Resource Guarding

Overview

• If your dog finds something of value they will tend to want to guard that resource to stop it from getting taken away. This is a completely natural response so instead of correcting a completely normal and understandable behavior response we will instead counter condition the dog to see other people or animals coming near them as a positive stimulus that predicts rewards, instead of a threat that might take away their object.

• The main takeaway is that we essentially want to rewire the dogs current emotional response they have when someone or animal comes near them when they have something of value.

• Instead of feeling threatened or fearful that their item may get taken away, we want to show them that someone or something coming near them actually predicts more valuable items (treats) and when that person goes away the extra treats go away. See the Counter Conditioning page for more information.

• When done properly and with enough repetitions the dog should look forward to people coming up to them when they are eating or chewing a toy.

Understand Body Language of Guarders

• Tensing of the body, tail stiffens.

• A pause or freeze, evasive move, or a growl.

• Whale eye, or hard stare.

• Head lowered over food or item.

• Tail tucked or ears back.

• Escalation, showing teeth, snap, bite.

• Familiarize yourself with Body Language by looking through this handout.

“Resource guarding” is a general term used to describe a set of behaviors (generally aggressive) that a dog displays when they are attempting to retain control of something of value. Sometimes these are food or toy items, but sometimes they’re not tangible items. Your dog may guard their favorite sleeping/resting spots, an area near their owner, a doorway, etc.

Dogs can guard against humans and against other dogs and these do not necessarily overlap. In other words, your dog may growl when another dog approaches them while they have a chew toy, but they would be fine with you or possibly another person approaching. Resource guarding is generally pretty specific (i.e. they predictably guard certain things), but it can generalize to other things when your dog discovers how well it works.

The term “guards" just means that the dog is fearful that the item will be taken away and they are doing their best to retain control of it. If a dog resource guards their owner this does not mean that the dog is being protective against a real threat. It is similar to the way the dog would guard his bone (i.e. “I don’t like people touching my things!”).

Guarding is generally more about insecurity than anything else.

First Step: Management

Any behavior that gets practiced is likely to become a habit. This means that you should set up the environment so that guarding behavior does not occur. How you go about this will depend on what the dog is guarding and what your specific situation is:

• This might mean NOT giving your dog high value items (like pig ears, rawhides, etc)

• It might mean your dog is fed in another room so they are not disturbed, or not letting them on the couch if they guard it, etc.

• Pick up things your dog shouldn’t have like tissues and remote controls.

• It might mean they’re not allowed on the furniture anymore.

• If you find that they’re already in possession of an item they normally guard, or are in a place they guard...JUST LET THEM HAVE IT! Don’t force a confrontation or try to take it away so you can “show who’s boss.” This will just make it worse.

Do Not “Correct” It

Most owners’ first reaction is to reprimand or punish their dog for guarding behavior. DO NOT DO THIS. Your dog is already expressing stress over it and you getting angry at them only makes it worse. It does not teach them not to guard; at best it teaches them to stop acting like they’re guarding it. This is how you get a dog that bites without warning. You’re essentially teaching your dog that they’re right to get anxious about it because an argument is going to happen; it’s like trying to put out a fire with kerosene.

Also, do not set the dog up to fail by provoking a guarding response so you can “correct” your dog. This will only result in increasing their stress which will only make their reaction worse next time.

For Object Guarding: Set Up an Exchange Program

Teach your dog that hands come in to give, not to take. Present your dog with a neutral object that they do not guard. Let them sniff it and know that it’s there. Then, take it away, and give them three tasty treats, one after the other. Use effusive praise.

To your dog, this will be the strangest thing you’ve done yet. But you’re establishing a reliable exchange program and you’re teaching them the mechanics of it with an item they’re not invested in. This makes it easy to focus on the conditioning piece, which is that something good will be offered in exchange. This is rehearsal for the main event.

IMPORTANT: do not bribe. The item is taken, then the treats appear in front of your dog. Do not waggle the treats in order to distract your dog while you reach in. That defeats the whole purpose of establishing expectation. Distraction training will always fail in the long term.

When this is completely rote and taken for granted, begin practicing the same exchange program with increasingly more valuable things. Do it the same as always: present the item, allow your dog to sniff it, take it away, then praise and feed.

Follow each session with play, if possible. A good game of tug or fetch further conditions your dog that the exchange program is a winning proposition.

When you get to the item(s) that your dog is the most possessive of, you should have already practiced this dozens if not hundreds of times. They should be totally neutral about it, and expect something nice to happen when you take the item.

If the item in question is something they routinely grab, some kind of “contraband” like a tissue or a remote, then practice with that item in a setup. Don’t wait until an actual incident to try it out. Rehearsals are the key to success!

Food Bowl Guarding

For a food bowl you can set up a similar expectation: hands come in to give, not to take.

Go through the steps of preparing your dog’s food like normal, except set down an empty bowl. When your dog looks at you like, “What gives?” Take a small handful of kibble, reach down, and drop it in the bowl. When that’s gone, put some more in it, and so on until the meal is finished. Now you’ve changed the landscape of food and you being nearby.

On a side note, if your dog is food guarding AND you’re free-feeding your dog, change immediately to timed, routine feeding. From a behavioral standpoint, free-feeding (leaving a bowl down all of the time) is contributing to the problem! You need to retain better control of the food, and bring it back to being an interactive event.

Place/Object/Food Guarding: Counter Conditioning Protocol

To prevent guarding from being a problem (or for early signs of guarding), you can condition your approach to mean something pleasant to the dog. To do this you would approach him while he has something of value and before he gets anxious toss him a delicious treat and walk away. This begins to teach the dog that your approach means good things for him. You will gradually be able to get closer and closer to the dog while he has something of value.

The important part of this exercise is that you reward him or her BEFORE you see signs of guarding. Often the first sign of guarding is that your dog eats faster (or tries to swallow the item) or that he freezes over the item and stops eating/chewing. If the early sign of guarding occurs when you are 10 feet away, that means you need to toss the delicious treat from 12 feet away. Do everything in your power to not let the guarding behavior be practiced.

The process is essentially the same when the trigger is another dog. We put the other dog on leash to control range, then introduce your dog at whatever range the guarding dog is comfortable with. At that point, we start Classical Conditioning and start delivering tasty treats. Over several sessions we decrease the distance between the two.

• If your dog guards your bed, keep him off the bed until he is reliably not guarding it in all types of scenarios you have worked on in training sessions. You can train him to sleep in a new cushy bed that he doesn’t have a history of guarding and you can also keep him in a pen if you think he might sneak into your bed and then growl at you if you roll over in the night.

• If your dog guards the bedroom from your spouse or partner, have the person call the dog out of the room to receive a treat, and then the person can enter the room before the dog and give the dog a treat for following him in. This can especially happen when everyone has gone to bed and is settled and then the spouse comes into the room later. If you have a dog who won’t be called out of the bedroom for a treat yet, that dog should be kept from the bedroom until the last person or dog goes in or not get to go in the bedroom at all and sleep somewhere outside the bedroom to prevent guarding.

Possession Problems: Teach Mouth Control

Practice the “Drop It” command with items that the dog does not value. This is best done with playing constructive games of Tug.

Say “Drop It,” and W-A-I-T. Don’t pull on it, don’t move it around, don’t reprimand, just wait it out. When they let go, mark it and reactivate the game with energy. Your dog learns that letting go turns the game back on. With a little practice Drop It will become instantaneous.

• The benefit of this is that the dog learns that giving up things to you is a good thing.

• Do not chase or corner your dog if they have something (if it can be avoided) as this is more likely to provoke a guarding response.

• Likewise, if the trigger is the approach of another dog, you can teach that dog to “Leave It.”

Good Canine Enrichment Reduces Many Nervous Behaviors

A dog that has numerous outlets for both physical and mental stimulation often has greatly reduced behavior problems. Some things to consider:

• Interactive play times (not just going out on the tie-out) like tug, fetch, flirt pole, or agility

• Work-to-eat opportunities

• Sniff-n-stroll excursions

• Mental games like Nose work or Hide and Seek

• Fun and dynamic obedience training

• Available chew toys for calm down-time (provided these don’t trigger guarding)