Articles about American Pit Bull Terrier
...to start reading this article from the beginning please click on here...With some dogs, treatment for food guarding can be tricky. If you attempt the exercises below and your dog appears stressed and refuses to eat—but he still guards his bowl—discontinue the exercises immediately and seek help from a behaviorist or qualified trainer. You'll also want to seek help from one of these professionals if you're able to do the exercises below for a while but hit a point at which your dog does not progress further.
Treatment Exercises for Food Guarding
The treatments used for food guarding are desensitization combined with counterconditioning. They're highly effective but fairly complex and detailed. The exercises described below are done in stages. After doing the exercises in one stage, you can progress to the next stage if your dog is relaxed and shows no signs of aggression. Dog body language can be complex, so it's sometimes difficult to tell how a dog feels at any given moment. To determine what your dog looks like when he's relaxed, take note of what his body, ears, eyes and tail do when you know he's in a situation he finds pleasant. For example, notice what your dog looks like when you and he are relaxing together on the couch or taking a leisurely walk. Signs that a dog feels calm and content include a relaxed posture (muscles relaxed, not tensed), normal breathing or slight panting, eating at a normal pace, wagging and wiggling. Signs of aggression to watch for while you're doing exercises include standing stiffly over the bowl, gulping the food, tensing or freezing, growling, staring, snapping, snarling, biting or chasing people away....to continue reading this article please click on here...
