Halloween was nearly here and I had plans to celebrate my friend Mari’s birthday at our family cabin. My parents were willing to let me bring Diego and keep him inside since it seemed like there wasn’t a great alternative option for us at the moment. I spoke with Adam, the trainer, and asked him how to handle spending time with friends over the weekend, since my other option was canceling—which would only prove that having this dog was going to make me sacrifice a lot more than I planned on when I got him. We were going to try this. We had been alone long enough in this pandemic and were going to see some friends! His advice as I remember it was to have everyone ignore Diego, they don’t need to pet him or give him a lot of eye contact, just let him be.
We drove up to the lake, Diego grinning in the backseat. I wondered if Britt and I would ever be able to comfortably carpool again now that we both had dogs (Benny would be at the farm with mom and dad over the weekend). I walked Diego inside on a leash and we entered the kitchen full of people around the table. My friends faced the other way, giggling because it was hard to ignore the new fluff ball that had entered the room. “It’s hard not to look at him, he’s so cute!” Aleks said. I clarified that they could glance at him, just don’t pay him much attention. After taking him around the cabin, I let him off his leash and he went and curiously sniffed everyone sitting at the table, inserting his nose near their legs and derrières as he pleased. They sat still as he inspected them, eventually residing on his dog bed with a beef cheek.
That night, Britt and I shared one of the bedrooms, and Diego went to his crate to sleep which he had been doing the last couple weeks. I plugged in a nightlight so that we could get around, and then put a towel on top of the crate to block some of the light. Lying awake, I heard a rustling. Britt and I waited, but it continued to get louder and I flipped on the light switch. Diego had been tugging the towel through one of the narrow holes of the crate! It was obvious he was not going to quiet down early, and we decided to try moving him into the living room like he would normally be in at home. We carried the crate out to the rug and had him go inside with some treats and toys. Then we went back to bed.
BANG! CH CH CH CH CH! Little paws tapped across the wood floor. Was he out of his crate?! Ugh, that little… I opened the door to reveal a panting pup scurrying into the bedroom. The crate laid on its side, with the escape door pressed against the ground, only one of the two locks undone. He had to have squeezed his body through. How?
Time for plan C. Brittany left the room to go upstairs and Diego came in with me. After a few rounds of Go to Your Spot, I finally caught some Zs.
The next day, we went hiking at a nearby State Park and it was amazing! There were no other dogs around, just us in the woods. Diego loved it, stopping frequently to sniff all the autumn scents. For once, I wasn’t holding him back from lunging at the Amazon truck or runners. I wasn’t bracing for impact. He seemed at peace, and Mari even held his leash as we walked. I felt lighter.
Once we returned, we played games and made Halloween paintings. When we were seated, all was well. Brittany was gaining some confidence around Diego as he had been on his best behavior. As she stood a few feet away from where he reclined with his bone, she leaned down near a toy. Diego reacted and I heard her scream. Oh no! Did he bite her? She said he put his teeth on her foot—a warning. “I don’t get it, what did I even do?” Brittany asked shaken.
What I didn’t realize until later was his intense need to resource guard. It was intimidating. His reactions created this feeling of walking on eggshells and I couldn’t always explain exactly what someone “did wrong” if they asked in order to understand or avoid that situation in the future. I felt a constant battle between needing to apologize, and frustration. Seriously, Diego, you had to threaten your aunt again?! Could you just chill around her and try to make things a little easier? She just wants to love you dang it! Cue eye roll.
All this time, I needed to stay calm and create a positive environment so he wouldn’t feed off my stressful energy. And all this time, I second guessed what it would look like to keep him or try to give him up, which was exhausting. In one ear, I could hear the vet’s words, “He’s unpredictable. He could kill someone.” In the other I could hear the trainer, “Not all veterinarians understand behavior. This dog is not aggressive.”
I left that weekend feeling at a loss. Keeping Diego didn’t just affect me, it would affect my family and friends too, and I would be playing a high-risk game with their safety. The girls seemed to have a soft spot for him and thought I could work with him and it would get better with time, but I was still nervous. We had a couple weeks of our group training left, and would just have to see where that would take us!
What I Wish I Knew Then…
Here is a little summary of resource guarding from preventivevet.com if you’re unfamiliar.
Resource guarding is when a dog reacts when they perceive a threat to a valuable resource in their possession. The dog feels they are about to lose something and takes action to keep it. Resource guarding does not always have to end with growling, lunging, biting, or fighting. Patricia McConnell defines it well, as “any behavior that discourages another to take, or get too close to, an object or valued area in the dog’s possession.” This behavior could be as simple as a look, head turn, or slight baring of the teeth.
Guarding resources is a natural dog behavior. It’s a natural animal behavior — humans included! Access to resources like food, water, and a safe space is essential to survival. It’s hardwired into animal nature to protect the things we believe we need to survive. While it is normal dog behavior, it’s not a desirable one. Resource guarding becomes a dangerous problem if a dog is willing to bite or fight to keep an item. This is especially worrisome in a home with young children, elderly family members, or if the dog is not predictable in what items they decide to guard.
Diego has a serious case of resource guarding. He’s loosened up with me over time, but I still need to know when to give him space. I noticed it with toys first. He would drop his dragon off of the ottoman, and as I reached to get it for him, he would jump to beat me to it and take it away. Now that we have played with his toys together and he realizes that it’s more fun when I play with him, he allows me to pick them up under most circumstances and will relax when I go near them.
I have to be more strategic about giving him a bone. It has gotten to the point where he won’t even chew on it, but rather protect it from me. I have come down the stairs as he sits in the stairwell with his eyes darting to the side, and when I take the final step he growls and runs in front of his bone. He guards it from across the room! He hides it sometimes so I don’t know that he is guarding a bone under a pillow on the couch. He honestly seems more stressed out trying to keep it so he rarely gets one these days.
I don’t like to leave him with a bone if Purvasha is in the the house because he has even put his teeth on my slipper to warn me to stay away, and he might be more intense with someone else. Luckily, Purvasha and I have been able to laugh things off more often than not and create a game out of a how ridiculous our tactics need to be. I take him on a walk and ask Purvasha to pick up his bone while we were out of the house and hide it. I’ve poked at his bone with various tools just to move it out of the way, and he has gotten rather ferocious towards the broom. Most times it involves some form of distraction.
I also need to be aware of him resource guarding with other dogs. More recently, I’ve had him playing with Benny, and he went on the offensive rather quickly. I realized that his Kong Wobbler was lying on the floor nearby, and once I took it away things deescalated. Working with a dog that resource guards takes a lot of awareness of body language and your surroundings. If you have a dog that struggles, it may be best to remove the food or toys from the environment while other dogs or people are around until you know how to train them and read their signs.
I know I’m not the only one out here with a resource guarding dog, so to all of you who are working on it—GOOD LUCK!
Megan Kiecker 