08/05/2024
It's called respect and spatial awareness. This is spot on!
As most know, I am currently raising my next bitesport prospect German shepherd puppy. He is currently almost 13 weeks old! I am also a mom to a 16-month-old little boy. ❣️
We had a common scenario this morning that I wanted to share about, because I feel that this scenario is often mishandled by many pet owners.
Bugatti (my puppy) was eating his breakfast out of his bowl. Ronan (my toddler) is at that stage where he’s into anything and everything! Naturally, he toddles over to Bugatti and sits next to him on the floor, intrigued by what he’s doing. He goes to reach a hand into the bowl. I immediately remove Ronan and attempt to occupy him with a toy away from the puppy. He tries to go back, so I pick up the bowl of food and allow Bugatti to finish his meal in his crate (he loves his crate!).
Bugatti is NOT a resource guarder. I have had him a little over a month and he has never growled, raised lip, or even given a hard stare to anybody over food (or anything else).
A lot of people would say, “make sure you allow your toddler to interact with the dog while he’s eating so he knows he can do that” or “make sure you play with his food so he gets used to it.” Why though? Why should my dog feel like he has so little autonomy that he can’t even eat a meal without being harassed?
Doing that type of stuff CREATES RESOURCE GUARDERS! It does the OPPOSITE of what you think it does!
If I allow my toddler to mess with him while he eats, though he might allow it now at this age, he is most likely going to get fed up eventually. And resource guarding can escalate VERY quickly once it’s present. Imagine someone else having their hands in your plate everyday when you eat. You may be nice and tolerate it at first, but eventually you’re going to get annoyed enough to react.
Let 👏🏻 dogs 👏🏻 eat 👏🏻 in peace 👏🏻 if you want to ✨ keep the peace ✨
