Puppies are good teachers

Welcome to The Life and Times of Billy and The Goose! Here you will find the adventures of my two dogs Billy, the 4 year old German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix, and Goose, the Border Collie pup. So we will get right on into it... Goose is doing well, right now he is 12 weeks and has the most adorable one ear up and one ear down look going on.

He is definitely the most adorable puppy that ever lived. HOWEVER, he does think that he is one special special guy and has decided that everything in the world belongs to him and that he must protect it dearly lest someone DARE take it away. In other words, we have a little baby resource guarder here. So we have been in emergency resource guarding boot camp since this manifested a few days ago. In hindsight, he was showing a few signs that he might develop this behavior but I apparently didn't put much thought into it until the one random day he made it well known that everything was his. This happened with a series of events that began with snarking at Billy when he came near his kong, followed by letting me know that a rawhide chew was not going to be traded for chicken, followed by telling a friends 8 week old puppy that he was not going to be allowed to take treats from me, and then telling an 8 month old puppy the same. The next day he let it be known that water also belongs to him (well, especially if there is ice in it) The boys got quite an ego! So now that I have a handle on the extent to which he guards, I have been showing him that sharing is a whole lot more fun then hording things that aren't even THAT cool. So all meals are being fed by hand and most are being shared with Billy as I hand feed them both while sitting next to each other. So far no more incidences with Billy. I've been handing out pieces quickly, and saying the name of which dog is getting the next piece of food. He's learning that even if Billy gets a piece he will still get his share too.

I also set up a few sessions where Goose was either chewing on a toy/bone or eating boring dry kibble sprinkled in small increments into a bowl, while walking each dog (my parents, Billy, and a friends who I was dog sitting) by on leash and tossing chunks of hamburger in when they got close. He didn't cross his threshold, and eventually was looking up in anticipation. Although still eating the kibble a little faster then was really necessary.

As for guarding from me, every meal that isn't being shared with Billy, is being eaten with me close by tossing yummier things into the boring kibble or trading bowl for yummy thing and back again. We have also been trading rawhide chews and other chews back and forth for treats. I've been more careful about allowing him to get a hold of things that he REALLY can't have and everything he gets that he probably shouldn't have like shoes, cell phones, remotes, ect. I make sure to trade for something. He is doing very well! I think part of the problem with guarding from other dogs may be that the big dogs in the house don't tell him off for being rude. He's still a puppy so they let him slide. Billy will even share his most highly valued bone AND food with him. I'm hoping that when he gets a little older the dogs will help teach him a few lessons. My friend Pam has been really helpful with this as I have been frantically trying to decide what the best things to do for a resource guarding puppy are. I'm so grateful to her!

So we were working on some tricks before we went into resource guarding boot camp, and Goosey has a cute spin left/right, paw, hand touch, sit, down, rollover, and all four feet in a bowl for hind end awareness. I have so much free time right now that I wish I could work with him all day. Unfortunately, there are things called getting full, puppy ADD, and sleeping to work around.

Billy has been such a good boy with the puppy, although isn't a huge fan yet. I trust him 100% with Goose. I'm finally able to take Billy to some classes since I just graduated and have the time. I think we are going to take classes at two different clubs to see which we like better. He had an evaluation at the first one and did really well. It was all basic obedience but I never know what type of mood he is going to be in. They are allowing us to skip all the basic manners classes and start with the Advanced Manners class, which is really awesome except he is 4.5 years old and I was hoping we could go right into an agility class to save time. He does have some foundation that I have done with him although I really don't know what I'm doing. Anyway, the second club is having him in for an evaluation tomorrow night but it is to see if he will fit into a dog sport foundation class, or agility basics 1 or 2. So I'm excited for that! I really just want to do an agility class with him not obedience. Goose is also enrolled in a puppy kindergarten class at the first club, and a puppy agility class at the second. The agility class hasn't started but I am so excited!!

He's a natural!