TRAINING TIP #7
Leggo my taco!
My approach to dog training primarily involves positive reinforcement, and I never resort to physical punishments or reprimands. Some of my biggest heroes are people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi that advocate for nonviolent solutions to problems. I am an easy-going person.
However, if I am eating tacos, and you take a taco that I am eating out of my hands, I cannot guarantee your safety. I probably won’t bite because you are not a taco (no offense), but I may use force to reclaim my taco. It won’t even be a conscious thought, just an unpleasant emotional response. I will probably feel bad after if you get knocked down or hurt in some way, but I will ask “What were you thinking?!?! How did you not know I was going to react badly to you stealing my taco?!?”
People are often surprised and distressed when their dogs show signs of resource guarding, even though it is completely natural behavior that we engage in all the time. We have countless commercials that revolve around resource guarding by humans:
“Leggo my Eggo!”
“Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!”
“Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!”
“They’re always after me Lucky Charms!”
We all resource guard: humans, dogs, other animals, even cartoon characters, as we can clearly see from commercials.
The fact that we do not share a common language with dogs makes it easy for us to misunderstand each other. We tend to think of everything in the home as “ours”, including things that really belong more to the dog than to us. The food bowl is a prime example of an item that is legally “ours” because we paid for it, but the dog doesn’t know that, and it’s for her use, not ours. I still encounter clients that have been told by trainers relying on outdated methods to periodically take things out of the dog’s food bowl to show them that it is really your food, and your bowl. It is not your food, and it is not your bowl. Those things are for your dog, and if you randomly take them from your dog, the best-case scenario is you will have a very confused dog. The worst-case scenarios will hurt.
It is good for the dog to know you are the source of good things. We can teach our dog this by approaching their empty food bowl and adding a piece of kibble, then approaching again and adding a couple pieces of kibble, then approaching again and adding several pieces of kibble, and tossing a piece of chicken breast or steak while the dog is eating the kibble. This way the dog learns that you are the source of the food, and when you approach them while they are eating, it is to make the food even better, not to take any of it. This is why I am happy to see a server approaching when I am enjoying tacos at a restaurant. I know they aren’t there to take my tacos. They gave me the tacos in the first place, and when they came back, they brought a beer, and then salsa! They made the tacos appear, and then they made the tacos better! I am always happy to see restaurant staff approaching because they bring more food and drinks that make my meal better, and they never take it unless I am done. Sometimes they try to make me talk while I am eating and I am not crazy about that, but most of the time, when the restaurant staff at a taco place approaches, I am happy about it. We want our dogs to have the same reaction. We want them to know we don’t want to take their stuff; we want to make their stuff better.
Tacos are not the only thing I will resource guard. I play on a dart team, and if I let you borrow my darts and you miss the board and launch my favorite set of darts into a concrete wall, I will never let you touch my darts again. My dog Spike is similarly attached to his rope toys and balls. He will often encourage me to take them because he knows I will throw or play tug and he will have fun, but that wasn’t the case at first. He could sometimes become stressed if I, or our other dog Buffy, approached him while he was chewing at his toy or balls. Buffy is an older dog and very dog savvy. I am also older and dog savvy, so we both learned very quickly to give Spike a little extra space when he’s laser focused on his toys. He doesn’t worry about us approaching any more, and even playfully encourages me to take his toys now, so we can play.
There may be times when your dog has something inappropriate, and you have to take it from them, like a chicken bone, or a remote control. In those cases, offer a high value trade instead of just taking the item from them. Imagine you’re about to take your first bite out of a taco, and unbeknownst to you, they mixed up your bean and guacamole tacos (my favorite vegetarian taco) and accidentally served you beets and anchovy tacos instead. If they just take the tacos away before I realize the mistake, I am probably going to be angry and leave them a 1-star Google review. But if they approach to swap out the beet and anchovy tacos with a plate of bean and guac tacos and a free order of chips and salsa for the inconvenience, I am going to be very happy.
In order to prevent resource guarding, offer your dogs higher value treats when you need to approach or pass by when they are enjoying valuable things, never take items from them unless you need to, and if you do need to, always offer a trade with an item of equal or higher value. It may also help to train a reliable drop and leave it behaviour, so they learn to happily give up valuable items. If your dog has developed a serious resource guarding problem, or they resource guard random novelty objects, you should probably seek out a certified trainer. But try not to be angry or judge them too harshly. Resource guarding is normal, natural behavior. We just need to teach them it’s not necessary, and we can do that by being just as trustworthy and helpful as your local taco restaurant servers.
– Daniel
Our Taco Tuesday model is Thor! Follow him on Facebook at Thor the Brown Boston Terrier & Friends Photography or on Instagram