Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 11/25/2006

Question
My dog's name is Boudicca (Bouy), she is a 2 1/2 year old pure bred Eurasier that has not been fixed. Bouy is normally a very sweet loving dog that is socialized well. We battled over a hole in the yard last year for about two weeks, I won and she gave up re-digging it. This year she dug the hole again which is actually a cave under our hot tub foundation that she can fit her entire body into. We filled in the hole placing planting pots and brick in the area to discourage her from digging. Since the fill in which has been about ten days she has been walking around the house with a small toy in her mouth crying. Yesterday I found her on my bed, which is o.k., but she had made a buffer zone out of the comforter and was lying there with her toy and when I went to give her a rub getting my hand close to her toy she showed me her teeth, this is completely out of character for her. I took an old blanket and a body pillow and made her a safe spot on her own bed which is at the foot of my bed in the corner of the room, then told her to get down, she got down, went to her bed and did a few circles and settled in with her toy.  She is very protective of her toy and I realize that she is treating it as though she has a baby so my question to you is this; is this normal for a dog to have the mother instinct so strong that she actually thinks she has a baby? Should I wait it out or just take the toy and hide it?

Answer
Dear Steve,
Thanks for the interesting question. Just curious - do you believe the digging behavior is related to her guarding behavior?

Dogs dig for several reasons. Dogs dig to thermal regulate- to get cool or to get warm; dogs dig as part of foraging behaviors - to get food or to hide food; dogs dig to escape - fear related, boredom, separation anxiety; dogs dig for self play - tug on roots, stimulate their noses; and female dogs dig in preparation for delivering a litter.

The location of the dig is a clue. Your girl was probably digging to thermal regulate or in response to an imbalance of hormones or both. Provide her with a warmer or cooler spot to rest and she will stop digging - if the digging is due to thermal issues.  

Her out-of-character guarding may be the sign of an imbalance. Have your vet check her out.

I would remove the toy - when she is not guarding it. Put it away and see if she adopts another toy for guarding.

Some female dogs will guard their babies, but other female dogs allow their humans to interact with their babies. That is probably more of an instinctual than a voluntary behavior.  

We can teach dogs to 'not-guard', but it is much more complex than I can address her. Buy the book, Mine! by Jean Donaldson for detailed instructions about resource guarding.

Happy Training!
AT