Bruno

Bruno’s owners initially got in contact when he was a puppy, as they wanted to give him the best start in life. They signed him up for a Puppy Package so that we could work together at home before he started his classes. 

We spoke about the standard puppy behaviours of biting and toilet training, as well as helping Bruno to settle in the night and prevent separation anxiety from forming. He absolutely smashed puppy classes and was an attentive learner! 

Half way through his course of classes, his owners mentioned that he had been resource guarding. When he was given a high value treat (in this case, a cow’s ear) and they went to take it off of him, he snarled, showed his teeth and snapped. This really took his owners aback because he had never shown these tendencies before. 

We spoke about how to handle if Bruno ever had an item that he shouldn’t have, rather than chasing him. We also looked at how to teach him to ‘trade’ and how to distract him when he has something he shouldn’t. It was also important for us to work on Bruno seeing his owners approaching him when he had his. cows ear as a positive thing that was going to add to his experience rather than a negative that was going to take away. 

As with all his training, Bruno picked this up very quickly and his owners have had no further issues with his guarding behaviours.