Resource Guarding – The Possessive Aggression in Dogs

Does your dog growl at you when you go to grab a chew your dog has whittled down? Does he show his teeth when you try to take a toy from him? Then your dog is exhibiting resource guarding! Resource guarding, the possessive aggression in dogs can be frightening for a dog owner.

What Is Resource Guarding?

Resource guarding is a behaviour that your dog exhibits to convince others to stay away from him or something that he considers valuable or close to him. Frantic eating, growling, chewing, and stiffening are some of the common signs of resource guarding. Some dogs also snap, glare, bark, or hover over the resource to protect it.

Resource guarding is a natural problem, but it becomes dangerous if a dog is willing to bite or fight to keep an item. It will be worrisome if you have young children or elderly people at home. Getting early dog training in North Vancouver helps you in preventing resource guarding from developing.

A dog can develop resource guarding against items that they value the most, such as:

• Food
• Snacks and/or treats
• Bedding
• Food bowl
• Toys
• Territory
• Their owner and more

How to Prevent Resource Guarding?

Enrolling in dog aggression prevention training sessions can help avoid such dog behavioural problems such as resource guarding. Here we’ve listed a few tips to prevent resource guarding.

• Give your puppy a high-value item that your dog loves more than the things they are guarding. This encourages your dog to prevent resource guarding and get puppy to stop biting.
• Find the exact distance at which your dog begins to resource guard.
• Feed your dog as usual and walk away from the place immediately.
• Let your dog eat his/her meal without disturbing or irritating them by putting your hand in their food.
• Always approach your dog at their threshold distance (the distance at which they aren't becoming tense or reacting with guarding behaviour), and feed him or place a favourite toy for him/her.
• Once your puppy is comfortable with the threshold distance, add one or more steps forward to feed or place his/her favourite toy.
• Ensure that your dog socializes properly because most of the dog behaviour problems such as resource guarding, separation anxiety and more can be prevented by socialization.
• If your dog still shows signs of resource guarding, enroll him in

dog aggression prevention training to help him prevent the habit of resource guarding.

The author of this article is a leading provider of dog aggression prevention training and has over twenty years of experience in the industry. In this article, he writes about resource guarding and how to prevent it. Visit https://a-zcanine.ca/ now.

Tony Giotto, Master Dog Trainer and Behaviourist, has worked with many dogs since 2001. He studied with and worked for Master Trainer S.