Bone Aggression

[Jax08]

Jax has always had the attitude that if there is a bone anywhere near her, regardless of how many she has, it belongs to her. Over the last month she started snarling at the other dogs as she raced to take the bone from them. We would tell her No and take the bones away.

last night she decided it would be a good idea to come flying off the ottoman and attack, YES! ATTACK!, Sierra because she dared to come near the bones. I don't even think Sierra was trying to take a bone. I think she just happened to be walking by. Jax was driving Sierra right out of the room and went on thru two rooms before we got them apart. Then she decided to go into the CRATE where Baron, our dobie foster, was laying and start a fight with him over something she thought was in the crate.

What the [heck]!!!!???? So all the bones went up. Jax got her butt put in a crate until she calmed down. So how do we stop this from happening? Yes, all are spayed/neutered.

I picked up all the bones throughout the house and told everyone that Sierra could have a bone when in the crate, same with Baron, but as soon as the crates were opened the bones went up out of reach.

[SunCzarina]

Originally Posted By: Jax08 I picked up all the bones throughout the house and told everyone that Sierra could have a bone when in the crate, same with Baron, but as soon as the crates were opened the bones went up out of reach.

Good plan.

I don't let my dogs go near eachother's crates. Morgan has crate aggression , she will bite Otto if he so much as wacks it with his tail. As if they use their crates that much, just when I have the plumber here or company that isn't dog friendly.

[Jax08]

Why would she suddenly start attacking over the bone? I know it's resource guarding. But how do I stop her from doing this so it doesn't carry over into other things?

I could not flipping believe her last nite. First Sierra and then Baron. and then when I was pulling Baron out of his crate to see what Jax was going after Banshee must have thought he had done something wrong so as soon as he came out Banshee attacked him. Poor Boy! I was so mad at those two!

[Lauri & The Gang]

Originally Posted By: Jax08Why would she suddenly start attacking over the bone?

Here's why:

Quote:Over the last month she started snarling at the other dogs as she raced to take the bone from them. We would tell her No and take the bones away.

She has learned that snarling at the dogs isn't enough. She snarls at them, you yell at her and take away the bones. So, she thinks, snarling wasn't good enough - I'm going to have to get physical.

When a dog guards an item and the owners reprimand and take it away the dog learns:

1. Whatever measure I used (growl) wasn't enough to warn them off
2. I'll have to escalate it next time

And the worst ...

3. If I growl BEFORE I get physical they will know I'm coming so I'll just go right to the ohysical.

#3 - that's when dogs bite WITHOUT a warning growl.

Here is what I would do.

Put her on leash and have just ONE other dog out. Have a bowl full of cut up chicken breasts next to you. Put out a bone and let the other dog approach it.

When the other dog approaches it I would start PRAISING Jax like CRAZY and stuff chicken in her face.

She needs to learn that 'Other Dog with Bone = GREAT treats from Mom'.

[Jax08]

Thanks Lauri!! I'll get started on this right away. It was crazy last night!

[Jax08]

ok...so I'm following this logic correctly....

1. she was just running out and grabbing the bones. So we started taking the bones so all she knew is she didn't get the bone through her current actions.
2. So she escalated to growling. Once again we took the bones and she did not get what she wanted with her actions.
3. Then she escalated to attacking....which is where we are at now...

And steps 2 & 3 happened within the last two weeks...

I am assuming this logic follows thru to everything, including toys, food, people, etc....anything that is a "resource"?

[Lauri & The Gang]

Yes, anything can be a resource. And the higher the value of the item (in HER eyes) the more likely she is to try to guard it.

[Jax08]

aha...so we caused the escalation by the way we responded to her....got it! It's so helpful to understand what they are thinking when we do something.

[Liesje]

I'm pretty hands off and easy going with what my three dogs do (they basically have run of the house and yard together and I never have to separate them), however with RMBs I feel like I'd be asking for a fight if I left them all out together. I don't really need or care to train my dogs to share very high value items, so when they get these they are separated (regular food, treats, and kibble is not a problem...in fact I feed my dogs by tossing all their kibble all over the yard and they never fight over it). I don't have any trouble removing the item myself, but when I first got my two adult dogs, before I knew whether they would be guardy or not, I moved the dog first. So, if I needed to remove the bone, I asked the do to get up and lie down somewhere else while I took the bone (and then often tossed a piece of kibble or a chew toy on my way past so they could continue chewing something else).

My dogs respect me as the owner and provider of all but with each other there can be snarks over high value items and I don't really see this as all that unusual. Usually it's Coke, and now that we know we are more proactive about never letting it happen, but I'd rather feed the RMBs in crates then spend a lot of time desensitizing them to sharing and allowing other dogs to take the bones.

[Jax08]

These are recreational bones....not their dinner. I can easily see this escalating with toys, or anything else she deems hers, as well so need to stop her from doing this immediately.