In this post, we’ll be talking about the different types of resource guarding. We’ll discuss how we can help our dogs overcome this issue and what we can do to prevent it happening in the future. Dogs of all ages, sizes and breeds show resource guarding behaviour. It’s very common across all dogs, but fortunately can be overcome with training, management and patience.
What is resource guarding?
Resource guarding happens when your dog has something of value to them in their possession and they perceive a potential threat. The key word here is perceive. You may well have no interest in taking your dog’s pigs ear away from them, but they don’t know that! There are four main things dogs may resource guard. In order of most to least common, these are:
- Food including meals and treats
- Objects, such as long lasting chews or ‘stolen’ items like the remote control
- Places, such as their crate or the sofa
- People, typically their owner
Dogs may resource guard possessions from people or from other dogs. It is however a very different dynamic. For example, our dog Duke has never guarded his food from us but will guard food from other dogs. There is quite a wide range of guarding behaviour. Low level or mild signs your dog is guarding something include:
- Stopping eating when you approach
- Staring at you intensely
- Whale eye (when the whites of the eyes are visible)
- Yawning when you approach
More intense guarding behaviour may include growling, barking, lunging and baring their teeth. Dogs may also bite due to resource guarding. You can read more about understanding your dogs body language in our post here.
What to do
If your dog is resource guarding food, objects, places or people, it’s important to contact a force free dog professional dog trainer or behaviourist for help. They can help you work through a behaviour plan to teach your dog they don’t need to guard in the long term. You can also check out the book Mine! By Jean Donaldson. This is an invaluable resource for working through resource guarding. Here’s some tips for dealing with resource guarding in the short term:
- If you need to remove a piece of food or object from your dog, always trade them for a tasty treat.
- If you need your dog to move from a place they are guarding, call their name and throw a piece of food across the floor away from the spot they are guarding.
- Use management to prevent your dog from getting hold of items they are likely to steal and guard. Eg. Put shoes away in a shoe cupboard, keep remote controls on the mantelpiece out of the dogs reach etc.
- Leave your dog to eat in peace- keep other pets and children away from them.
What not to do if your dog is resource guarding
- Do not remove food or chews from your dog whilst they are eating, assuming the item is safe for them to eat.
- Don’t put your hand in your dog’s food bowl. This is outdated advice which is more likely to create guarding behaviour than it is to solve it!
- Do not try and take items from your dog to ‘assert dominance’. Your dog is not looking to establish dominance or ‘be the alpha’ through their guarding behaviour.
- Leave your dog alone whilst they are resting in their bed or crate.
- NEVER attempt to open a dogs jaw to remove something from their mouth. This is a very common way that people are bitten by dogs.