04/10/2025
DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF!
We all guard our resources; it’s a very normal, natural reaction to a threat of something we value being taken away.
Animals would not survive in the wild if they didn’t guard their resources. It’s essential for survival.
Just because our dogs are domesticated and shouldn’t be concerned about these things, doesn’t mean that this innate, genetic behaviour disappears.
We also don’t get to decide what’s valuable to our dogs or what’s not – different things have different value and at different times.
Food is usually the most common, but toys, furniture, random objects, places, or even a particular person are all things that may be considered a valuable resource.
Punishing or forcing a dog to give something up is probably one of the worst things to do. Resource guarding is rooted in the emotion of fear – the fear of that resource being taken away.
Punishment and force further increase that fear, which only increases and reinforces the need to protect that resource.
When a dog is guarding something, we can change the negative emotion of fear into a positive one by swapping, trading or adding something that has a similar or higher value.
This is one of the most effective ways to address resource guarding as it works at the root cause of the behaviour by changing the emotional response.
A dog resource guarding a person is more complicated to address. A full history of the individual dog, family dynamics, attachment styles, situation and environment all have to be assessed before planning and working on a solution.
Resource guarding can usually be prevented, managed, or resolved by understanding the underlying emotion, building trust and a sense of safety, and using consistent practice coupled with positive reinforcement.
