Hi, my 14mth Lab has always been good with his food and has never growled. However, over the last few weeks he appears very wary when I give him a bone as a treat and has now started growling if you go near him. I’ve started to throw a few treats near him so he knows that it won’t be taken away but I don’t want him being protective over his treats especially if children are around. Any advice would be great. Thanks Rachael
This is called resource guarding. To him that bone is the most precious thing on the planet and nobody’s getting it. There is a book called “mine” by Jean Donaldson that expains this behaviour in detail and provides a step by step process to help eliminate the behaviour. Take it careful around him and don’t make things worse for now and if you must avoid giving him bones until you’ve read the book. They can be selective of what they guard so it might be isolated to the bones. Mine used to guard his food only when in the bowl and a Kong only when filled with peanut butter.we have a toddler so he gets scatter fed out on the deck and only gets peanut Kongs when we leave the house for a while.
Years ago I had a Malamute that would guard a fresh meaty bone. He bit me once when I ignored his warnings, though it was just enough to get me to back off, it did break the skin in one spot. He did not care that much about his kibble, or his toys, but he had a strong opinion about fresh bones, and we learned to just stay clear of him, until he had cleaned it up. He did give plenty of obvious warnings, and he was not viscous and only nipped enough to get his point across. Our Labs have been much more biddable, and while they love their food and toys, they would never seriously guard them. I doubt if I could every have trained that behavior out of my Malamute though. I did not make a serious effort to, since it was easier to just stay out of his way, if we gave him a cow femur from the meat market.
I think it's not unusual for dogs to guard bones, particularly fresh meaty ones, and I agree with Johnny Walker. As long as everyone in the household knows that there might be resource guarding with high value items and know not to wade in, all fine and good. If its an issue for you and your family set up, then you might need a re-think.
First, to preface that I have absolutely no experience in resource guarding. I have the opposite: a dog who wants to give up everything... such as presenting his meaty bone on the white duvet cover! But one thing I do, which I think is useful, is if I’m worried I ask Snowie to show me what he’s eating, just in case I need to take it away. 99.9% of the time I don’t remove it and he’s free to immediately take it. Each time he shows it, I praise him and he doesn’t stop wagging his tail, very proud of whatever he’s eating. I think this has probably helped, asking him to show me something with little intention of removing it and him being free to have it - unless I’m just lucky that I have a non-resource guarder. Best of luck. I’m sure you’ll get the right advice here.
Please don't rely on the dog, an animal with the intelliegence of a two year old child by many comparisons, to be responsible for children. That's YOUR job. I know you didn't say that but some do think you can train a dog to be safe with bones around kids. And some you can; it's the one who will give you grief. The first link below is from a world wide organization dedicated to promoting and educating for safe dog/child interactions. The second is from an article by one of their founding members on resorce guarding. https://www.doggonesafe.com/ http://www.cappdt.ca/UserFiles/File/articles/resource guarding for parents.pdf LOL you should have heard the growling the first time I gave my kittens raw chicken necks. Funny little things, a good demonstration of instinct telling them which was the highest value food I gave them. I think they scared the dog all to heck.
I mentioned that my Malamute would guard fresh bones, and we just tolerated the behavior. We did not have any children at the time, and we would not give him a fresh bone unless everyone knew to stay out of his way. He let it be known in no uncertain terms that it was his bone, and we should stay a couple of feet back until he was done with it.
This pretty much says it all https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2581974655360330&substory_index=0&id=1489938887897251
