WHO RESCUED WHO? -The good news happening in
animal rescue.-

So little Bennett in the previous post was a resource guarder. If anyone is unfamiliar with it, resource guarding is when a dog guards anything he/she deems important.  Which could range from a dirty tissue from the trash can, to toys, food and treats, or even a prized spot on the couch. The severity can vary as well.  When you take a dog’s bone away, and their body language stiffens it is a communication they are uncomfortable with what just happened…and can be a precursor to more serious guarding such as biting. Prevention and Management of object guarding behavior involves working slowly at your dog’s pace with trades of low value items for high value items so that your dog learns that to give something up means something great in return.  Slowly you work your dog up to the point where they will give up high value items.

Here are some detailed links for prevention and management of resource guarding in dogs.

Prevention: http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimals/pdfs/dogs/objectguarding.pdf

Management: http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimals/petcare/ObjectGuarding2.pdf