Now, let me make a few things clear before I go any further:
*Luke and Ophie's crates are next to each other for now, but I have dark blankets draped over the sides of the crates, so they cannot see each other, but they get along anyway, so right now this is not an issue.
*Luke has been a food guarder (only food, though) since we got him, FROM OPHIE. NOT from US.
No food items are free outside of their crates. I may give them each a chewy under MY SUPERVISION, and I make sure they are quite a distance from each other, and I watch them.
*Typically, I feed Luke inside his crate AFTER I have done the whole "hand-feeding" or feeding from the bowl with tossing pieces of hot dog in occasionally, and I've taken his food bowl from him in the middle of him eating and made him watch me put a piece of hot dog in it, and I've stuck my hand in his bowl while he's eating, WITH NO GUARDING ISSUES, what-so-ever
Ok, so now that I have that out of the way, I'll go on. )
I have noticed that Luke will growl when I put him in his crate with a frozen kong. It's ONLY after I close the latches on the crate.
I THOUGHT he was doing this because he would growl, usually, when I put Ophie in her crate AFTER I put him in his, and he would hear the latches on her crate. I figured he was afraid that she would get his food.
But this still didn't sit right with me. I just had this odd feeling about it. So, I tested yesterday by putting Ophie in her crate first, and THEN putting him in his crate.
He growled when I put his bowl of food in his crate and then shut the latches on his crate door.
I thought, "Great, back to "Resource Guarding 101".
And I fed him outside of his crate this morning and I tossed the hot dogs in, took his bowl away from him in the middle of eating, etc.
He was FINE. No growling, no frozen/stiffened body language.
So, today, I was going downstairs to work on some collars, and I crate the pups, each with a frozen kong.
I put Ophie in her crate first and I close her crate door and close the latches.
Then I put Luke in his crate toss in his frozen kong, and close the door.
"Grrrrr...Grrrr..."
And I stop and look at him. And he growls again.
So, I go over to Ophie's crate and unlatch her crate, take her kong out and talk to her. No growling from Luke.
This confirms that he's growling at ME.
Oh hell no.
So, I'm like, "Are you growling at me????"
"Grrrr....Grrrr..."
So, I open his crate door, and his fish stick chewy is right by the edge of the door, and I carefully poke his kong with it. No growling.
I grab the kong (scared to do so, yes, but I am not the brightest crayon in the box sometimes...) and take it away. No protest.
I put the kong back in the crate with him, and I close the door.
"Grrr....Grrr..."
So, I'm baffled and I put in a call to my trainer/behaviorist. She cancelled class last night because she was sick, so I was not shocked when she didn't answer the phone, and I left a message.
I go downstairs and do what I need to do, and then I come back up.
I walk into the livingroom, and I sit down in front of Ophie's crate, and I'm talking to her.
I stop, and I turn my head over to Luke and look at him.
"Grrr...Grrr..."
What the hell?
Any idea how to work with this???
I don't need my dog growling at me, and I have NEVER dealt with this before. And I don't know if things like this can become a BIGGER problem, or, or, a problem that starts to cause him to carry it over into another area in his behavior (example: he starts guarding outside of the crate, he starts guarding toys or guarding anything else from me).
I know A LOT of you have dealt with this before. And I know it may be a minor issue that is easily worked with.
And some may be used to this type of behavior.
So, I apologize in advance for saying this: But it's quite unsettling to me that he is growling at me.
I don't like it. AT ALL.
So, please help? Any suggestions (preferably other than beating him or being mean to him would be appreciated).
I want to keep things as positive as possible with any interactions as these puppies do not know any kind of positive punishment.
And I'd like to keep it that way.
*Luke and Ophie's crates are next to each other for now, but I have dark blankets draped over the sides of the crates, so they cannot see each other, but they get along anyway, so right now this is not an issue.
*Luke has been a food guarder (only food, though) since we got him, FROM OPHIE. NOT from US.
No food items are free outside of their crates. I may give them each a chewy under MY SUPERVISION, and I make sure they are quite a distance from each other, and I watch them.
*Typically, I feed Luke inside his crate AFTER I have done the whole "hand-feeding" or feeding from the bowl with tossing pieces of hot dog in occasionally, and I've taken his food bowl from him in the middle of him eating and made him watch me put a piece of hot dog in it, and I've stuck my hand in his bowl while he's eating, WITH NO GUARDING ISSUES, what-so-ever
Ok, so now that I have that out of the way, I'll go on. )
I have noticed that Luke will growl when I put him in his crate with a frozen kong. It's ONLY after I close the latches on the crate.
I THOUGHT he was doing this because he would growl, usually, when I put Ophie in her crate AFTER I put him in his, and he would hear the latches on her crate. I figured he was afraid that she would get his food.
But this still didn't sit right with me. I just had this odd feeling about it. So, I tested yesterday by putting Ophie in her crate first, and THEN putting him in his crate.
He growled when I put his bowl of food in his crate and then shut the latches on his crate door.
I thought, "Great, back to "Resource Guarding 101".
And I fed him outside of his crate this morning and I tossed the hot dogs in, took his bowl away from him in the middle of eating, etc.
He was FINE. No growling, no frozen/stiffened body language.
So, today, I was going downstairs to work on some collars, and I crate the pups, each with a frozen kong.
I put Ophie in her crate first and I close her crate door and close the latches.
Then I put Luke in his crate toss in his frozen kong, and close the door.
"Grrrrr...Grrrr..."
And I stop and look at him. And he growls again.
So, I go over to Ophie's crate and unlatch her crate, take her kong out and talk to her. No growling from Luke.
This confirms that he's growling at ME.
Oh hell no.
So, I'm like, "Are you growling at me????"
"Grrrr....Grrrr..."
So, I open his crate door, and his fish stick chewy is right by the edge of the door, and I carefully poke his kong with it. No growling.
I grab the kong (scared to do so, yes, but I am not the brightest crayon in the box sometimes...) and take it away. No protest.
I put the kong back in the crate with him, and I close the door.
"Grrr....Grrr..."
So, I'm baffled and I put in a call to my trainer/behaviorist. She cancelled class last night because she was sick, so I was not shocked when she didn't answer the phone, and I left a message.
I go downstairs and do what I need to do, and then I come back up.
I walk into the livingroom, and I sit down in front of Ophie's crate, and I'm talking to her.
I stop, and I turn my head over to Luke and look at him.
"Grrr...Grrr..."
What the hell?
Any idea how to work with this???
I don't need my dog growling at me, and I have NEVER dealt with this before. And I don't know if things like this can become a BIGGER problem, or, or, a problem that starts to cause him to carry it over into another area in his behavior (example: he starts guarding outside of the crate, he starts guarding toys or guarding anything else from me).
I know A LOT of you have dealt with this before. And I know it may be a minor issue that is easily worked with.
And some may be used to this type of behavior.
So, I apologize in advance for saying this: But it's quite unsettling to me that he is growling at me.
I don't like it. AT ALL.
So, please help? Any suggestions (preferably other than beating him or being mean to him would be appreciated).
I want to keep things as positive as possible with any interactions as these puppies do not know any kind of positive punishment.
And I'd like to keep it that way.