Understanding resource guarding in dogs and how to fix it with Lisa Skavienski
05/23/23 • 49 min
Resource Guarding in Dogs
We talk with Lisa about what resource guarding is and the body language that you should look for to spot it. People often have an emotional response to resource guarding—it can be a shock if your dog growls at you—and we talk about why you shouldn’t punish the growl and how to deal with those completely normal feelings.
We discuss how to fix resource guarding issues and why aversive methods are not the answer. Kristi and Zazie both share stories about their own dogs’ resource guarding behaviour, and we also talk about how to prevent it in the first place.
Finally, we talk about the books we are reading right now.
Lisa Skavienski is the owner of Dog Educated in Rochester, NY, where she specializes in classes, workshops, and private consultation for dog owners. She is deeply invested in animal welfare, participating at the local community level, as well as holding a seat on the Pet Professional Guild’s Shelter and Rescue Committee. Lisa studied with behavior expert Jean Donaldson at the highly acclaimed Academy for Dog Trainers. She is also a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer and Fear free certified.
The books:
Zazie Todd's Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and her upcoming book Shiver.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong was the Animal Book Club’s choice for February and March.
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times (Global Icons Series) by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson.
The Roller Derby Blueprint by Scott Meyer.
Still I Cannot Save You by Kelly S. Thompson.
Read highlights of the chat here.
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
Resource Guarding in Dogs
We talk with Lisa about what resource guarding is and the body language that you should look for to spot it. People often have an emotional response to resource guarding—it can be a shock if your dog growls at you—and we talk about why you shouldn’t punish the growl and how to deal with those completely normal feelings.
We discuss how to fix resource guarding issues and why aversive methods are not the answer. Kristi and Zazie both share stories about their own dogs’ resource guarding behaviour, and we also talk about how to prevent it in the first place.
Finally, we talk about the books we are reading right now.
Lisa Skavienski is the owner of Dog Educated in Rochester, NY, where she specializes in classes, workshops, and private consultation for dog owners. She is deeply invested in animal welfare, participating at the local community level, as well as holding a seat on the Pet Professional Guild’s Shelter and Rescue Committee. Lisa studied with behavior expert Jean Donaldson at the highly acclaimed Academy for Dog Trainers. She is also a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer and Fear free certified.
The books:
Zazie Todd's Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and her upcoming book Shiver.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong was the Animal Book Club’s choice for February and March.
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times (Global Icons Series) by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson.
The Roller Derby Blueprint by Scott Meyer.
Still I Cannot Save You by Kelly S. Thompson.
Read highlights of the chat here.
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
Previous Episode
The importance of kindness in dog training with Jane Wolff
Kindness in dog training
We talk with Jane about the importance of kindness in dog training, both kindness to dogs and kindness to people. We begin by talking about the most important ways to be kind to dogs. Jane specializes in working with clients whose dogs have separation anxiety, and we also talk about how to help people deal with this tricky issue without leaving their dog alone for any longer than they are okay with.
We also chat about Jane’s social justice work, and how that informs her dog training too.
And in the final section we talk about the books we are reading right now.
About Jane Wolff:
Jane Wolff is the co-owner of Good Wolff Dog Training in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She specializes in treating separation anxiety and is a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer (CSAT). She also graduated with honours from the Academy for Dog Trainers (CTC) and is certified through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers as a CPDT-KA. She has been working with dogs professionally since 2014 and loves working with dogs and their people.
Facebook Instagram
Fresh and Fearless: Basic Grooming Made Easy, the course by Jane available on Kristi's website.
Pet Pals Mutual Aid
Books
Wonderdog: The Science of Dogs and Their Unique Friendship with Humans by Jules Howard is the Animal Book Club’s choice for November.
Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon by Bronwen Dickey.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel.
Invisible Boy: A Memoir of Self-Discovery by Harrison Mooney.
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
Next Episode
How much grooming do dogs need and how can you do their nails with Jane Wolff
We talk about how much grooming dogs need, whether they have short fur or long fur, and why it’s important to stay on top of it. We chat about the research that shows that dogs can find grooming stressful, and the training we can do to make it easier. It's so important to go at the dog's pace.
A lot of people find doing their dog’s nails a chore, and Jane has just released a free course, Start From Scratch , that shows you how to train your dog to do their own nails using a scratch board.
Finally, we talk about what we’re reading right now.
Fresh and Fearless: Basic Grooming Made Easy
Start From Scratch: Nail Scratchboard Class for Dogs
Fear Free Groomer Certification
Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy by Zazie Todd will be out in paperback on June 6th. The hardback is out now.
How To Have a Happy Dog webinar
How To Have a Happy Cat webinar
Subscribe to the Companion Animal Psychology newsletter here
The books we chat about
Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses by Jackie Higgins.
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles.
How To Tell If Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You by The Oatmeal and Matthew Inman.
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa.
The books are available from all good bookstores and Companion Animal Psychology’s Amazon store .
About Jane Wolff:
Jane Wolff is the co-owner of Good Wolff Dog Training in Ann Arbor, Michi
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
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