Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I've posted this topic before, but seeing someone else post about it has encouraged me to post about it again. Our son Matthew has been off to college for 3 years now. He is only 45 minutes away, so he comes home almost every weekend to work at Blockbuster, do his laundry etc. I mention this because it might have something to do with Kodi's behavior, since the treat and food guarding probably started happening when Matthew started college. But it seems to have progressed and has gotten worse. Kodi first started guarding his treats when Matthew was around, and it now has evolved to him also guarding them from me and my husband. It also now transfers over to guarding his food bowl. He takes his treats, and seems to want to play a game of guarding them. He lays about a foot away from them, guarding them for quite a long time -- Even when there is nobody in the room with him. Then if someone walks by him, he will move closer to the treat and growl. Finally at some point, he will bark at the treat, paw at it, almost like he's attacking it, and then he will eat it. Anyways, I'm quite concerned about this behavior, and have suggested to my son and husband several times that we all do the NILIF thing, but they don't seem to want to try it - they don't feel it will do any good, and I can't seem to convince them to give it a try. There are many times when he doesn't guard his food bowl at all, but if there is a treat out that he's guarding, and it's in the same room where his food bowl is, then he goes into "guard mode" for both of them. When I see this behavior, I have been dealing with it by luring him away from the treat with a piece of cheese (which is eaten right away), while someone else removes the treat he was guarding. But this doesn't seem to be helping. Any ideas anyone can give is greatly appreciated!
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Tammy and Kodi

Tammy I'm sure some of the others will have a better answer but it seems to me you are rewarding the treat guarding with the cheese and reinforcing Kodi's desire to guard his treats. As for the treats they are a highly regarded prize for him and he is defending his prize. Sounds like he could also be playing with the treat before eating it much like he would play with a caught mouse before killing it. At any rate when Kodi starts to display this behavior I would try to simple remove the treat by not bringing attention to him and just walk by and remove it if possible.
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Thanks... Yes, I totally agree with the idea that I'm rewarding him when giving him a small piece of cheese to remove the treat he is guarding... But I guess I've not felt comfortable with just removing a guarded treat from him, without luring him away from it, since he moves closer to it and growls. And you described it perfectly... the way he guards the treat, then plays or attacks it right before eating it seems to be exactly like what he would do with a dead mouse or whatever...
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Tammy and Kodi

The tossing another treat to take his off what he's guarding is the safest method if you believe he's going to actually back up his growl with a bite. So, you are doing what you need to do to not get bit. Sadly, Bob is correct, it is a reinforcer when it's done without a command like "leave it" or "off."

You need to actually teach the "leave it" behavior with a lower value item (toy, sock, virtually anything that is a tiny bit desirable, but will not elicit the guarding behavior). You also should reward the "leave it" with a treat from your hand and they do not have access to the item you told them to leave unless you also teach a "get it" command. I make this a VERY fun game in short bursts. I also typically give the dog the item with a "give it" when I'm doen with the session and take it away after they lose interest in it (when they don't see me). When Training I don't want to set up the negative emotion of the toy going away for good.

Let me know if this makes sence or not. I'll break it down further if it doesn't. Also, your idea of NILF is a great one and you doing it alone will help even if others aren't on the same page. It helps if others are doign it as well, but it still works to a degree solo.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles www.freewebs.com/performanceshibas

Yes, Chelle -- thank you! That does make sense. Teaching him the leave it/get it command can be viewed as teaching him a new trick, and then it will be very useful when the guarding behavior occurs. I think I can convince the family to participate in that... And it's good to hear that NILIF will benefit him even if I'm the only one doing it. I'm going to start both immediately!

Thanks again.
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Tammy and Kodi