How to stop your dog from guarding you?
Asia Bernhard
2025-07-10 02:57:01
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If your dog shows guarding behaviours, leave them well alone when they are enjoying food or playing with toys by themselves. Taking things away from your dog as punishment or telling them off for guarding is likely to increase their anxiety about losing things. 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. Always swap the dog's item for something else, 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. Offer your dog the better item before trying to take what they have away. You could drop several treats on the ground near your dog, so they have to leave the item to go and eat them. Then you can calmly pick up the item while they’re enjoying themselves.
Hortense Konopelski
2025-07-02 23:08:32
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: 11
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. Allow your dog to eat the treats and then return to finishing what is in their bowl. 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.
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. It is important that you never punish or tell your dog off for resource guarding as this will add more stress to the situation and may cause their behaviour to worsen.
Alan Labadie
2025-06-20 09:31:57
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Stopping a dog from resource guarding is all about helping the dog understand that we are not there to take whatever it is they are guarding. Dogs who guard things do so because they are concerned someone is going to take their resource. The great thing about this easy way to stop the dog from resource guarding is that anyone can do it. You don’t have to be a professional Beagle dog trainer to do it, just time, patience and some really tasty treats. I’d like to see the guardian practice this exercise 2 to 3 times a day, every day for a week. Each time she does so, a dozen or so treats should be sufficient. I also showed the guardian how to practice a leave it exercise and a hand targeting game which is a nice way to gauge whether or not you have a dog’s consent. Teaching Porter to leave it and to target her hand on cue are great ways to establish this, while simultaneously building up a few skills that will help the dogs in many other areas.
Mikayla Streich
2025-06-20 06:42:47
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: 12
When a dog is protecting a person, he’s reacting to a dog or person approaching the pet owner and himself. Find treats your protective dog absolutely loves, and then chop them into pea-sized treats. Have a seat on the sofa (or wherever your dog usually resource guards you), and ask your dog to join you. Then, ask a friend to slowly walk into the room and stop at the entrance. As your friend approaches, ask her to toss a steady stream of treats toward your dog’s mouth. If your dog barks at the approaching person, ignore him until he stops. Once your dog stops barking, say “yes” and reward with treats while your friend walks out of the room. Dog training sessions should last 2-3 minutes maximum. Resource guarding can be tricky to address, so it’s always important to partner with a professional dog trainer who only uses positive reinforcement.
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