PetHelpful.com
Puppy owners often assume that
resource guarding in puppies directed to owners is due to the puppy
wanting to be "alpha" and trying to be "dominant" over its owners. This
is far from what the puppy is trying to do.
With the dominance myth causing all dogs to misbehave because of a need to be alpha debunked by research, what's likely happening is that the puppy is simply lacking trust. The puppy doesn't trust his owners coming near when the puppy is eating or guarding a resource. This lack of trust may be due to various factors, and as seen, there may genetic and learned behaviors at play.
Dog owners may sometimes inadvertently encourage resource guarding or may cause it to emerge if a dog was predisposed to it. This can happen in various ways.
For instance, a puppy may feel compelled to guard items if they are often bluntly removed by the owner or if the owner engages in behaviors that are perceived as intimidating such as scolding or forcing the puppy to give up items by cornering the puppy, reaching out to remove the item and/or prying open a puppy's mouth.
Board-certified veterinary behaviorist John Ciribassi claims "Punishment or forced removal of items or food can increase the likelihood of the animal escalating aggressive displays to maintain control of items. This fear-based response can result in the aggressive guarding of benign items that may not contain the same value as the original objects possessed by the dog."
Playing games of "keep-away" may too be counterproductive because, to a resource guarding puppy's eyes, you may be chasing him to steal his belongings.
Sometimes, dogs owners may push puppies to guard their food bowls by pestering them during mealtime. These well-meaning owners are concerned about resource guarding and will purposely take food away, put their hands repeatedly in the bowl or pet the puppy while eating in hopes of habituating the puppy to their presence, but this may only worsen problems.
What all these methods have in common is that they do not nothing to instill trust. Why should a dog want the owner near if that means potentially losing his possession? Why does a dog have to keep up with people messing with his food by putting hands repeatedly in the food bowl? Especially those same hands that earlier took a bone out of the puppy's mouth!
To prevent resource guarding in puppies, a good amount of effort must be put to instill trust. This is done by creating positive associations, to the point of creating what is known as a "conditioned emotional response." Click here for full article.
With the dominance myth causing all dogs to misbehave because of a need to be alpha debunked by research, what's likely happening is that the puppy is simply lacking trust. The puppy doesn't trust his owners coming near when the puppy is eating or guarding a resource. This lack of trust may be due to various factors, and as seen, there may genetic and learned behaviors at play.
Dog owners may sometimes inadvertently encourage resource guarding or may cause it to emerge if a dog was predisposed to it. This can happen in various ways.
For instance, a puppy may feel compelled to guard items if they are often bluntly removed by the owner or if the owner engages in behaviors that are perceived as intimidating such as scolding or forcing the puppy to give up items by cornering the puppy, reaching out to remove the item and/or prying open a puppy's mouth.
Board-certified veterinary behaviorist John Ciribassi claims "Punishment or forced removal of items or food can increase the likelihood of the animal escalating aggressive displays to maintain control of items. This fear-based response can result in the aggressive guarding of benign items that may not contain the same value as the original objects possessed by the dog."
Playing games of "keep-away" may too be counterproductive because, to a resource guarding puppy's eyes, you may be chasing him to steal his belongings.
Sometimes, dogs owners may push puppies to guard their food bowls by pestering them during mealtime. These well-meaning owners are concerned about resource guarding and will purposely take food away, put their hands repeatedly in the bowl or pet the puppy while eating in hopes of habituating the puppy to their presence, but this may only worsen problems.
What all these methods have in common is that they do not nothing to instill trust. Why should a dog want the owner near if that means potentially losing his possession? Why does a dog have to keep up with people messing with his food by putting hands repeatedly in the food bowl? Especially those same hands that earlier took a bone out of the puppy's mouth!
To prevent resource guarding in puppies, a good amount of effort must be put to instill trust. This is done by creating positive associations, to the point of creating what is known as a "conditioned emotional response." Click here for full article.
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