Resource Guarding

Oh, boy! We were shocked and concerned when Roxy starting displaying some guarding tendencies. She is a very sweet dog... who somewhere along the line, learned that she needed to guard the things she considers important.

Most people don't even realize they are contributing to their dog's resource guarding. They can start learning this as soon as they are small puppies. Puppy owners are constantly coming up to their dogs and taking away things we don't want them to chew on or swallow. Although we are well intended, with some dogs, this can lead to resource guarding. When you are constantly taking things from your dog, or grabbing it out of their mouth, some of them learn that they need to guard what they view important. This doesn't happen with all dogs, but it's not to say that resource guarding is "abnormal". 

Resource guarding is a reaction to a primal instinct. Before domestication, dogs had to protect resources in order to survive. This can be seen today with toys, food, water,beds, or anything else your pup thinks is important. We didn't realize that by taking things away from Roxy, we may have been teaching her to resource guard.

After reading up on the topic, I learned quite a few things. I found this to be the most important.

When you take a resource guarding dog's important thing away, you are confirming their suspicions about you being a rotten, toy-stealing scoundrel! When approaching your dog, you should ask her to "drop it" [we use "let go"]. When she lets go, you trade her the toy for something yummy! This treat should be something they don't normally get to eat. Make sure it outweighs the importance of the toy.

This did two important things for us... it gave Roxy a positive association with humans approaching her when she had a toy [she's still not perfect], and it helped enforce the "let go" command.

This is just what worked for us and is only the foundation for how we are handling it. If your dog displays this kind of behavior, it is important for you to seek a trainer who specializes in aggressive behavior. This isn't to say that your dog is aggressive, either. Resource guarding is a completely normal behavior that is displayed in all breeds, both male and female.

We saw a dog trainer like this and we have incorporated what she told us with our method of treating the resource guarding.

Be careful of what you read on the internet! -- Just as no two humans are exactly alike, no two dogs are alike. You're not going to find a "cure-all" solution to resource guarding. You're going to find a TON of information, a lot of it conflicting, that probably won't help you. You have to get to know your dog, her tendencies, behaviors, triggers and reactions. The only way to find if something works is to try it... you have to start somewhere.

We have considered desensitization, positive association, negative consequence, avoidance, denial ;) and are currently using avoidance. We are choosing to avoid situations where Roxy thinks she needs to guard. The idea is that fewer repetitions and less practice of RG will get it out of her reportoir!

After deciding on a route with your dog behaviorist, consistency will be your best friend. Good Luck!