How to fix dog resource guarding?

To start, you will need some treats. The trick is to teach your dog that a person approaching is a positive thing. As your dog is finishing a meal, approach close to where they are eating, drop some treats near to their food bowl and calmly move away. Repeat this a couple of times over a few days, always moving away and allowing your dog to eat the treats. Over time you may see that as you approach your dog, they look up as they anticipate a treat arriving. Make sure all family members and everyone who visits know never to approach or interrupt your dog if they are eating or have a chew. As best as possible, hide or remove any items that your dog may steal and guard so that you do not have to confront your dog. If you do have to remove something from them, make sure it’s an exchange rather than just taking something away. When you are trying to exchange items with your dog, put down some food or treats a good distance away so that your dog has to move. This will give you the time and distance to safely pick up the item. Another helpful tip is to teach your dog the “leave it” cue. This will allow you to ask your dog to leave whatever they are guarding in a safe and positive way.

If your dog shows guarding behaviours, leave them well alone when they are enjoying food or playing with toys by themselves. The best way to prevent dogs from resource guarding is to teach them from the start that there is no need to worry about losing anything they find valuable. Taking things away from your dog as punishment or telling them off for guarding is likely to increase their anxiety about losing things. Always swap the dog's item for something else, being consistent and always swapping items will help dogs learn to share without being worried. If you need to take something from your dog, swap it for something else that your dog considers to be equally or even more valuable. You can teach your dog to drop and swap during fun training sessions. When your dog is playing with a toy, get something they like even better, offer this to your dog a little distance away from what they already have, your dog should be enticed to drop what they have and come to get the new item. You can then pick up the original item, return your dog’s first item to them soon after you have swapped it, this will help them to learn that letting go of something they love can be a positive experience.

A big part of stopping a dog from resource guarding is to help them learn that when humans approach when they have the object or place, that we are not going to take it. I think the dog’s resource guarding problem was greatly influenced, if not directly caused, by the guardian pulling and taking things away from the dog. This caused Loumi to “act aggressive” when he has an object and is worried his humans may want to take it away. In cases like this, literally the worst thing you can do is take the item away forcefully, but thats exactly what many people do when their dog guards things. I showed them a simple drop it exercise that I added into a simple game of fetch. By holding out a treat when Loumi returned with the toy, then marking and treating her after she dropped it, his guardians can develop a great drop it cue while they play / exercise their dog. I strongly recommended they stop taking things away from him forcefully and instead teach him to drop things like this so his guardians can trade the item for something safe and appropriate for him to chew. A better way to stop dogs from guarding things is to first develop a strong drop cue and help the dog see the arrival of the person as a good thing and not a threat to loose something. Since this happened many times for Loumi, his guardians will need to practice the drop it cue with low value item toys and completely stop forcefully taking things away from Loumi. At home, this means removing access to things he guards and practicing with low value toys he doesnt value. I recommended the guardians get a couple of small plastic boxes so they can have leave these treat caches nearby to use my tip to stopping resource guarding when Loumi starts to guard the chair, bone or other objects. That way, when Loumi has something she isnt supposed to have, after having him drop it, they need to trade the item they take away with something of equal or greater value.

Resource guarding is something that can be totally curable with a thorough behavioral modification plan. Using R+ techniques found on the internet has decreased her reaction radius/level of reaction over time too. Her reaction involves whining, growling, or snapping and happens close to once a day with another dog in the house. She has made huge strides in every aspect and is a wonderful dog. She already takes anxiety meds and I do think that has been helpful.

Your best bet is to start training early to prevent resource guarding from developing. Of course, that’s not always possible, especially if you get an adult dog from a shelter or inherit one from a family member. You can work with dogs who resource guard their food, for example, by slowly desensitizing them to your presence around high-value items. Tether your dog to someplace heavy and durable. Stay 6 to 8 feet away from the dog and toss food, such as chicken or hot dogs, in the dog’s general direction. Walk by the dog and throw the food, but don’t stop moving. If the dog gives you warning signals like stiffening the body or a raised lip, you have wandered too close. Once you’ve done this a few times, watch to see if the dog’s body language has changed. If they look up at you in a happy way, anticipating food will be coming their way, then you may move a little closer. The end goal is for you to be able to approach the dog’s bowl without them feeling threatened or feeling stressed. It’s really important to avoid engaging in any type of punishment. No yelling at your dog, screaming at the dog, or hitting the dog to ‘exert dominance,' this may only serve to worsen the behavior.