Resource guarding

Get your hands out of my bowl!

When I first brought Willow home, she found a bone in the garden. When I approached, she growled at me. Having been born on a farm, competing for resources, I shouldn’t have been surprised that she felt the need to guard her food.

When she growled at me, I had a few options. I could have told her off, I could’ve snatched the bone away. Instead, I said “okay puppy, I hear you” and left her alone. I appreciated her asking me to go away, she could’ve gone straight in to bite me, but she didn’t. Her growl was simply communication.

Because she communicated to me that she felt anxiety surrounding food resources, I gave her plenty of space. I never took her food away, I taught a solid “swap” for if she had something she wasn’t meant to, when I approached her bowl, it was only ever to add more food in, and I absolutely never, ever punished her communication.

A growl isn’t bad. We think it is, because it feels scary, but really it’s information that we have to acknowledge, to save something actually bad happening. It’s like saying “go away” as opposed to punching somebody in the face.

It doesn’t impress me when people say they put their hands in their dog’s food, nor does it impress me when they say “I take the bowl away from my dog when they’re eating”. I’d be so mad if somebody did that to me. Being able to consume meals without stress should be a fundamental right, it shouldn’t involve prodding or fingers in food. Imagine not being able to do one of the most basic things you need to do to survive without feeling uncomfortable.

Today, I gave Willow a bone and she decided to sit next to me to eat it. I absolutely could take food away from her now, I definitely could stick my hand in her food bowl, as we’ve built up that trust. But I’m still not going to do it. I’m the person she can trust to sit next to with a valuable resource, I’m the one that provides good things, and I want it to stay that way.