In the wild, resource guarding, which means protecting food or a possession, is a necessary behavior that assures an individual’s survival. In fact, each member of a wolf pack has rightful ownership of resources within his “space”, beneath his head and between his feet. Though another can try to steal or use intimidation to take the prized possession, every wolf, regardless of rank, can rightfully defend his “stuff”. The problem is that, for the canine member of a human family, this is an undesirable and very dangerous behavior.
Sharing Resources
Your dog needs to learn that having people around his food and resources is a good thing – in fact, that people have the Midas touch, making things more valuable by their contact with his things.
Around the Food Bowl
To prevent guarding of food, start by hand-feeding your pup his kibble. This will teach him that all good things in life come from you. Also, dangle your fingers in the bowl as he eats. With each handful, drop something in his bowl better than what he’s eating. The deposit of a little sliver of chicken or cheese will make you a welcome presence around his bowl rather than a threat.
If your dog shows any signs of discomfort – stiffening, freezing, a hard eye, growling – then stop! This is a dog’s natural way of communicating, so do not punish him for his warning. In fact, if you reprimand him for expressing his discomfort, you are forcing him to escalate his expression – next time, he will have to bite! Instead, consider ways in which you can make him more comfortable with your presence.
To gain your guardy dog’s ease with you around his food bowl, make approaches to his bowl, stopping at a distance where he shows no discomfort or guarding behavior, and then toss something of higher value than what he’s eating. Withdraw and approach over and over again, each time stopping at a distance from him where he does not feel threatened or uncomfortable. Over time, you will notice him lifting his head in expectation of you approach. This means he is now looking forward to your approaches with happy anticipation and that he no longer feels unease (at this distance, anyway)! Now you may be able to move ever so gradually closer to his bowl on your approaches, every time making sure that he remains calm and accepting of your presence.
On Wednesday, there will be a follow-up article on teaching our dogs to share possessions. So give a peek back!
Comments
Hi Laura! It's Meagan's friend, Lola's mom. Our new boy, Ryan, who you met last weekend has a resource guarding issue with other dogs ONLY - not people. We have not truly experienced it since he's been home with us because we are managing it heavily and ensuring he's not set up for failure. However, we would love to read some behavior modification tips for this dog vs. dog scenario as everything we've come across so far is about dog vs. human guarding. We would love to address this behavior in him so he and Lola can live in harmony. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!
Hiya, Meredith! Dog-dog guarding is a tricky one! It can be worked on within a fixed relationship (i.e. "sibling" dogs); it's much more difficult in general relationships (i.e. dogs guarding toys at the dogrun). I'll definitely consider writing an article about it. Until then, you're doing the right thing by closely managing all resources.
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