore becomes useless. So the guarder ups the ante and instead growls and snarls and lunges.

With this approach we teach the dog that his behaviour can control the environment – this in itself is confidence boosting but we also teach the dog how to use subtle signaling so they don’t feel the need to resort to the scary dog stuff.

Again start with the easiest scenario, that is the stooge as far away as possible. With guarding dogs, they are usually more likely to guard and escalate the longer they have had the item so start just after giving them access to the item. Proofing can be done later on to include an increase in the length of time the guarder has his valued possession.

Make sure the guarder is restrained behind a barrier and is on leash (or crated). Have the stooge on leash also.

Allow the guarder access to a guarded item such as a bed, crate, toy or food item.

Immediately have the stooge appear. If far enough away the guarder should glance up and resume activity. This is exactly what we want! Click the guarder (or mark with a YES!) and then immediately have the stooge dog disappear.
You can at that stage reward the guarder with a food reward if you like - this way he gets a double reward: distance and treats – win-win!

At the very start you will be working at such great distances to establish the rules – acting calmly gets you distance! When you are ready to have the stooge approach a little closer I usually work with a towel or sheet over the babygate or crate so that if things kick off I can quickly have the stooge dog leave and pull the visual barrier across to help calm the guarder.

When the guarder sees the stooge we are looking for calm behaviour such as a quick glance away from the stooge, resuming eating (once not gulping), looking back at you or otherwise calming. This behaviour is rewarded with a marker (click or YES!) and the removal of the stooge.

Don’t forget to reward the stooge dog too with his favourite yummies - it ain’t easy being a stooge so make it worth his while and thank him for his help!

Teach an alternative behaviour to the other dogs

When the guarder is in possession of something he is likely to guard we can teach the other dog/s in the house to leave him alone.

Start working on matwork on its own; more on this here: Settle & Matwork.

Once all the dogs will go to their mat, lie down and settle on cue its time to add some more.

This exercise is worth practicing with all the dogs as subject dog, whether they guard or not. This way dogs in the house will avoid one another when valued items are around.

Have all the dogs leashed and maintain safety by confining guarders behind a babygate. There is no need to work on this exercise at very close distances so its a bit easier to proof.

Start simply by having the subject dog set up with his handler on one side of the room.

feed a couple of pieces of food to the subject dog
immediately cue the other dog onto his mat
reward him with three or four HIGH value rewards
repeat until he gets the game and looks to move to his mat upon seeing the other dog being fed
Once at this stage add a chew, Kong toy or other possession that will keep the subject dog busy and in one place.

allow the subject dog settle with his valued item
walk the other dog into the room
as soon as he sees the subject dog, immediately cue him to his mat
reward with three or four high value rewards
take him out of the room again and repeat
Rotate the dogs for each training session so they all get a go and learn this valuable peace-keeping exercise.

RESOURCE GUARDING RESOURCES:
I love this article on Resource Guarding from Grisha Stewart of Ahimsa Dog Training – it covers all the bases and is easy to read

The most definitive guide to resource guarding is Jean Donaldson’s MINE! – absolutely essential reading for owners and trainers of guarding dogs.

Dog-dog resource guarding is just one issue to be considered in the multidog household: check out Debby McMullen’s How Many Dogs?! and Feeling Outnumbered? by Karen B London and Patricia McConnell.

Don’t forget to implement basic calming and self control measures in your household among your dogs too: our guide to Calming Crazy Canines and check out Emma Parson’s Click to Calm and Leslie McDevitt’s Control Unleashed.

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