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Yay for progress!

sjdavenport

Well-Known Member
So as disgusting as it is, Rhaegar is a vomit guarder. He's always had resource guarding tendencies, more so with other animals than us, but it's an issue that we've always worked to improve. The only thing he consistently guards with Kerry and me is vomit. Dog vomit, cat vomit, he loves it all. Even in obedience class, if he heard another dog gag from pulling, he would instantly alert and want to rush over to see if there was any tasty puke for him. Granted, these incidents usually happen in the bedroom in the middle of the night when I don't have my contacts in and I am pretty much completely blind and have to go off of the gagging noise and then the noise of a dog nom nomming on it and just try to grab his collar and put him out of the room. Of course that doesn't go well and there's lots of growling. Well this morning Mazey threw up her breakfast (she probably needs a lower dose of her herbal mixture), and Rhaegar and I heard it happening in the other room at the same time. Of course he beat me to it and was chowing down. When I got there, I didn't have to even say "out" which is a command we use during his meal time, and he just automatically stopped eating it and sat down and looked at me. I told him to go to his crate (which means only delicious tasty things to him), and he immediately complied. And that was even with ground turkey and pasta in the vomit to make it extra enticing, lol. I'm so glad our work with him is paying off! I know the strangest things make me happy, lol. But I count it as a big win!

And sorry for the gross factor of this post! Just had a proud mommy moment, haha.
 

danielleconn

Well-Known Member
I would be so happy too!!! I am still impressed with your dogs "leave it". Zoe can comply with food or toys but real life scenarios, dogs, cats, something yucky on the ground that she instantly eats, socks she now likes to steal (never stole things until this month), smelling the ground so intently...I crave an amazing leave it but it doesn't work when I need it to. She is dead weight & doesn't even recognize I said anything to her. Her stubbornness has tested me lately! So YAY we all celebrate when it starts to click! I hope she catches on sooner than later...I feel like training is not getting easier...only longer!
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
LOL! Great work!

Denna's ears always perk up when the kitty starts her hurling routine.... so I know the feeling. :\
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
OMG lmao vomit guarder because he chows down on it omg ewwwwies!

What a great progress! I wished I had knew this when dealing with resource guarding in the beginning. Now I'm too lazy to teach it.
 

sjdavenport

Well-Known Member
OMG lmao vomit guarder because he chows down on it omg ewwwwies!

What a great progress! I wished I had knew this when dealing with resource guarding in the beginning. Now I'm too lazy to teach it.

I know, it's SOOOO gross! And I don't think any of us will believe you're lazy when it comes to training, lol.
 

sjdavenport

Well-Known Member
I would be so happy too!!! I am still impressed with your dogs "leave it". Zoe can comply with food or toys but real life scenarios, dogs, cats, something yucky on the ground that she instantly eats, socks she now likes to steal (never stole things until this month), smelling the ground so intently...I crave an amazing leave it but it doesn't work when I need it to. She is dead weight & doesn't even recognize I said anything to her. Her stubbornness has tested me lately! So YAY we all celebrate when it starts to click! I hope she catches on sooner than later...I feel like training is not getting easier...only longer!

It seems like I remember that Zoe was pretty great in her videos! And we aren't perfect when it comes to real life scenarios either, which is why this was such win for me, lol. Plus we haven't gotten to the challenging teenage stage yet (I'm trying not to think about it). What's helped me is that I literally have treats stashed everywhere....the bedside table, the bookshelf, the dresser, our end tables, in my car, always in the pockets of my coats (I'm very popular in his dog daycare lobby, haha), and I never take him on a walk without my stylish fanny pack stuffed with treats, lol. Of course I've faded treats out somewhat for other aspects of Rhaegar's training, but because of his resource guarding issue, I am still constantly asking him to leave it or drop it or out, and it's important enough to me that I still want to be able to reward him rapidly almost every time. I know many people on here feel like that's "bribing," but I can't argue with the results. He does it with a good attitude, his attention immediately switches from whatever he has/is focused on to looking attentively at me. For the most part he's pretty good at it out and about in public too. Thankfully he is VERY food motivated!