#181 1st Time Offender

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Ever wonder why your perfectly trained dog suddenly "forgets" all commands when you enter a new environment? The answer lies in understanding how differently dogs experience the world compared to humans.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
So there's this video going around right now.
It's a young puppy, maybe fiveor six months old, lying on the
floor playing with a big oldwatermelon.
It's really cute.
But then someone leans down topick up the watermelon and the
puppy shows clear signs ofresource guarding, and you can

(00:24):
hear the surprise in theperson's voice.
My guess that was the firsttime they realized that their
puppy might guard objects, andthat's exactly what I want to
talk about today.
Resource guarding doesn'tusually announce itself with a
warning flyer taped to yourdog's butt.
It shows up in the moment.

(00:47):
Maybe you go to pick up a boneor move your new rescue off the
couch or, in this case, try tograb a watermelon and boom, the
dog stiffens up, he growls,snaps, maybe even air bites, and
suddenly you're thinking whatjust happened?
And that's how most peoplediscover that their puppy is a

(01:10):
resource garter by accident, andunfortunately these moments can
get heated fast.
Your adrenaline spikes, you'rea little panicked, the dog's
already amped up and things canescalate in a way that makes it
worse for next time.
So here's my piece of advice ifthis ever happens to you, if

(01:34):
you discover that your dog oryour puppy is a resource garter,
don't try to fix it.
In that moment, when youexperience your dog's resource
guarding behavior for the firsttime, that's not the time to try
to problem solve.
Why?
Because if we push, if we tryto grab the item or raise our

(01:57):
voice or corner our dog, we runthe risk of teaching them to
guard harder next time.
We run the risk of teachingthem to guard harder next time.
They learn oh, when I growlthey still try to take it.
Maybe I need to escalate, orthey might learn look, the
growling worked.
Guess I know what to do nexttime.

(02:20):
So the goal in that moment issimple Diffuse, don't engage.
And here are a couple of thingsthat you can try.
First, act casual, disengageimmediately.
Don't make eye contact, don'tsay their name, don't look at
your dog and say I can't believeyou're a resource guarding.
Any attention we give him whilehe's resource guarding only

(02:44):
reinforces the guarding behavior.
And don't worry, we can comeback and address the behavior
later when calmer heads prevail.
But for now our goal is not tomake resource guarding a
rewarded behavior.
So instead of asking how do Iget the watermelon away from the
dog, ask how do I get the dogaway from the watermelon.

(03:08):
That's the goal Get the dogaway from the item without
escalating the situation orinadvertently rewarding it
escalating the situation orinadvertently rewarding it.
So instead of trying to wrestlethe object away from your dog
or stand there and say drop it,drop it, drop it over and over
and over again, maybe casually,head to the toy box, sit on the

(03:31):
floor, squeak a toy, roll a ball, just start being fun somewhere
else and let your dog choose todisengage.
But this is very important Donot look at your dog.
Don't look and say, oh look, Ihave a toy, come get it.
Remember any attention that wegive him while he is resource

(03:55):
guarding, the more likely wewill inadvertently reward the
behavior.
Our goal is to create justenough intrigue for him to
willingly disengage from whathe's doing and to come see what
we're doing.
If you've got two people at home, start a mini game of fetch or

(04:15):
tug again away from the guardedobject.
If your dog leaves the objectto join the fun, great, engage
him in play and when you get theopportunity, calmly pick up the
guarded object and put it away.
But again, don't look at ortalk to your dog.
Just let him decide that whatyou're doing looks like more fun

(04:40):
than what he was doing.
And you can also use the oldfridge trick.
This is the one I do when myown dog doesn't want to get out
of bed and go outside.
I'll go to the fridge, I'llopen that noisy sliced cheese
drawer and I will startcrinkling a sliced cheese

(05:00):
wrapper, make it sound exciting,keep crinkling until you hear
the dog moving your direction.
No eye contact, no saying comehere, get your cheese.
Just be casually doingsomething else.
Just be casually doingsomething else.

(05:22):
And when your dog leaves hisguarded item and comes over to
investigate, toss a couple oftiny pieces of cheese across the
floor away from the guardedobject.
So they scatter and he runsaround gathering them up and
while he's busy, go back, grabthe object he was guarding and
put it away.
So if your dog ever guardssomething a toy, a couch, a

(05:44):
watermelon and it surprises you,don't react emotionally, don't
try to fix it right.
Then Just diffuse, back, offand distract.
Come back to it later wheneveryone's calmer.
Off and distract, come back toit later, when everyone's calmer
.
Because how you handle thatfirst moment often sets the tone

(06:04):
for whether guarding getsbetter or a whole lot worse.