Cairn gets aggressively protective over stolen food...

[asuka_90]

Hey everyone!

I’ve had a read through some of the questions already asked regarding some of the tricky aspects of cairn behaviour... But wondered if anyone had any advice regarding our current situation!

Hamish is about a year and a half old, belongs to my partner and lives with the two of us. He is smart, learns commands quickly (following them is another story, as I’m sure you all know) and is generally reasonably well behaved.

Recently he’s become quite aggressive (resource guarding behaviour maybe?) over food he’s stolen or knows he’s not allowed to have. He’s fine if we approach him and he has one of his toys or a treat or food (including his dinner) we’ve given him - zero issues.

The other day he stole a biscuit off the table (stupid me for leaving it unsupervised for 30 seconds) and when I approached him to take it off him (because it had chocolate in it) he snarled and growled at me. Hamish has done the same thing with my partner when he’s found bits of bird food in the garden (we have a raven and magpie, both rescues and they eat meat).

Tonight that behaviour escalated. Before living with us he lived with my partner and his parents. Hamish has a bad habit of getting into the dishwasher when we’re loading it and trying to get to the dirty dishes. In our house he isn’t allowed in the kitchen and it’s quite easy to keep him away from it but this isn’t the case at my partner’s parents house. Tonight my partner’s dad tried to push Hamish away from the dishwasher and Hamish bit him - not hard enough to do damage but obviously this is not behaviour we want to see.

He’s learned the “leave it” command and performs that with no issue (he goes so far as to pointedly look away from the food and ignore it to show he’s leaving it haha). He follows this command reasonably well outside of training time as well. But as soon as there’s stolen food involved he’s like a different dog. Our response to this behaviour has been to put him in “time out”. That doesn’t really solve the problem though. We can keep putting him in time out but my biggest concern is him getting a hold of something bad for him and not allowing us to be able to take it from him.

Has anyone here dealt with this sort of behaviour before? If so, what did you do? Any tips or ideas? Otherwise the next step is to look into specific training for this behaviour!

[Sam I Am]

 

 

Well it sounds like you have done a great job of training  Hamish. What we do in situations when Sam has something that he should not have...I.e. for example a chicken bone  he has gotten hold of in the back yard that a crow or magpie has dropped, and runs away when we try to take it from him, we throw  a distraction his way. Distraction being a piece of cheese or something he can’t resist. He drops what’s in his mouth, goes for cheese and we get the chicken bone. I know it’s not a cure for the behaviour, but it gets him out of any danger that the stolen item might cause. With Cairns sometimes I think you just have to out  smart them , be a step ahead of them, and realize not all behaviour is fixable. 

Of course biting someone is totally not all right. So to avoid future dishwasher type issues while visiting I would put a leash on Hamish and that way you are in control at all times. Hamish must be a very sweet Cairn as I am pretty sure Sam and our Scottie Rosie would make quick work of a pet magpie or raven!

PS: I am kind of the same if someone tries to take away my favourite snack.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Sam I Am

[pkcrossley]

great idea I also believe, because of cairn nature, that a more comprehensive approach might be necessary. send Hamish to boot camp at home --if you don't already do it, make him sit patiently and wait for his meals, make him let you touch the food and play around with it before giving it to him, make him allow you to remove the bowl while he is eating, make him sit before going out the door, before a treat, you see where I'm going. it doesn't have to go on forever but cairns have to learn to govern their impulses, and sometimes they need a refresher course. if they don't learn to do this, their reflexes can get a lot faster than their sense of propriety, and they can end up making mistakes they don't mean to make.