I had considered starting off with Maddies Fund, but a gentle reader cautioned against lumping it in with some other agencies. A tip of the hat to mid-west guest..I object to the numbers game being played by some recepients, but not the fund, so thats my take on the Schnauzer. Resource guarding was high on my list of things to get on the table, time to tackle that. I have a tendency to resource protect, actually I am more into posturing than guarding. Oreo never bought into the game.. In this picture you can see I have taken the lead spot, smack dab in front of the computer tower, strong message there.. Glad Mom got the shot, since I was only there about 4 days before Oreo restaked her claim. You can't see from the pic, but Oreo is a little taller than me, and before her ill health was 135 to my 125. Yet, it was Oreo who decided that we should lay down to eat in our little twirl pattern. It's hard to posture from the prone position.....I don't know how she knew to teach us that, but we all lay down and nobody ate til we were in our places. There would , rarely, be the the token "showing of the tooth" but never anything vocal. I believe that many folks encourage bad manners at the dish. It's easy to react the wrong way and reward bad behavior. We are never given separate treats we must sit at the same time, in the same room and share. I tend to be a little Me-me-me dog, it's all about me. Oreo accepted that and won every round by default.
Most aggression is genetic, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the old saw of " had a rough life" doesn't hold water. Most dogs are aggressive because they can be. by the time the dog is big enough to be a danger it's often to big to rehabilitate. I would like to see more focus on truth in advertising, home checks for challenging dogs and putting some responsibility on the releasing agency.
Lucky for all of us, I came from steady parents, I am actually Burley's full sibling from a repeat breeding, but we never shared a womb , get it ? :) Newf's are dredge dogs by trade, we pull boats, carts, and owners with determination. so I may not be German, but Greta can watch my dust when my shoulders dig down. I will be digging down on the issues that are causing my shelter friends to suffer. I don't have Oreo's history as a volunteer, but I do have some training in how to play nicely and share, always share.....
My advice on resource guarding is pretty simple, first make certain it's not a game of posturing, then accept it's not a game and get busy. Remember though, aggression is aggression in any form, food toys, owner. It cannot be dismissed as a phase. it will absolutely go as far as you let it, and that does include owner aggression. Oreo got so many emails from new shelter dog owners who "were doomed from the gate", be heads up that not all dogs are treatable. Over the years Oreo came up with several plans for treatment, many of them worked, but the aggression only transferred to another high value possesion if it was true dominance. you can't back up far enough to satisfy a true bully, I learned that from Mr. Nathan..
Pictured are Oreo, Burley Dog and Miss Priss, doing her best to be next to my chair.
7 comments:
The big difference I see here than other sources is, humans staayed out of it. With Dozer and Digger we have been working 3 years to get them to be in the same room without a fight. NHS told us they were bonded siblings. The first year we met with a trainer at the park, but we gave that up and keep them apart. It has become worse with age and I am told that is common when pitbulls mature. This blog has helped greatly, but I will never again adopt a bully breed. My life has been changed by these dogs, and while I love them and would not abandon them, I will never adopt from NHS again.
Thanks for your honesty Jeannie. I agree some dogs are not adoptable. In my case, our breeder drove to the state I had been sold to and brought me home to Nevada. They kept me a couple of days and had the vet check me out. When everything checked as healthy, and no serious issues I moved in with Oreo. I was 5 months old and not socialized all that much, although the home I lived in was quite nice, I quickly overwhelmed them. Sorry about your two, that has to be hard, I know here we had a few times where I got to pushy and Mom let us know she was in charge. I have been on some long "down stays"
Hello Priss, I haven't posted in a long time and I suppose it's overdue. First I am very glad you are staying open, Oreo wrote a bunch of good stuff and it would be a shame to lose it. I wanted to speak to the resource guarding. My dog growed at the food dish and we persisted it removing the food anyway. The end result was we got bitten rather badly. Finally on something I read on here a couple of years ago, I started only letting him eat from a dish between my feet. That was touchy. We have overome the the food problem, but he still wants to be the boss. I think the best you can do is to keep pushing for your rights as an owner. I too adpted a pitbull and I would never do that again. There are plenty of dogs to go around with out bringing a problem dog into your home. I don't know if I love Maxter anymore, but I will keep him and mangage to give him the best life I can. The problem lies with the lack of truth in the adoption process.
Personally I would like to have the money from Maddies used more in a way that encourages responsible best practices. NHS has been the recepient of the grant for adoption of the most old and disabled dogs & cats. I don't believe in doggie hospice, it is a cruel practice done with innocent animals as the victims. I workd at NHS for an extended period and when they started letting animals just " go naturally" I left.
Thanks for sharing. My thought is that there may be some owners who lie at surrender time. I still feel it's the agency. Under No Kill you have to move the animals, it doesn't matter where, just get them out of the shelter. So, take a good look at the whole picture before buying into the lie.
We deal with a ton of food aggression at the shelter, and I think it's because none of these dogs are getting handling at an early age. People get a puppie and assume it will know how to act, with the dearth of pitties coming in at all ages, we are seeing more food bites when we try to clean the kennel. The bowl is empty but it's theirs.
I liked the idea of holding the food betwen your feet, then when the dog walks away pick up the dish and go. That will solve many problems with the resource guarding. Problem would be staffing.
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