Now we're throwing water at dogs who have resource guarding or aggression around their food. That's supposed to make them feel safer with humans being around their food. I'm going to go ahead and play the whole 23 second clip and then we're going to talk about it. The dog growled as the two men approached the food. And when dogs growl, that's their way of saying, I'm uncomfortable, don't come any closer. And when they growl, that's their way of saying, I'm uncomfortable, don't come any closer. And they throw water on the dog and startle it away from its food. And a dog choosing to walk away from its food while humans are around, and being startled away from its food are two totally different things. So from the dog's perspective, people approach my food, something scary happened, and my food disappeared. If your goal is to reduce resource guarding, you generally want people approaching food to predict something better happening, like more food appearing in the bowl. Startling the dog may interrupt the behavior in that moment, but it isn't changing the underlying emotion that the dog feels about humans being around the food. If we only change what the dog does and not how the dog feels, we may actually be suppressing the warning signs without actually solving the problem. To me, all that trainer did was punish the growl. And when we punish a dog's form of communication, that may cause the dog not to growl in the future. So he's not going to give a warning signal before he bites. A dog that no longer growls isn't necessarily a dog that feels safer. Show us the behavior modification. Show us how the dog's emotional response has changed around food. But if we're seeing is a dog startled away from its food, I don't think that's enough evidence to show that this was a successful treatment for resource guarding. Show us the behavior modification. Show us how the dog's emotional response has changed around food. But if all we're seeing is a dog startled away from its food, I don't think that's enough evidence to show that this was a successful treatment for resource guarding. What do you think? Did this trainer change the dog's emotions or just change the dog's behavior? Let me know in the comments. From the dog's perspective, people approach my food, something scary happened, and my food disappeared. If your goal is to reduce resource guarding, you generally want people approaching food to predict something better happening, like more food appearing in the bowl. Startling the dog may interrupt the behavior in that moment, but it isn't changing the underlying emotion that the dog feels about humans being around the food. If we only change what the dog does and not how the dog feels, we may actually be suppressing the warning signs without actually solving the problem. To me, all that trainer did was punish the growl. And when we punish a dog's form of communication, that may cause the dog not to growl in the future. So he's not going to give a warning signal before he bites. A dog that no longer growls isn't necessarily a dog that feels safer. Show us the behavior modification. Show us how the dog's emotional response has changed around food. But if all we're seeing is a dog startled away from its food, I don't think that's enough evidence to show that this was a successful treatment for resource guarding. What do you think? Did this trainer change the dog's emotions or just change the dog's behavior? Let me know in the comments.
