# Resource guarding?



## jaspar (Oct 12, 2016)

Hello everyone, my 15 month old dog is growling like crazy when i try to get my slippers from him , but lets take this from the begining.It all started with the first time i gave him BARF and i tried to take away his bowl.I noticed that when i was moving slowly , or sneakingly the growling would probably happen ,sometimes however when i took the bowl fast with no hesitation i had no reaction.Then as time passed he got bored of his food and didnt really care if i touched or took his bowl.All was good untill i decided that i would start "threating" him by saying "i will take your food , eat it" , i did that because he was very skinny and he wasnt eating for 1-2 days regularly.After that he was eating his food without losing any meal , and today he has reached a good weight.However this pressure i put on him increased his food growling even more that the first time i gave him BARF (way more).Now he does it on toys too (on a mild level i would say) but where things get really serious are with my slippers.Everytime i m removing them he tries to get them (from a puppy he does this).When i go to bed i remove them and he is beside me on the floor and he is guarding them like crazy.Even when someone enters the bedroom there is a light growling,but if he tries to take them it goes severe or at least higher than moderate.So far no bites or attempts to bite anyone.Should i be afraid?(because i am not afraid, i dont believe he will bite anyone,but my beliefs are not what matters, what matters is experience and you guys/girls have more than me).What are you suggesting?


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I would start by not giving him access to the slippers. Put them up, put them in a closet, but put them somewhere he can't get them. Take away the source of his guarding.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

YOU created this problem

quote Jaspar 

".It all started with the first time i gave him BARF and i tried to take away his bowl.I noticed that when i was moving slowly , or sneakingly the growling would probably happen ,sometimes however when i took the bowl fast with no hesitation i had no reaction."

YOU have created the scenario for training French Ring's Guard the Object . 

why would you taunt the dog ? 

People please when you give the dog its food let it eat in peace .


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

Jaspar I checked your other posts to see what else had been said about the dog.

There is a theme of GUARD dog . How to get the dog to charge faster, react faster .

Are you training by book or video ? 

Join a local club so that you can be the one in control and not the opposition, not the "decoy".

Get rid of the slippers. Get a new pair which the dog will never have access to.

Teach the dog PLACE . The dog doesn't have to rumble around and have free access to your spaces.
At least put one or two rooms off limits. 

Bedroom? does he sleep on the bed ?
Does he claim the couch?

HIS space is the crate , the PLACE which could be a rug or a doggy bed , and the private space where he will eat
in peace and quiet .

Lot of unlearning to do . and to your question about the potential for someone getting a bite -- the answer is count on it .
You let the dog guard the slippers -- quote "my slippers.Everytime i m removing them he tries to get them (from a puppy he does this).When i go to bed i remove them and he is beside me on the floor and he is guarding them like crazy.Even when someone enters the bedroom there is a light growling,but if he tries to take them it goes severe or at least higher than moderate.So far no bites or attempts to bite anyone.Should i be afraid?"

slippers away. Dog out of the room or confined. Get the relationship back on track .


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

jaspar said:


> my 15 month old dog is growling like crazy when i try to get my slippers from him


What makes you think the slippers are yours????


SuperG


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## jaspar (Oct 12, 2016)

Thank you all for your replies , what i will keep from this thread is: 1)Get the slippers away from the dog , 2) Dont let the dog in the bedroom(he isnt sleeping on bed) , but rather let him sleep on his pillow-bed , 3)Let him eat in peace.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

jaspar said:


> Thank you all for your replies , what i will keep from this thread is: 1)Get the slippers away from the dog , 2) Dont let the dog in the bedroom(he isnt sleeping on bed) , but rather let him sleep on his pillow-bed , 3)Let him eat in peace.


someone once described the messing around with food like this: If you were at a restaurant how annoyed would you be if the waiter kept coming by and picking up your plate to check on you?
Now I do expect to handle my dog's food, for instance, when my dog wants to pick up something random off the ground during a walk. I expect to be able to take the food from them, no complaints. But they get a verbal cue and a quick decisive snatch. If I have a treat I'll offer it after they have dropped the food. But usually they are too stunned and just want to move on with the walk. When they are eating out of the bowl, I just leave them to enjoy it.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

car2ner said:


> someone once described the messing around with food like this: If you were at a restaurant how annoyed would you be if the waiter kept coming by and picking up your plate to check on you?
> /QUOTE]
> 
> That actually happened one time when I wasn't even finished eating when the waiter came up to take my plate. I could have slapped his hands but kept it polite. Not a good feeling to feel.
> ...


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Hmm I think ... I'll leave it to others to address the "Resource Guarding" thing. So that said ... I'll stick with what I do ... as lots of lead in's here. 

Your dog has a "serious" attitude issue and that needs to change. Those changes don't require "force" but they will require better management and more structure, in this dogs life. Right now he is given the opportunity to "Make Poor Choices!" 

Indoors ... he should be obn "lockdown" outside is for play indoors is to chill. Indoors he should e in his "Crate" or in "Place" only ... once properly taught. That pretty takes away his "opportunity" to make "mistakes." 

The dog needs to be taught to "Chill" ... it is a "thing" and it looks like this.:
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/8006017-post7.html

Near as I can tell "everything" you need to know on this is there??? But people it would seem do "stuff" so ask questions.

And the "No Free Roaming" bit is here along with lots of other stuff. :
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/8006017-post7.html

A lot of the first post are things I learned discovered and did in "retrospect." My go to was "fight with the dog." Boxer, APBT/Boxer and Band Dawg never had an issue before but with my first "OS Wl GSD" I was soon to discover ... now I did ... "Pack Fights??" 

My go to ... got me carved up (ER here we come) and it changed "nothing??" But ... when I stopped fighting and started thinking ... everything changed. "Outthinking my dog" worked out much better ... who knew. 

Welcome aboard.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

jaspar said:


> Thank you all for your replies , what i will keep from this thread is: 1)Get the slippers away from the dog , 2) Dont let the dog in the bedroom(he isnt sleeping on bed) , but rather let him sleep on his pillow-bed , 3)Let him eat in peace.


Have you taught your dog a basic aus/drop it command ?

SuperG


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## jaspar (Oct 12, 2016)

wolfy dog said:


> car2ner said:
> 
> 
> > someone once described the messing around with food like this: If you were at a restaurant how annoyed would you be if the waiter kept coming by and picking up your plate to check on you?
> ...


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## jaspar (Oct 12, 2016)

SuperG said:


> Have you taught your dog a basic aus/drop it command ?
> 
> SuperG


I have tried , no success.Correction , he knows what im telling him , he just ignores me.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Sounds like is time to hire a good trainer. Fixing the attitude is not that hard if you have the right tools. Remember that he does all those things because he can and has learned to do it from you. Not to blame you in a negative way, but this is how that happens; dogs do whatever works for them. He is basically treating you like if you were a dog.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

jaspar said:


> I have tried , no success.Correction , he knows what im telling him , he just ignores me.


Hmm Ok well first you have to understand you can't "fix" everything at once! 

Your dog did not get like this over night so undoing it is gonna take some time. The toy swap thing ... should work?? But clearly it's not working with your dog. And you've tried "Correcting him" for the "charging" to get the ball "faster" than you can but that's working either?? So now ... it's a "game" ie, I bet I can get that ball before you can ... "take your best shot!" >

Most likely a "Pro" would say that your "Corrections" are ineffective??? And yeah most likely so but you don't have "correct" your way out of this issue ... you could also "outthink your dog!" 

I would doubt you could beat him to it??? I tried going "mano a mano" with my dog ... and it did not work out so well! 


Do the two ball thing and add the "Aus" since he does seem to understand that add some "space" between the two balls and add a "different technique." "Train a Down and Stay!!!!"

No point in screwing around so see here. :





Train that first and the next time you try the two ball thing ... tell him "Down and Stay" first and then you "pick up the ball." 

Eventually your dog will get tired of the "Down" thing and he should be less willing to act a fool if he knows "Down" is coming??? A lesson from Boxer Land there ... "Down" means "playtime" is over. :frown2:


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## jaspar (Oct 12, 2016)

Chip18 said:


> Hmm Ok well first you have to understand you can't "fix" everything at once!
> 
> Your dog did not get like this over night so undoing it is gonna take some time. The toy swap thing ... should work?? But clearly it's not working with your dog. And you've tried "Correcting him" for the "charging" to get the ball "faster" than you can but that's working either?? So now ... it's a "game" ie, I bet I can get that ball before you can ... "take your best shot!" >
> 
> ...


Thank you for your help and the video.Gonna implement what i learned on my dog.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

There are other ways of course to train a "Down and Stay." But that seems the simplest and most straightforward. Not sure how I trained my "Boxer" but it took some time ... most likely "three times" as long as that method ... safe to say. 

A dog should know "Stay and Down" in anycase ... emergency back up if required. And those things will give you "options" for the two ball thing ... which should have already worked?? Every Dog is "different" you have to find what works for yours.


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## jaspar (Oct 12, 2016)

Hello everyone , when i try to get the bowl with the food from my dog (after 30 minutes of leaving it out) , just as i approach he goes on top of it and starts eating slowly , should i just wait or take it? (he does this many many times because he is guarding it too)


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

I admit I only skimmed a lot of this thread but it sounds like this is escalating. You really need a trainer. If you post your general location maybe someone on here can make a recommendation


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

in the meantime, can you leave a long line on him and hold the long line at the end while he has 10 min access to the food. if he does not eat it escort him away from the end of the line in a pleasant and non confrontational way, tie him, shut him up somewhere ect while you pick up the food bowl. eventually he will be hungry enough to eat it when you put it down. Don't bother him while he eats


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

long line, not leash, to put some distance between you and the dog: 15, 20 ft, whatever distance you think you could pull him off the food without him coming for you


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

jaspar said:


> Hello everyone , when i try to get the bowl with the food from my dog (after 30 minutes of leaving it out) , just as i approach he goes on top of it and starts eating slowly , should i just wait or take it? (he does this many many times because he is guarding it too)


I'd scrap the food bowl.....hand feed the dog ....make him earn every last bit for a while ( weeks if necessary )....then throw a tiny bit in his bowl....let him eat it while you hold the bowl....toss a bit more in...repeat. RGing sux....especially if you haven't tackled the problem when they were a pup. I know some have said...let a dog eat in peace...which is a wonderful basic premise....but there are times when I might want to take a partial RMB or other edible item from my dog's jaws. 
I started my pup on RMBs.....with me holding it and letting the pup chew away....no teasing...no games....just instilling that only good comes from my hand.


SuperG


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