01/08/2024
Sofa Guarding: A Common Post-Adoption Behaviour
There is nothing more exciting, and nerve-wracking, than taking your newly adopted greyhound home.
You have planned and prepared, envisioned all the adventures and fun things you’ll be doing together and how great it is going to be to snuggle up with them on the sofa and watch a movie of an evening…
So, what happens when that vision comes crashing down to the reality when your newly adopted hound starts growling, potentially even snapping, at you anytime you approach it on the sofa? Sadly, in most cases, it is assumed that the dog is aggressive, dominant, resource guarding, and no longer appropriate for the home. They are then swiftly returned to the rehoming centre.
But, is it what it seems? No, it’s not. Defensive behaviours like these, often perceived as aggression and dominance, can occur in the initial weeks of taking a new hound home. Most commonly in relation to the sofa!
While it can be scary, the behaviour is far from being genuinely aggressive, and has nothing to do with dominance. Growling is a warning, a way of creating space between the dog and what it is that they’re uncomfortable with AKA the human approaching them or unceremoniously plonking themselves down next to them.
Many points of body language will have been missed on the approach, leading the dog to vocalise their discomfort.
This behaviour can escalate to air snapping and is rarely done with the intention of actually making contact and biting. It is a defensive behaviour to further communicate discomfort and a need for space. If the dog feels the need to escalate things that far, there are likely other factors at play.
But why does it happen at all?
Yes, the behaviour is a form of resource guarding, but it does not mean the dog is predisposed to the behaviour in other situations or in life moving forward. This behaviour is most often situational to the settling in period, and is a reaction rooted in stress, anxiety, and lack of trust with the hound’s adoptive family.
If we look at the situation from the dog’s perspective for a moment, it’ll all become clear.
During their racing careers, while they get a lot of human interaction, it is primarily outside of their kennel. They have very routine lifestyles, with set feeding and exercise times, always knowing when the humans (who they see every day) will be coming in and out. Most importantly they have undisturbed sleep in their private beds during the day, and particularly of an evening and overnight when the humans are nowhere to be seen!
They spend their formative years in kennel environment, and for some, they do not retire into homes until they are past five years old.
So, to them, everything in their kennel, or that enters their kennel, belongs to them. It’s all they know. They have never been taught ‘no’ or boundaries because they haven’t needed to know them. Their bed is their bed.
When that hound, that has only ever known that environment, routine, and private space, retires into a home it can be hugely overwhelming. It’s a massive change for them, and where they previously had a private living space to themselves, they are now having to share everything…all the time!
They don’t know the first thing about living in a home, and the humans that they are living with are complete strangers! They don’t want you being all up in their grill, especially when they’re comfortable in what they have established to be their safe space, aka the sofa. Hence the guarding behaviours! They are asking for space.
To put it another way, say you’ve decided to rent out your spare room and have gotten yourself a lodger! You barely know them, they’ve literally only just moved in, and they’re lying on the sofa watching a film. You’re not going to want to go up to this person, shove their legs out the way and settle in next to them!
Apart from it being a very weird violation of their personal space, you’re assuming that they want that kind of contact. There is no previous relationship between you, and there is no foundation of trust there either. You don’t know each other’s boundaries or preferences yet, so, you go sit on one of the other chair. You co-exist in the same space respectfully until you get to know each other better.
It’s exactly the same thing with a new dog.
Sofa guarding is often a very short-lived behaviour that is part of the settling in process. It can come and go depending on the situation, such as times of increased stress when visitors come over or you may find that these behaviours only show of an evening. The latter coinciding with the time they would typically be bedded down in the kennel environment, and that they have no human contact or disturbance after that time, and so just want to be left in peace.
However, with some simple steps and boundaries, it often remedies itself quite quickly.
One of the easiest ways to prevent sofa guarding, is that the dog is not allowed on the sofa. It doesn’t have to be forever, even just for those initial 2-3 weeks when the dog is decompressing, settling in, learning their new life, routine, and boundaries.
But it must be universally understood by everyone in the home. It can’t be that sometimes they’re allowed on and other times not, this creates mixed messages and confuses the dog. Manage the household so that the dog is not able to get up on the furniture unawares. If they do, this reinforces that it’s ok to sit on the furniture – you want to be able to block this from happening.
Only when you are ready, and you have a strong foundational trust with your dog, which goes both ways, you can start allowing them access to the sofa. Not only does this prevent sofa guarding, but it also prevents sleep startle incidents in those early days that could lead on to a more long-term issue.
When you are allowing your dog onto the sofa, you want to teach them ‘off’ or ‘down’. This can be done very simply by using high value treats, or if they are particularly food motivated, their normal kibble. Every time they get off the sofa, say the word and reward them with a treat. This establishes a clear and positive association with getting off the sofa, while building a positive relationship with you as the owner.
You may find the dog only sofa guards toward certain members of the family, and this is through a lack of trust or from a negative association with the person such as being forced off the sofa or told off.
Ensure that each member of the family is involved in the dog’s day to day care, routine, play time and training. This prevents a reliance on, and preferential treatment, for the primary care giver, and creates a universally positive relationship with everyone in the home.
Never physically force the dog off the sofa, try to pick them up to put them on the floor, or otherwise try to punish or dominate them. It can be very dangerous, as your behaviour will be perceived as a threat, leading to more serious behavioural responses either immediately or down the line.
At the end of the day, dogs get on the sofa for the same reason we do…they’re comfortable! It has nothing to do with dominance, and while some breeds are predisposed to guarding behaviours throughout their lives, it is quite uncommon in greyhounds.
Whether you want your dog on the furniture or not, always make sure they have access to a comfortable, warm dog bed (or beds), and that the bed(s) are a human-free zone where they can truly relax. Especially after dark!
You can further reinforce their beds as their safe space and preferred sleeping area by positively reinforcing the dog for choosing to lay in their beds by giving them treats when they do so!
Did you have guarding issues when settling your hound in? Or potentially at other times because of situational stress or pain? Drop a comment below!
