“He’s so wonderful, he lets us take anything out of his mouth.”
I hear this a lot from prospective clients and folks who are new to the Way of Life Method. It’s very much in the mainstream pet dog culture, the idea that a dog is wonderful if they let you take things out of their mouth. But then people are surprised when the dog starts to resource guard.
“What happened?!” they wonder, “he used to be so good at letting us!”
Here’s my take: The dog wasn’t good at letting you. They never were supposed to be good at letting you take things out of their mouth. This is a dog. A predator. A canine species. They were simply tolerating the rudeness involved until they’d had enough. We have a duty to respect this animal that we’ve chosen to live with, their character, and how important their resources are to them. Therefore, our job is to:
–> Create a structure whereby our dogs just don’t get into things by accident.
–> When they are with us, we manage such that they don’t make mistakes.
–> When we give them things, we give these with the understanding that they can have them.
–> We understand the right time of starting to teach trading – our dog needs to enjoy a certain relationship to be willing to relinquish. Trading and giving you things isn’t just trained behavior but also trust and respect.
–> We manage and manipulate the situation to get the dog to leave things, instead of asking or, worse, taking things out of their mouth.
And with that said, there could be times when we must do this but if it’s an exception rather than the rule, and we have the kind of relationship that the Way of Life Method gives us, then there won’t be the same detrimental impact on bond and behavior.