Eugenics or dysgenics - more to consider in dog breeding

From Dog Star Daily:


Natural selection is nature's fail-safe way of maintaining eugenics (good genes and fine offspring). All dogs are different, (individual variation being an inherent characteristic of sexual reproduction), and different dogs fair differently in different situations. Dogs best suited to the immediate environment (the genetically fittest) do well; the less fit do less well; and the unfit usually die. In the wild, the process of natural selection promotes the survival of the fittest and ensures the elimination of nature's mistakes. With domestic animals, however, continuing improvements in veterinary technology and the practice of artificial selection allow breeders to mess with Mother Nature — sometimes for the better, but sometimes for the worse. Nowadays, the responsibility of maintaining a healthy gene pool and preventing deleterious effects on the line and breed (i.e., dysgenics) lies predominantly with the integrity of individual breeders.

Artificial Selection
The aim of artificial selection is to improve the gene pool along prescribed lines. However, extreme unilateral selection for specific characteristics, whether improved structure, appearance, or working ability, is often at the expense of other characteristics. What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts! In addition to selectively breeding for specific coveted or beneficial traits, breeders must strive to maintain balanced and comprehensive selection criteria that ensure the general wellbeing of the breed. It is vital to consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of frequent outcrosses to similar but parallel (unrelated) lines, and periodic outcrosses to dissimilar lines. Ruthless line-breeding (father to daughter and brother to sister) causes the inheritance of bad qualities as well as good qualities. Breeders must equate potential breed-gains, (such as, improved dentition, coat color, or body size) with potential or probable, breed-losses, (such as, sensory deficiencies, physiological abnormalities, decreased life-expectancy and the inability to mate or whelp). Best In Show honors tempt too many breeders to mate good-looking dogs, knowing full well they have serious anatomical and medical defects. Slash and burn breeding — destroying the forest for maybe one or two good crops!

Ironically, breeder-induced doggy dysgenics is most apparent in the realm of reproduction. There are many examples of purebred dogs that can not mate and of bitches that can neither whelp, nor care for their young without human assistance. If we are not careful, the term “breeder” will fast become a misnomer. Mixed-breed dogs seem to have few problems breeding and free-whelping. In fact, most of them manage to do it in public. So, what's the problem with purebred dogs?

Nature has a wonderful way to promote promiscuity, fertility and fecundity — problem-maters have no genetic representation in subsequent generations! During early domestication, there was a rigid selective pressure for breeding ability. Animals that could not, or would not, breed in captivity did not produce domestic stock, whereas good breeders passed along genes for good breeding to foster future generations of good breeders. For pet dogs, there continues to be a strong selection for breeding ability. Those that can't — don't, whereas those that can — sometimes do. And, by so doing, they pass on their genes for good-breeding to foster subsequent generations of good breeders. On the other hand, purebred dogs have been emphatically selected for breed-specific characteristics, and as a result, breeding ability and fecundity have suffered. Additionally, the elusive quest for the perfect body prompts many breeders to go to great lengths, employing various artificial means, to breed known poor breeders. By so doing, they are propagating a population of good-looking dogs that cannot even reproduce by themselves — much like many modern-day plants. Thus, in the purebred environment, many individual animals and their genetic problems are artificially created, maintained and propagated by human intervention.

Veterinary Intervention
Veterinary science exists for the benefit of individual animals and for the betterment of the breed and species. Indeed, veterinarians frequently come to the aid of individual dogs, but sometimes, veterinary intervention may be detrimental for the breed as a whole. Improved veterinary treatment frees dogs from some of the natural selective pressures imposed by nature. Hence, in the domestic environment, many animals are allowed to survive and breed, which most certainly would have died without such intervention. It is essential to distinguish between the fate of individual dogs and the fate of the breed. Of course, we would all do our best to save the lives of individual dogs, but it would be a disservice to future generations to breed such dogs and possibly pass on genetic defects, which could promulgate the very same problems.

Survival of the Unfit?
Some pups are born with physical defects. Others have less obvious problems and turn out to be “poor-doers” or runts. The question of what to do with the runt (or runts) of the litter, or puppies with physical defects, must be individually addressed by each breeder. The eugenic options include: culling the litter, letting nature take its course, or saving the pups but neutering them. Also, when a bitch rejects a pup, perhaps we should pay heed to her decision and most certainly neuter the pup should it survives. The pup may grow up to be a marvelous companion dog, but not a breeding prospect. With two sickly litters from the same dam it would be prudent to neuter the dam. Perhaps she has a predisposition to infectious disease, which may be passed to her offspring.

Breeding the Unfit? 
Many purebred dogs need help to breed: holding the bitch and/or male dog, guiding the penis into the vulva, and in some cases resorting to artificial insemination. Sometimes heroic efforts are needed just to stimulate interest in breeding activity.

One might argue that man-made, purebred dogs were not meant to exist in the wild, but that does not mean, that they should not be able to lead long and healthy lives and be able to reproduce by themselves. Aside from the obvious, that inability to mate and care for young is both unnatural and unhealthy, there are sound utilitarian reasons why natural mating and maternal behavior are important. Natural mating and courtship and even the sight, sound and/or smell of a member of the opposite sex stimulate the production and release of the pituitary hormones, that control ovulation and the number of ova released, i.e., courtship improves fertility and fecundity. Most important though, natural mating and maternal behavior are essential. Courtship is nature's temperament test and natural maternal care lays the very foundation for puppy socialization and learning bite inhibition.


Natural Mating
Courtship comprises a species-specific, stereotyped choreography of behavioral interaction. Thus, the bitch is afforded the opportunity to evaluate her prospective mate’s mastery of social intercourse prior to sexual intercourse. Successful courtship is proof that an excited male dog may interact appropriately, without fear or aggression. Despite several thousand years of selection for promiscuity in domestic dogs, many bitches still remain highly selective in their choice of mating partner. And the most common reason for a bitch to refuse a stud (aside from her not being in estrus) appears to be that the male was antisocial, asocial, or naive or clumsy in his advances, or that she simply didn’t fancy him. To put it simply, courtship weeds out potential studs that do not have the requisite social savvy or attractiveness (whether the male dog’s lack of socialization is due to experiential deficiency or some inherent predisposition). We have to raise a huge red
behavior/temperament warning flag, if a dog lacks the desire, ability or social savvy to mate.

To muzzle or restrain fearful or aggressive dogs to get them to mate is just too silly for words. Who on earth would want to mate a dog to one with obvious temperament problems? Moreover, I can think of only one acceptable reason for artificial insemination — when dogs are separated by large distances. It is often much cheaper and more convenient to transport semen than the dog. However, unless we are talking about an extremely rare breed, it would be a mite pompous to assume there is not a good mating prospect within driving distance. Artificial insemination is not wise if the male dog is injured, diseased, or dead. Perhaps the dog has an inherent disposition for injury (e.g., weak bones or joints), disease, or early death. In any case, why inseminate an extant bitch with sperm from an extinct male. If the purpose of selective breeding is to improve genetic stock, why use old-fashioned and out of date sperm?

Owners of bitches can afford to be and indeed, should be, extremely choosey when selecting a prospective stud because genetic change within a breed is effected extremely quickly and dramatically via male dogs. Whereas a bitch's genes are passed along to only a score or two of pups in her entire reproductive career, a stud's genetic moiety may be passed on to twenty pups in just a couple of days! Genes from far too few male dogs are over-represented in the gene pool of many breeds. Whereas this is the prevailing sexual strategy for many animals, (e.g., cattle, sheep, chickens), it is unnatural for dogs. A bitch’s much greater temporal and physiological investment in her young is protected by preferential mating, i.e., her selection of a preferred partner. Hence, if we are to choose a stud for a bitch, we should do so with extreme discretion and also, we would be wise to at least consider her preferences.


Natural Whelping and Maternal Care
Elective Caesarians are surprisingly common, especially amongst large-headed/narrow-pelvic breeds and many toy breeds. If an elective Caesarian is thought to be necessary, then for Heavens sake, don't breed the bitch in the first place. Why breed a bitch when you think that her pelvis might be too small to give birth naturally? Why perpetuate a line of dogs with pelvises too small to give birth? It is unfair to subject the bitch to a major operation, which could be life-threatening if not performed on time. And it is unethical to perpetuate iatrogenic problems.

If an emergency Caesarian has been necessary to save the life of the dam and her litter, breeders should consider spaying the bitch and neutering the offspring. If a Caesarian is necessary on a subsequent whelping, breeders should definitely spay the bitch and neuter her offspring (males included) from both litters.
There are simply no excuses for artificially breeding dogs that cannot give birth naturally. There are still many free-whelping Bulldogs, Bostons, Frenchies, Yorkies and Chihuahuas, which may be bred with healthy, mature, good-looking males. Certainly coat color, conformation and cuteness may take a bit of a hit for a couple of generations, but certainly nothing that educated selective breeding cannot resolve in a few more generations.

Elective Caesarians usually have profound and long-lasting, deleterious effects on puppy temperament and the development of bite inhibition. Maternal behavior is precipitated by the many hormonal changes that occur during parturition. Parturition and maternal behavior are augmented by sensory stimulation as each fetus passes through the cervix, by the bitch licking the amniotic fluids from the pup’s pelage, and by the pups’ nursing. To perform a Caesarian before the bitch comes into whelp, risks the likelihood that she will be disinterested in her offspring, or may even attempt to harm them. Such pups have to be hand-raised and are thus deprived of the bitch's colostrum and passive immunity against many serious diseases. Additionally, pups are deprived of primary social interaction with the dam, i.e., the equivalent of behavioral immunity from future adult behavior and temperament problems. Lack of maternal care is the harbinger of dog-dog temperament problems. A vicious circle is quickly established — asocial dogs are less likely to socialize and hence, more likely to become antisocial, i.e., fearful and/or aggressive towards other dogs.

When maternal behavior goes awry, the development of bite inhibition is put on hold. Normally, during passive and active weaning, the bitch responds to over-aggressive nursing, or whenever the pups bear down, or nip at her teats.

There is no earthly reason, why all breeds of dog should not mate and whelp normally. It is just as easy to vigilantly select for good breeding and fecundity, as it is to select for conformation or working ability. The problem is simple — whereas there has been a strong artificial selection for large heads in many breeds, there has been no obviously necessary, concomitant selection for large pelvises. So… let's select for adequately-gauged birth-canals now! Only mate bitches that are descended from free-whelping lines, or proven bitches, that have previously always whelped naturally and successfully raised their young.


Life Expectancy
Many breeds of dog have a shockingly long list of breed-specific health problems and as a result, many purebred dogs die at a young age. Again, there are simply no excuses for purebred dogs not living long and healthy lives. It is as easy to selectively breed for health and life-expectancy as it is to breed for coat color or conformation — only breed dogs free of breed-specific diseases and only breed old male dogs. There is no better index of a dog’s robust genotype, health, behavior and temperament, than living to a ripe old age. Since male dogs have such a colossal impact on the gene pool of any breed, let’s only breed male dogs of at least seven years of age. There are a bunch of 16 year-old Dobies, Boxers and Newfies just waiting in the wings. They’ve made it to 16 years, so, “Let’s put them in coach!”


Breeding Program
Each time veterinary intervention is necessary to save the life of individual fetuses, puppies, or dogs, the breeder should consider neutering that individual. If human intervention would be necessary to create the life of individual dogs, it is seldom in the best interests of pure-bred dogs to breed the dogs at all.

A simple breeding maxim: "If you even think there is anything weird about a dog, then don't breed it." Instead, for at least three breeding generations, let’s go back to step one and selectively breed for natural mating, natural whelping and long life-expectancy (health). Preferentially breed healthy male dogs at least seven years of age, (with no obvious deficiencies or defects, no predisposition to breed-specific disease, and descended from similarly healthy, long-lived forebears), with proven bitches of similar progenitors, all of which have courted, mated and whelped naturally and successfully raised healthy pups that lived to a ripe old age.
When we give our hearts to a young pup, it would be so reassuring to know that the dog’s sunset years are likely to last well into his mid-teens. Remember… “A living dog is better than a dead lion.”

How to tell when your dog is playing

Dog Behavior by Jolanta Benal


Common dog-park scenario number 1: people watch while two dogs play. Suddenly, the dogs are snapping and snarling at each other. The dispute ends quickly and nobody gets hurt, but the humans are shaken. None of them saw that canine argument coming.


Common dog-park scenario number 2: two dogs bounce and wrestle. They never stop moving, flashing their teeth at each other, snarling, growling. Their people watch them anxiously, then wade in to break up the “fight.”


Can You Tell if Dogs are Playing or Fighting?
In the first scenario, the humans missed the signs of escalating tension between their dogs. In the second scenario, they missed the dogs’ mutual signals that all the roughhousing and horrible noises were play. 


There are three point we are going to look at:

• How dogs communicate playful intentions
• What play styles different dogs enjoy
• How to tell when the game may be about to go awry.

How Do Dogs Signal They Want to Play?
Most of you probably already know that play often starts with a “play bow”--front end low, butt wiggling in the air, goofy openmouthed smile. Behavior nerds call the play bow a metasignal, meaning it tells the recipient how to interpret what comes next. 


When Fido offers Spike a play bow, she’s communicating that subsequent lunges, growls, bounces, and snaps aren’t real threats. When two dogs know each other well, they may barely sketch the play bow. The researcher and writer Alexandra Horowitz calls the result a “play slap”--exactly what it sounds like, a fast slap with the forepaws of the ground in front of the dog. 


Do Dogs Laugh?
Dogs may also laugh to initiate play. The behaviorist Patricia Simonet describes the laugh as a “pronounced forced,breathy exhalation”--panting, but a particular kind of panting, with a broader frequency range.  In Simonet’s small study, puppies who heard recorded pant-laughs often picked up a toy or approached people and other dogs who were present. Another puppy-typical play invitation is the face-paw--Puppy A swipes a forepaw at Puppy B’s face.


Or, as one scientific paper puts it, “This action involves extension of one of the forelimbs toward the face of the other animal.”  That really doesn’t quite convey the cute, does it? Some adult dogs paw-swipe, but  it doesn’t always go over so well, especially when a big galoot directs his paw-swipe to a smaller dog.


What Are the Different Kinds of Doggy Play?
Play itself can be lightning fast, one reason humans often find it difficult to interpret. Chase, wrestling, and tug are a few common forms, and dogs have individual preferences and play styles. A personal favorite of mine is “face fighting,” where two dogs stand or lie face to face with their teeth bared, scissoring their heads back and forth and snarling ferociously. 


In her younger days, the now elderly Isabella and our late Pit mix Muggsy Malone used to grab any loose skin they could get hold of and drag each other around our apartment. Play that intense can easily devolve into fighting, but Izzy and Muggsy were especially close friends and rarely did their play go wrong.


How to Tell When Dog Play Is Going Well

How can you tell when play, especially intense play, is going right? Look for constant, fluid, loose movement. As the play goes on, you may see the dogs take turns being on the bottom or being chaser and chasee. Surprisingly, though, the only observational study of play between pairs of dogs found that switching off rarely produced a 50-50 balance between the dogs. The same study, by Erika Bauer and Barbara Smuts, found that younger and smaller dogs generally did the most self-handicapping and offered the most play signals. These also seemed to be subordinate dogs. Bauer and Smuts suggest that perhaps it’s important for subordinates to make it especially clear that play aggression doesn’t reflect a serious challenge.

Watch the dogs’ faces. Look for open mouths. You may see teeth and hear snarls and growls, but again these will be in the context of fluid movement and lots of change--the dogs won’t lock into any one position. Their ears and the corners of their mouths will likely be back rather than forward.

Socially Skilled Dogs Can Deal with Their Own Minor Mistakes

You don’t necessarily have to intervene every time play goes wrong. Even dogs with good social skills who are good friends sometimes make mistakes--nipping a little too hard, for instance, or body-slamming with just that bit too much enthusiasm. Usually, they’ll de-escalate all by themselves. The dog on the receiving end of the mistake will yelp or snap and the dog who made the mistake will move out of the other dog’s space. One or both dogs will probably “shake off,” as if shaking off water. Next may come a renewed invitation to play, which may or may not be accepted. Either way, the dogs have handled the situation just fine; unless this scenario takes place over and over and over again, there’s no call for humans to step in.

How to Tell When Dog Play Is Going Seriously Wrong

On the other hand, if you see brief freezes, or if the dogs are stiffening up, making more staccato movements, it’s definitely time to interrupt. If the players are vocal types, listen for growling that grows deeper and more intense. Boxing, with the dogs standing on their hind legs face to face, can be benign or can mark the prelude to a fight. Much depends on the individual dogs--some de-escalate easily, whereas others get more and more amped until suddenly it’s toddlers out of control on the playground and you’ve got a fight. Pit Bulls and various terriers often seem to have hair triggers, especially with dogs they don’t know well. If you’ve got such a dog, the crowding and random mingling at dog parks probably aren’t well suited for her--play dates and hikes with compatible dogs would be a better choice.

Can Dogs Who’ve Fought Become Friends?

Play does sometimes turn into a squabble even between socially skilled dogs and even between good friends. So the fact that you’ve had to break two dogs up doesn’t necessarily mean they shouldn’t meet and play again. Give them a breather from direct interaction--the humans should step away to open up the space around the dogs, and maybe take a stroll together.  Then see what develops. These dogs may become friendly or indifferent non-playmates, or they may just have had some differences to work out. If play goes south repeatedly, though, the simplest response is to help the two dogs to steer clear of each other. You don’t get along with every person you meet, and rare is the dog who gets along with every other dog.

Can Three Dogs Play Well Together?

Dogs play best in pairs; when a third dog joins the mix, whether in chase or wrestling, two often gang up on the third. Alexandra Horowitz offers the plausible explanation that with multiple dogs it’s easy for those “we’re just playing” signals to get lost in the mix.  Often one dog winds up lying on his back with his tail tucked between his legs and his neck exposed, while the others stand over him, stiff and tense. Or the victim dog will stand at bay, also with tucked tail. The others dart in and out, nipping. Or a chase game suddenly goes from “Yippee!” to “Uh-oh, they’re really after me!” Again, you’ll likely see the chasee’s tail tucked, and if the chasers catch up with her they may bodyslam her to the ground and then stand over her.

These ganging-up scenes are a pet peeve of mine. People often seem oblivious to the victim dog’s distress and will allow the bullying to continue until the victim explodes--at which point, guess which dog gets blamed? Fortunately, the more we learn about body language and behavior, the better we can respond to difficult situations.

Dangerous Dog law heading in right direction

From the Kennel Club:

The Kennel Club has welcomed proposals for new draft guidelines on dangerous dog offences but remains concerned that dangerous dog legislation still urgently needs reform to include genuinely preventative measures.   

The Sentencing Council has launched a consultation to obtain the views of the public on the new draft guidelines, which aim to ensure that there is effective guidance for the courts when sentencing owners, or those in control of a dog, who commit a dangerous dog offence.
 
The draft guidelines aim to ensure that the penalties for owning a banned breed will now be applied to owners of dangerous dogs of any kind, making it easier for offenders to be banned from keeping dogs, for genuinely dangerous dogs to be put down, and for compensation to be paid to victims of dog attacks. These proposals will apply in any public place and will mean that owners of dangerous dogs could potentially face up to two years in prison under new guidelines for the sentencing judges.
 
The Kennel Club believes that this is a step in the right direction in reforming current flawed dangerous dog legislation but is concerned that these measures alone will not fully protect the public from dangerous dog attacks as it is reactive rather than preventative.

A word from the Kennel Club 
Caroline Kisko, Communications Director for the Kennel Club, said: “The Sentencing Council’s draft proposals are a step in the right direction but ultimately do not go far enough as legislation needs genuinely preventative measures in place.
 
“It is all well and good having tougher penalties and better guidelines for judges, but what is really needed are ways of reducing dog bite incidents in the first place. The Kennel Club believes this must be done through education, more resources and power to the police and local authorities to deal with irresponsible dog owners and the use of Dog Control Notices to encourage responsible dog ownership.
 
“There are currently huge amounts of funding and resources being wasted implementing breed specific legislation to seize and kennel dogs that are suspected of being a banned breed or type, regardless of whether or not they show any signs of being aggressive. All this time and money would be better spent dealing with genuine problem dogs, and indeed the irresponsible owners of dogs of any type, in order to reduce the number of cases having to go before a judge in the first place.”
 
The launch of the Sentencing Council's proposals comes as the Kennel Club joined with over twenty leading animal welfare and veterinary organisations, trade unions and MPs yesterday to appeal for urgent government action on the issue of irresponsible dog ownership and dog law reform, demanding the Government brings forward a Bill in the Queen’s Speech next year that consolidates and updates dog control legislation.

Get involved 
To sign the petition calling on the Government to bring forward the relevant Bill in the Queen’s Speech next year, please visit:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22631
 
For more information on the Sentencing Council’s consultation on new sentencing proposals for dangerous dog offences, please visit
http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/sentencing/consultations-current.htm
 

Christmas boarding

As the weather may have indicated we are now well into Autumn and it won't be too long now before Christmas comes. While there is still much to be done, not least a multitude of doggy stockings and presents to be readied, we are now fully booked for the Christmas period.

Respondent conditioning techniques for changing behaviour

A brief outline of the types of techniques used to change behaviour:

Habituation
- also known as adaptation occurs when a dog begins to have a less negative reaction to stimuli after being exposed to it several times

Counterconditioning
-undoing the effects of previous conditioning, often by providing a positive reinforcer to a stimulus that the dog has previously formed a negative association to.

Systematic Desensitization
- similar to counter conditioning but with additional elements of encouraging relaxation and systematic exposure to the problematic stimuli going from least to most problematic situation. The dog overcomes its fears gradually.

Flooding
- exposing the dog to the feared stimuli in one go.

A couple of case studies - in brief

Recently I have had a number of clients bring their dogs to me with behavioural traits that they wish to modify or undo. Working exclusively with toy dogs a large proportion of the problems that I encounter are the result of fear aggression, often due to undersocialisation. However there are on occasion dogs who are naturally have a more nervous temperament and, in many cases, this is manifested by being excessively aggressive in certain situations.

One four month old pup is exhibiting aggression in the following circumstances:

- dog on dog aggression - when meeting (some) other dogs = growling, barking, lunging and biting
- redirected aggression to humans when the above occurs = turning and biting
- resource guarding with humans - aggression with food/toys/sofas/beds etc = lunging and biting
- resource guarding/control aggression with animals - as above when another dog approaches

There are many different labels for dog aggression and people can break the incidences of aggression down into several categories. However in this dog a miniature dachshund all of the above could equally be classed as fear aggression. Whenever the dog feels he is threatened socially or environmentally he wil respond with aggression. To him he is protecting himself by attacking.

Interestingly this dog is the first dog owned by a young couple and on meeting with them to discuss his behaviour. (This puppy is the most aggressive pup I have ever met and the first example I have seen of such blanket aggressive behaviour when there do not appear to have been environmental factors such as mistreatment involved.) I explained that the pup's aggression (which they assumed to be normal puppy behaviour) was as a result of his extreme nervousness combined with a typical daxie temperament they agreed saying:
'He was the pup in the litter that was most nervous, his tail was between his legs and he looked very worried when we met him.'
Those of us who know dogs will be amazed that in this day and age with the wealth of advice and resources available people are still buying the pup in the litter (along with the most boisterous) that really shouldn't be bought except by very experienced owners. It is disappointing to say the least that the KC reg breeder is breeding dogs with this temperament and allowing them to be sold to new unsuspecting owners. (This however is a different topic!)

Another dog with similar behaviour is an 18 m.o pomeranian (though she is unusual looking and I suspect a pomchi mix or at least odd breeding!)

This dog is very nervous in herself, tail between legs, ears back, slinking around. In particular she has exhibited extreme nervousness and aggression in the following situations.

When being handled.
When meeting new people
When meeting other dogs (although not on all occasions)
When other dogs come near her toys/chews

Like the daxie she lunges, growls and nips. Interestingly however the daxie does not show stress or anxiety per se. Only fear aggression in certain instances. The pom by contrast is constantly jittery and worried, very highly strung. She is not as quick to aggression as the dax, she will snap rather than straight out bite. However she regularly screams, squeals and shrieks as a way of showing her anxiety.

So what are some of the options for working with dogs like these?A

Resource guarding advice - 2, an example from Jean Donaldson

Resource Guarding in Puppies

by DOGS NATURALLY on JANUARY 31, 2011 · 1 COMMENT

July/August Issue

by:  Jean Donaldson

Dear Jean,

I just got a new nine week-old Rottie puppy. He’s stunning, smart and generally friendly but growls and snaps if I go near him while he’s eating. He also does this to my adult Rotties. I’ve never seen this in a puppy so young. Is he some sort of lemon? Is he a dominant dog? Is there anything I can do? Help!

It is indeed alarming for most people to see frank aggression in puppies. In the case of resource guarding – food, bone, bed etc. possessiveness – there is good news and bad news. The good news is you can start addressing it in a young, hopefully plastic, spongy puppy with weak jaws. The bad news is that there is some sentiment out there among trainers that aggression in puppies is an insidious sign of the problem having Deep Genetic Roots and therefore fruitless to tackle. I’m going to explore the whole nature-nurture debate later but for now will simply say that there doesn’t seem to be any overwhelmingly tidy correlation between behavior problems that are thought to have a strong genetic component and their susceptibility (or lack thereof) to behavior modification.

I recently had a similar case, in my own foster puppy. Buffy, a stray six week-old Chow, presented with object and food guarding against people and dogs. I elected to not touch the dog-dog issues, which is a relatively common approach. Her socialization and play skills were coming along nicely and she was developing good acquired bite inhibition. The guarding against people, however, needed to be actively resolved. The following is a summary of Buffy’s food guarding exercise regime. Incidentally, Buffy also presented with socialization deficits and severe body handling problems, which were also addressed, as was her object guarding. The key to good hierarchy design is small enough incremental steps that at no point do you see the original guarding problem. In the case of a puppy, such as this, there may actually be more aggressive increment jumps. I did a few other things in the can’t-hurt-might-help category. These included impulse control (stay, off and wait) and extra soft-mouth training.

Baseline

When approached while eating from her dish, Buffy would freeze and, if approach continued, growl briefly and then lunge and snap. If touched while eating, she would growl simultaneous to whirling and biting. Due to the independent body-handling problem, this had to be partly resolved prior to combining it with food bowl exercises. Buffy did not guard an empty dish.

Hierarchy

Step 1 (day 1): Installment feeding of canned food. I sat on the floor next to Buffy’s dish and spooned in one mouthful. Once she had swallowed, I spooned the next mouthful into her dish. By the end of the second meal, she demonstrated a clear happy anticipatory orientation to my spoon hand after each swallow.

Step 2 (day 1-2): Overlap. This was essentially the same as Step 1 except that I added the next spoonful to her dish while she was still consuming, always a much dicier proposition. We did this for three meals without evidence of guarding seen.

Step 3 (day 2-3): Approach overlap. I was now standing. I spooned larger installments, withdrew two paces, re-approached and added the next spoonful while Buffy was still consuming. So, this combined approach with the overlap exercise. We stuck with this for three meals, at end of which time a Conditioned Emotional Response (CER) had become evident – Buffy wagged and looked up on approach. We then repeated the exercise for one more day (5 small meals) with larger withdrawal distances and intervals.

Step 4 (day 4): Trumping. Now I spooned her entire puppy-sized ration into her bowl. I withdrew five paces, paused 15 seconds, approached and added a (hidden) marble-sized dollop of goat cheese. I had pre-auditioned the goat cheese out of context and ascertained it to be in Buffy’s Top Five All Time Foods. I withdrew to six paces and waited for Buffy to continue to consume – this was not immediate (typical of trumping – dog orients to handler rather than back to dish) – then repeated. On the third trial I got a clear CER– withdrawal from bowl on approach, orientation to me and tail wag. Clever little thing.

Step 5 (day 4-6): Covering High Value Base. To up the ante, I tried some approaches while she was consuming a top food (bowl of treats), rather than normal meal ration level food. I trumped it with higher value stuff (gorgonzola). In two trials, I once again saw her happy anticipatory CER, a very rapid curve indeed.

Step 6 (day 4 onward): Cold Trials. To better simulate real life, I initiated random trumping. At least once per meal, from a random direction, at a random time and with one of Buffy’s top foods, I approached and added the bonus. Better than 80% of the time, I got an evident “yippee” CER. At no point did she guard.

Step 7 (day 8 onward): Generalization. I recruited my husband, colleagues in my office and a neighbor to do some random trumps, with careful monitoring for any evidence of regression, including the absence of “yippee” CERs to their approach. Had this been an adult dog, the hierarchy – and, notably, a much more gradual one too – would have been recommenced at the beginning by each new recruit, with likely accelerated progress rate for each successive person.

Step 8 (day 15 onward): Body Handling. It was only here that I commenced patting, grabbing or pushing her around while she was eating. In most cases this would come earlier (prior to cold trails), however with Buffy it took me this long to get the independent body-handling problem up to speed. The handling during eating exercise consisted of the body touch (later handling) followed by a trumping addition, repeated until the body touch/handling elicited the “yippee” CER. Buffy’s CER consisted of a wag as well as orientation to my hand. If I stored the bonus in my other hand behind my back or my pocket and reached with a blank hand, she would wag and orient to my face.

Buffy is now on maintenance with a cold trumping or body handling trial usually once per meal and use of other people whenever an opportunity presents itself. I ended up adopting her.

You can throw in bowl removals if you like, rather than sticking with approaches and body handling. The principles are the same. Good luck with your Rottie!

© Jean Donaldson, all rights reserved