Lilly guards me. She guards Tom. She even guards other people she likes, most notably Tom’s mom. It isn’t her most attractive behavior. She gives Ginko never-ending grief if he wants to come close to one of us. She will growl, snap, posture, and make mean faces to keep him away. It’s a real pain. Sometimes, Lilly even grumbles if Ginko is at the other end of the house and we speak to him.
It’s as if she’s saying, “There is NO talking to the prisoner.”
When I say that out loud, Tom giggles.
Because Tom thinks Lilly “protecting” him is cute, the behavior will never go away, but I’ve started trotting with Ginko straight to the kitchen, where I hand-feed him for a minute or so … while we ignore Lilly.
I’ll keep at it for a while and report back later on if it helps with her guarding me (at least).
There are many things I love about Lilly. This behavior is not one of them. Thankfully, Ginko puts up with a lot.
If you’ve dealt with this issue, please … do tell. How did you manage?
Oooh good idea! Yeah, I was hoping some more people would chime in to get their perspectives! I haven’t fostered in a while, so its been a few years since I’ve had a protective dog, would be interesting to hear what techniques others have used.
Here is a link to something McDevitt recently posted to the CU yahoo group about resource guarding and using CU tactics
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CU_Dogs/message/17975
My gut is telling me that removing Ginko from Lilly is reinforcing that Lilly is getting what SHE wants… Ginko not by her/Tom.
Anytime I’ve had a protective foster dog I’ve done the opposite. The growly dog has to leave the situation, while the dog who is being well behaved gets the affection… its always worked for me. I just give an “ah-ah” and a timeout to the growly/protective dog and make them go lay down on the other side of the room. Usually they get the hint after a few sessions. If they are nice when the other dog/person approaches, then they get lots of praise and reward and its fun for all! If they want to be a jerk, no fun for them. toooo bad.
Interesting perspective, Aly … We’ve also tried simply removing ourselves (the object of protection and quasi reward), but that didn’t work because she will continue to harass Ginko even after we’ve left the room. That’s why I take him WITH me and give him lots of rewards. She follows along, and we ignore her.
I’ve also tried removing her from the situation, but she gets VERY growly and escalates her behavior, which isn’t good.
Some folks on Twitter are recommending using some Control Unleashed techniques we already use for other things. That’s an option as well.
That is just too funny about not talking to the prisoner, Roxanne! Sade, our pittie does this sometimes too. I’ll be interested to see how your methods work.