Fantastic Forum Observations

Raggedyann · Post by **Raggedyann** » 09-25-2012 08:00 PM

SquidInk wrote: yEP Tj is a 'resource guarder', that's how he found himself a marked man.

You mean his owners deserted him because he guarded his food?

SquidInk · Post by **SquidInk** » 09-25-2012 08:39 PM

Raggedyann wrote: You mean his owners deserted him because he guarded his food?

Well, his owners kept him in a crate for 3 years, and didn't feed him well. When he got to the 'no kill' shelter, he was obsessed with eating/food. Most shelters will not allocate the funds to correct and rehabilitate resource guarders.

The irony is not lost on me - the resource guarding shelters have decided that resource guarding animals deserve to perish.

- kinda

Raggedyann · Post by **Raggedyann** » 09-25-2012 09:05 PM

SquidInk wrote: Well, his owners kept him in a crate for 3 years, and didn't feed him well. When he got to the 'no kill' shelter, he was obsessed with eating/food. Most shelters will not allocate the funds to correct and rehabilitate resource guarders.

The irony is not lost on me - the resource guarding shelters have decided that resource guarding animals deserve to perish.

- kinda

I didn't know that resource guarding behavior could be corrected. I would have done that. My sister in law once dropped a chicken drumstick on the floor and Quincy, quick as lightening, grabbed it. She took it out of his mouth and he bit her. I was mortified!

Ya didn't mess with food falling from heaven when food shark Quincy was in the vicinity.

Have you corrected this in TJ?

SquidInk · Post by **SquidInk** » 09-25-2012 09:38 PM

Raggedyann wrote: I didn't know that resource guarding behavior could be corrected. I would have done that. My sister in law once dropped a chicken drumstick on the floor and Quincy, quick as lightening, grabbed it. She took it out of his mouth and he bit her. I was mortified! Ya didn't mess with food falling from heaven when food shark Quincy was in the vicinity.

Have you corrected this in TJ?

Let me clarify: it can be corrected to some degree. Yes, Tj is much better now - but he is still a little weird about food.

When we got him, he would absolutely lash out at anyone who came near him when he was eating, and he would steal food by any means possible. Now he waits calmly to be fed, he is trained to stay out of the kitchen, I can grab his dinner bowl while he eats & he sits in hopes of getting it back. The last remaining problem (probably irreversible) is that he will eat until he is physically sick, then he will ask for more.

Now, if he were a full size rottweiler? I have no idea how you would correct resource guarding! Tj bit me more times than I can recall during the first few years - but he is so small, it never hurts.

Raggedyann · Post by **Raggedyann** » 09-25-2012 09:45 PM

SquidInk wrote: Tj bit me more times than I can recall during the first few years - but he is so small, it never hurts.

Bless you for your patience with him Squid. Quincy didn't bite very hard either and he did calm down food wise as he got older and more trusting. When I first got him and realized he was a food-a-holic, I called him "My Rottweiler in Drag".