09/24/2025
Teaching the out command. Ruby has pretty intense issues with resource guarding. When she arrived she was resource guarding the crate and when you latched the door she would react barking and aggressing at the front of the crate. Mom reports that Ruby will get on and refuse to get off the (human) bed. If she were to try to get Ruby off the bed she thinks she would probably bite her. So she’s found that just ignoring Ruby and going into the other room or enticing her with food works best to avoid getting hurt. She also says that Ruby would probably not let her get something like a high value bone away from her, but hasn’t seen any guarding with her regular food.
So we need to teach Ruby a good solid out command to make these situations safer and less confrontational.
I generally try to start with the least valuable item to the dog, so I chose to start with food with Ruby.
Interestingly, even a low amount of leash and e collar pressure made her defensive when her food was involved/nearby so all the more reason this command will be helpful for her.
The way I teach it is so give the out command and simultaneously apply a low but motivational e collar pressure and use light leash guidance to guide the dog away from the food. As soon as they start moving away I release the pressure and then direct them to place command nearby.
The next step is to give the out command and simultaneously give a low level slightly motivational tap on the remote and start reducing the amount of leash needed. Then ultimately the command will be given without e collar unless they don’t follow through and e-collar can be used to correct if needed.
Here is her progress with out command from the food bowl. Things looking much better after just 2 sessions.
