1,2,3 and HOLD YOUR BREATH! (resource guarding)

Dog trainers alike are not perfect, myself included. Our dogs may not be perfect either - come to think of it, I have not met a single dog in my 7 years of training that is, but sometimes their minor quirks are what we love about them and often gives them a sense of their identity.

With this said some quirks can be more heart throbbing than others. Anyone who has owned an aggressive or reactive dog will know what I'm talking about. When working with pups and dogs there are so many things that can go wrong, yet so many things that go right and sometimes not all goes to plan.

Here's a few things to consider with dogs:
- Does it have good bite inhibition
- Does it like other dogs
- Does it like all people, great and small
- Does it not only tolerate but accept and enjoy grooming and handling
- Does it allow you to handle food and it's bowl
- Does it have manners with furniture, greeting people, general house etiquette
- Does it eat the furniture
- Does it toilet outside
- Does it respond to cues reliably in multiple environments
- Does it travel well in the car
- Does it bother the neighbours with boredom
- Does it suffer from separation anxiety
- Does it play appropriately or cower, bully, or act too boisterously
- Does it train easily with motivation through food and toys
- Does it receive enough exercise and stimulation
- Does it respond to barking and noises outside
- Does it behave when visitors ring the bell or enter the door
- Does it become anxious to sounds like thunderstorms, trains, fireworks
- Does it behave hyper active or can it be patient and calm
- Does it have good breeding and temperament
- Does it suffer from a physical issue which may conflict with behaviour

Does it ... does it ... does it ... and these are only a fraction of things to think about when working with your dog on problem behaviours, obedience and manners to create a well adjusted dog. When we bring Fido home some priorities outweigh others and on occasion we let one thing slip more than the next. In other circumstances your dog may have a negative or even traumatic experience which can set previous training behind and allow problems to arise. Nevertheless, this may all sound a bit bleak - but there is a big light at the end of the tunnel telling your to just breathe, regroup, and work on the issue at hand.

At a recent seminar I learned that half of training is retraining, even if mistakes were made on the two legged end of the leash. And that's ok - we are only human and as long as we take responsibility for our faults and take action, all is well.

I acquired Riley at 8 weeks of age. He is a Golden Retriever crossed with a Labrador Retriever (31/32 Golden, 1/32 Lab) and came from what seemed to be a home breeder. I was first introduced to him when choosing a dog for a close family friend after the passing of their previous Retriever cross. I had been looking for a dog myself and after visiting the home decided to pick a litter mate for myself. There he was - in a chain link pen outside the home with all his fuzzy little pals. Some were hairier than others and before looking at the pups I knew I wanted a short haired dog, which eliminated half the dogs of the litter. His sister, Toni, was chosen for my friends first and knowing I wanted a male dog I approached the ten or so pups looking for my first canine companion. And there he was! A big chilled out yellow pudgy pup in the middle of the food bowl. It was love at first sight! I knew I wanted a more calm dog fearing the overly excited hyper activity of many Retrievers and he ticked all the boxes. We also met the mother - a 3/4 Golden 1/4 Labrador Cross, and his father - a full bred Golden Retriever. A few days after Toni came to live with my friends, I cleared my funds and we drove back to get little Riley. I worked 3 months at a country club cleaning dishes in the back to pay for him, but there I was with my very first pup.

Things went smooth sailing the first few months after I convinced my mother to allow the dog to stay in a crate indoors rather than a kennel outside. I remember my little brother and I practicing recalls in our basement and working on the "ouch" bite inhibition exercise. Riley went everywhere with me - out to Starbucks with friends, to after school events. I even once almost gave my best friend a concussion because he was sitting in the boot of my car and I shut the door on her head (sorry Shannon). Everyone loved him and he loved everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, ability or disability. He also did a lot of playing with his sister who luckily lived in the neighbourhood and enjoyed interacting with all the dogs he met. I even started a dog park play group on meetup.com where he enjoyed wrestling and tumbling about with a group of lovely dogs.

Riley was neutered at 18 weeks of age as back then the general mentality was that if your dog was intact, it was going to fight other canines. Vets bombarded me with information on how neutering would prevent testicular cancer and when asking the breeder for her advice she recommended neutering as early as possible to prevent him from marking on everything. We had him on a premium dog food (Solid Gold) and made sure he was all up-to-date on all his vaccinations, microchipping, and worming control.

At about one year of age it all started happening. We were enjoying our group meet with a Poodle, Lab Mix, Jack Russel, two Chesapeake Retrievers, and a bunch of other pups in the enclosed park. Someone not a member of our party brought a Chuck-It ball launcher and a tennis ball to the dog park with their chocolate Labrador. Riley quickly learned to enjoy the game of fetch, racing down the side line of the fence chasing the ball and bringing it back - the owner's Lab chasing along to get the ball. I asked the owner to possibly put the ball away as the dogs were starting to compete for the toy and there was only one available so both dogs would not get to play at the same time, but the owner refused to stop this type of play. It was not long before Riley had the ball and next thing I know the other dog is flinging across his mouth trying to get the ball right out of him. This soon sprung into a fight between the two with luckily no serious damage done other than two shaken owners. I was absolutely distraught - my dog aggressive? But I am a trainer - what would people think? Can I keep socialising him? Do I need to muzzle him? Worse yet - does he need to be euthanised? Will he ever be good with dogs again? Can we return to the park? These were all thoughts that seemed to be rushing through my head all at the same time. I put Riley back on leash and left the park - distraught and embarrassed.

I took Riley back to the park a few more times after speaking to my mentor and friend about his behaviour. I was unaware at the time that resource guarding was a natural and common behaviour and that this could easily be curbed if identified early with the correct desensitisation and conditioning protocol. For those of you who do not know about resource guarding, it's when a dog or animal is being possessive of objects which commonly include: toys, food, bowls, sleeping areas, people and sometimes more odd objects. This behaviour is very common and is a basic survival instinct many animals practice. Being possessive of food, sleeping areas and mates allows animals to procreate and thus pass on their genetic material to their offspring - which is the most basic goal of all living beings.

The behaviour escalated just before two weeks of age. We were working on control behaviours and more socialisation without the presence of Riley's triggers being primarily food and tennis balls. He was doing really well and playing with other dogs happily until one day ... I was teaching a puppy class and all was going well. I was using Riley as a demo dog and he was enjoying himself. Another class was booked for their first lesson an hour later and I brought Riley to have owners practice using the clicker successfully before trying it on their own dogs, which were not invited to join us during the initial session. Well, one of the clients failed to read the email thoroughly and brought her Terrier anyways. When she came into the room Riley was off lead and walking about getting to know the other people, the other dog was leashed. The owner offered to put the dog into the car, but it was hot out and I did not want it to become overheated being confined in the parking lot. So I invited her to take her dog off leash and they played happily. I did a demonstration on how to stuff a Kong and how to use it as a food dispenser for meals and provide mental stimulation. Riley seemed content, but apparently snarled at the Terrier. I did not see Riley display the behaviour and only at the end of the session did someone bring it to my attention. I then removed the Kong and put it back in my duffel bag so it was out of reach of both dogs. The dogs kept playing and then stopped to have a little drink from the water bowl on the side of the room when BAM. The dogs burst out into a fight. Over water? Really? Seriously? Riley had never guarded water ever before and I was devastated. Next thing I know there's blood on my trousers. Oh no! I was shaking, embarrassed, scared. Riley had bitten the dog in the face, and yes, he left puncture marks. We immediately separated the dogs, put Riley in a neighbouring room, and I tried to calm everyone down before proceeding with the session. I was disheveled and unable to continue successfully and asked the owners to come back the following week. The Terrier had to be brought to the vet and stitched up. The owner was very gracious about the incident and my insurance company covered the vet bills.

It took me over a year to work on Riley's guarding issues and to this day I do not fully trust him with his valued items around. Be it around my other dogs or those of others, I make sure my household and walks are carefully managed and controlled to avoid this type of incident again. The worst thing I could have done is stop socialising him and stop any dog-dog interactions. It took me months to re-gain not only confidence in myself but in my dog. Luckily with the help of some wonderful friends and my mentor I was able to conquer my own fears and work with my dog again. I continued my education on the subject of resource guarding and invested in Jean Donaldson's books "Mine" and "Fight" which were well worth the read and work.

In March of 2008 - two years after the incident, Riley received his Canine Good Citizen award through the American Kennel Club and his therapy dog certification through Therapy Dogs International (TDI). Everyone in the class thought he would fail - he was stressed in the training venue we took a preparation class in, he was highly food motivated, and a bit anxious. After 5 hours waiting in line he made it through the tests with a clean run, and afterwards the judge invited me to teach classes because of his super performance. We continued to progress to advanced obedience and did casual Rally Obedience to gain some more experience, training time and control. Riley was ideal to take to assisted living facilities and old folks homes to comfort the patients - especially those suffering from Alzheimer's. He even took a trip to Germany with me, where the airlines allowed me to keep him with me in the cabin sitting at my feet in business class rather than under the plane in a kennel. He was great on our trip, joining us in restaurants, making friends with other dogs and enjoying the company of my grandmother. After his training and further socialisation he even helped out in my reactive dog classes offering calming and play behaviours and serving as a demo dog.

These days Riley enjoys the off leash socialisation walks I conduct with my clients twice a month. Granted he is muzzled just in case - I know he does not have ideal bite inhibition and can be awkward with some dogs if they do not have legible body language. But nevertheless he is still able to enjoy the company with other dogs safely and I continue to work with him and expose him to the environment he lives in.

I hope my experience can give some insight to other owners or trainers who might have been through a similar experience or who may be struggling with similar issues. The most important thing I am constantly learning is to never give up on yourself - or your dog. A dog showing signs of reactivity and discomfort is absolutely normal - and vital in order to gauge the dog's emotional state. Keep on socialising and work at the dog's pace with little goals in between. I bought Riley hoping to train him to bea therapy dog but given his history I never thought we would make it there.

As a side note - Riley has never shown any shyness or reactivity towards people - not even around his favourite resources. In hind sight I should have worked with him more on his favourite items around other dogs - but that is in the past.