Resource Guarding - Help!

1321 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by allymcbeagle, Jan 14, 2022

RalphsMum

Discussion Starter · Jan 6, 2022

Hi guys,

We have had Ralph our rescue beagle for almost 5 weeks now and we absolutely love him to bits, we cannot imagine life without him!
Like most dogs, especially rescues, Ralph does have a couple of behaviour traits that are shall we say.. unwanted for lack of a better word. Most of these issues we can manage and we are working on however the one thing we are struggling to grasp is his resource guarding.
Neither of us have had much experience with dealing with this behaviour with previous dogs so we feel a bit out of our depth with it - I don’t want us to start trying to discipline it when we don’t know if our approach is correct as I don’t want to make it worse and I certainly don’t want Ralph to feel threatened or anxious.
Most of the time Ralph will give up whatever he has stolen (this can be anything from a food wrapper to a TV remote) for a treat which is great but there is the odd time that he will not give it up for ANYTHING and this is when the problems start. He growls, snarls and if we go to try get the item off him he nips and on a couple of occasions he has actually drawn blood on my partners hand. I know these bites have come from a place of anxiousness and not from aggression so I just really need some help and advice on what we can do!!
We need to educate ourselves before we can educate Ralph and we want to make his life as happy and fulfilling as possible
Has anyone has prior experience with this and has overcome it? If so please get in touch!
Thanks so much

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Cassie

· #2 · Jan 6, 2022

I dont have that issue..ive had my dog from 8 weeks. However here are a few things to try...
1. Limit your dogs freedom in the house to 1 or 2 rooms..he thinks he owns the place.
2. Put a leash on your dog in the house at all times..he will think he's under control and you can grab the leash to stop mischief. My dog even now wears one. (See picture)
3.feed him by hand so he understands where his food comes from.do it for a couple of weeks. Cup your hands like a bowl and let him eat.
4. Train with commands..use the same words so he gets what you want.
5. Get a CLICKER.. its a cheap training tool. Click it when he follows your command. Get one at the pet store or on line. It might look different nut the concept is the same. Watch YouTube videos on how to use one.
Let us know how its going.
Cassie says Hi

Dog Collar Pet supply Carnivore Dog breed

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Mollys Mom

· #3 · Jan 7, 2022

All of our beagles have been rescues and 2 of them had resource guarding issues. Teaching them to "leave it" is very important. Never grab at their collar or try to grab the unwanted item. You can teach them to trade when you say "leave it" or drop it. He will learn who the boss is. Every once in awhile there will be something you just can't get in time. One of my beags grabbed a dead bird and ate most of it before she would drop it. Always be firm and stand up tall when you give the command to drop it.

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RalphsMum

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 7, 2022

Cassie said:
I dont have that issue..ive had my dog from 8 weeks. However here are a few things to try...
1. Limit your dogs freedom in the house to 1 or 2 rooms..he thinks he owns the place.
2. Put a leash on your dog in the house at all times..he will think he's under control and you can grab the leash to stop mischief. My dog even now wears one. (See picture)
3.feed him by hand so he understands where his food comes from.do it for a couple of weeks. Cup your hands like a bowl and let him eat.
4. Train with commands..use the same words so he gets what you want.
5. Get a CLICKER.. its a cheap training tool. Click it when he follows your command. Get one at the pet store or on line. It might look different nut the concept is the same. Watch YouTube videos on how to use one.
Let us know how its going.
Cassie says Hi
View attachment 42461
View attachment 42462

Hi Cassie, you are a beauty!!

thank so much for your advice, I have heard plenty of good things about clicker training so we are going to try that as a first point of call. We do limit Ralph to downstairs but we may need to limit this further to see if it helps, he certainly does have the run of the downstairs that’s for sure.
I’ll be sure to let you know how we get on!

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RalphsMum

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 7, 2022

Mollys Mom said:
All of our beagles have been rescues and 2 of them had resource guarding issues. Teaching them to "leave it" is very important. Never grab at their collar or try to grab the unwanted item. You can teach them to trade when you say "leave it" or drop it. He will learn who the boss is. Every once in awhile there will be something you just can't get in time. One of my beags grabbed a dead bird and ate most of it before she would drop it. Always be firm and stand up tall when you give the command to drop it.

Hi, all this sounds very familiar! We’re trying to strongly reinforce the leave it command - he does generally leave things when we trade for a treat but when he’s in one of his tired moods there is just no telling him! I think we just need to be patient with him too, he’s had a bit of a tough time and he’s only young. I’m sure he will get there! Thanks for your help☺

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Cassie

· #6 · Jan 7, 2022

Well thank you so much for the compliment
Cassie will be 10yrs old in 2 weeks..you can be sure we've worked through plenty of mischief. The secret is to REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT..until they get it. You can believe I had my share of misgivings..but behavior is good now.

Dog Dog breed Carnivore Companion dog Comfort

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johnclick

· #7 · Jan 13, 2022

RalphsMum said:
Hi guys,

We have had Ralph our rescue beagle for almost 5 weeks now and we absolutely love him to bits, we cannot imagine life without him!
Like most dogs, especially rescues, Ralph does have a couple of behaviour traits that are shall we say.. unwanted for lack of a better word. Most of these issues we can manage and we are working on however the one thing we are struggling to grasp is his resource guarding.
Neither of us have had much experience with dealing with this behaviour with previous dogs so we feel a bit out of our depth with it - I don’t want us to start trying to discipline it when we don’t know if our approach is correct as I don’t want to make it worse and I certainly don’t want Ralph to feel threatened or anxious.
Most of the time Ralph will give up whatever he has stolen (this can be anything from a food wrapper to a TV remote) for a treat which is great but there is the odd time that he will not give it up for ANYTHING and this is when the problems start. He growls, snarls and if we go to try get the item off him he nips and on a couple of occasions he has actually drawn blood on my partners hand. I know these bites have come from a place of anxiousness and not from aggression so I just really need some help and advice on what we can do!!
We need to educate ourselves before we can educate Ralph and we want to make his life as happy and fulfilling as possible
Has anyone has prior experience with this and has overcome it? If so please get in touch!
Thanks so much

View attachment 42455

My first impresion on seeing his picture was WOW! What a beautiful Beagle! I have lived with two Beagles, one Pedigreed and one recsue Both were precious and lovable and I found tthe resoue was slightly more interesting and had a few more of thsoe Beagle special traits. The rescue disliked being left alone and would tear up stuff. Both loved to bark and had that unique Beagle sound. I wouldn't dream of giving advice but I would say congratulations to both of you for rescjing such a beautiful creature. Just relax and enjoy the adorablel traits as they appear. Your dog is fine and he is ecstatic at being rescued to share the vives of humans that love him unconditionally.

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allymcbeagle

· #8 · Jan 14, 2022

If he's not had much training it will be harder. My Ally always guarded her food, even with us, she would spit out a bit of back talk if I reached my hand in her bowl (which I did often to condition her) but she didn't bite back. With other stuff, we got to the point where she would let go on the "leave" command, but she never dropped it totally on her own. Although we got her at 11 weeks, the litter of 4 was abandoned and she was taken in by a family who had 3 other dogs in addition to the litter of 3 siblings, so I guess the instinct to guard was learned early on. But I would have to admit I also wasn't as diligent with training as I could have been.

I love Cassie's idea of not giving them too much space; I will try this with my next pup.

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