Why Resource Guarding in Dogs Is a Problem & What to Do About It

Have you ever gone to pick up your dog's favorite toy while cleaning, only to be met with a deep growl and a hard stare? Or was there a time that you forgot to add something to your dog's food bowl, and when you approached them to add it, they lunged or even snapped at you? 

While it might be easy to brush off these reactions and assume your dog was just in a bad mood, these behaviors could be indicators of a much more serious behavioral problem: resource guarding. Whether your dog is showing subtle signs or full-blown aggression, understanding the why behind resource guarding — and how to prevent or manage it—is critical for keeping your dog happy and your home safe. Let's take a look at what resource guarding is, how it affects the harmony of your home, and what you can do to nip it in the bud before it becomes a really big problem.

What Is Resource Guarding in Dogs?

Resource guarding is a behavior that occurs when a dog aggressively protects some type of valued item, like food, toys, treats, bones, favorite resting spots, or even random things they find around the house or outside in the yard. In some cases, dogs can even resource guard humans or other pets, oftentimes guarding children or an original owner if another person moves into the household. 

While we all might like to think that our dogs are perfect angels, resource guarding is actually a very common problem in dogs. In a five-year-long study on the adoptability of shelter dogs, researchers found that of the over 1,000 dogs evaluated, "161 dogs were assessed as resource guarders, resulting in a prevalence of 15.3% of dogs evaluated." With resource guarding able to affect any dog of any age or breed, these issues can quickly become a reality for any owner.

Resource guarding can manifest in different ways in different dogs, making more subtle cases harder for pet owners to notice and correct. Some dogs may just stiffen or growl when they are approached while holding a valued item, while others with more severe cases of resource guarding may snap, lunge, or bite. A few common behaviors that signify resource guarding include:

• Stiffening their body or positioning themself to protect an item
• Hard staring
• Showing the whites of their eyes
• Low growling
• Lifting their lips and baring their teeth

Many early signs of resource guarding are subtle and easy to overlook. However, being aware of these behaviors can help you address the issue before it worsens. These behaviors include:

• Suddenly eating faster or stopping all together when someone approaches them during mealtime
• Moving locations when eating or playing to get a better view of their surroundings
• Quickly picking up and relocating toys when someone reaches for it
• Putting a paw over a valued item – or person – to secure it

Being able to recognize these behaviors early on is crucial in preventing them from progressing into more severe forms of aggression. 

Common Causes of Resource Guarding

Resource guarding in dogs can be caused by a number of factors; however, a few of the most common we see in the clinic include: 

• Lack of Socialization: Dogs who were not properly socialized or exposed to other animals may exhibit guarding behaviors due to seeing other animals as a threat to their resources. This can make having a multi-dog household or bringing your dog out in public far more stressful and difficult than it needs to be. 
• Litter or Household Competition: When dogs experience competition for resources at a young age, such as in their litter or during their first few weeks in their new home, they can become possessive and begin displaying resource guardian behaviors. 
• Negative Past Experiences: If a dog has had their valuable items taken away without reward, they may begin to guard resources as a way to protect themselves from perceived loss. This can often happen with well-meaning owners who take a dog's food or toys away in an attempt to train them without realizing the lasting and damaging effects of these actions. 
• Fear and Anxiety: Similarly to those with negative past experiences, dogs that have had resources taken away in the past for any reason may develop anxiety surrounding resource scarcity and become aggressive due to a fear of going without their needs being met. 
• Learned Behaviors: If a dog has successfully scared others away by growling or snapping in the past, they may continue the behavior because it works. This is why early intervention is so important. 
• Medical Issues: In some dogs, medical conditions can cause shifts in behavior. Conditions like arthritis or dental disease can cause a dog pain or discomfort, increasing their irritability and making them more prone to guard their resources. Alternatively, some conditions like hunger or nutritional deficiencies can directly cause guarding behavior due to the dog's needs not being met and them using any means necessary to secure food resources. 

Why Resource Guarding Is a Problem

For Dogs:

1. Increased Stress & Anxiety: Constantly feeling the need to protect resources can cause chronic stress for the dog. Excessive and prolonged stress in dogs can lead to chronic health conditions, gastrointestinal issues, and even other complications like weight loss and hair loss. 
2. Strained Relationships: If a dog feels like it must always be on guard, it can struggle to bond with its owner or other pets. This can result in feelings of isolation and, subsequently, bad behavior – things no one wants for their dog.
3. Escalating Aggression: Without intervention, resource guarding can worsen over time, making future interactions more dangerous. We cannot stress enough how important it is to correct resource-guarding behaviors as soon as they're identified for the safety of your dog and everyone they come in contact with. 

For People:

1. Safety Risk: When veterinarians and behaviorists say that resource guarding is a dangerous behavior, they mean it. When dogs become aggressive due to resource guarding, every person and pet in your house is put at risk. Owners and other household members –including children – could be bitten or hurt if they unknowingly trigger guarding behavior.
2. Difficult Training & Handling: Resource guarding in dogs can make a number of things more difficult, from working on basic training to taking away something they shouldn't have, like human food or household items. It can also impact basic daily activities, like feeding or giving medication.
3. Household Tension: Aside from the direct safety risk of biting or aggression, resource guarding can have a negative mental impact on the people and pets in your family. Resource guarding isn't easy for anyone to deal with and it can create a stressful home environment, especially for owners with large families or multiple pets.

Preventing & Managing Resource Guarding Behaviors 

While resource guarding may be a natural behavior, that doesn't mean owners should allow it to continue or progress unaddressed. 

Prevention Strategies: 

• Start Early: Teach puppies from a young age that sharing and trading items is safe and rewarding. We'll cover the specifics of the trade system below, but instilling a willingness to trade in your dog from an early age gives them a mindset that goes against the instinct to guard their resources.

• Ensure Adequate Resources: Make sure your dog's needs are met by providing enough food, water, toys, and personal space. This is especially important in multi-pet households where competition for resources can trigger guarding behavior. If you struggle with this, try setting up designated eating and play areas for your dogs. This allows them to have their own food and toys in their own space where they don't need to worry about having to share their resources if they don't want to.

• Positive Associations with Mealtime: Help your dog form positive associations with human interaction during mealtimes by hand-feeding or adding extra food when you approach their bowl. This is a great way to reassure your dog that you mean no harm during mealtime and build the association that human hands during mealtime mean something good is coming their way!

For Dogs with Existing Resource Guarding:

If your dog is already exhibiting resource guarding behaviors, it's important to desensitize them gradually:

• Trading for High-Value Items – Work with your dog to teach them that giving up something leads to getting something better. This can work with treats, toys, or other safe items that your dog likes. When teaching training, it’s important to help your dog understand that items are not being taken away, so trainers suggest teaching the dog to actively leave or trade for the new item, while still giving them the opportunity to return to the item they were guarding if they choose to. This allows for the dog to have a choice, leading to better outcomes and more trust in their owner. It may take a little trial and error to find out what works best for your individual dog, but stick with it – it's worth the extra effort to curb this behavior and make your dog feel more secure. 
• Setting Expectations and Ground Rules in Your House – In order for training and behavior remediation to be effective, everyone in your household needs to be on the same page. Set ground rules for how everyone in your home should interact with the dog and be consistent in how you address resource guarding. 
• Tailoring Your Approach – When working to address resource guarding in dogs, it’s important to understand different approaches can work depending on the resource that is being guarded. For example, for dogs that resource guard their meals or other foods, it can be helpful and safer to give them space alone to eat to avoid any extra stress that training while they eat may create. Alternatively, for dogs who resource guard other items or people, curbing the behavior should be actively worked on. 
• Desensitization & Counterconditioning – Gradually expose the dog to controlled situations where they learn to be comfortable with others approaching their valued resource.
• Teaching "Drop It" & "Leave It" Commands – Positive reinforcement training can help prevent guarding. When a dog is well trained and understands when you want them to leave something alone, a better opportunity for trading becomes available. 
• Avoiding Punishment – Under no circumstances should punishment be used to correct resource-guarding behaviors. Punishing a guarding dog can increase fear and aggression, making the problem worse and making management that much more difficult.

When to Seek Professional Help With Dog Resource Guarding

In some cases, resource guarding behavior may progress beyond what a typical dog owner can manage. If you find yourself struggling to handle your dog's guarding behavior, consider consulting a professional. 

First, speak to your veterinarian about what's going on and tell them about the behaviors you've noticed. This way they can examine your dog and make sure their resource guarding isn't caused by an underlying medical problem – especially if this behavior is new and seems like it came on suddenly. 

Your veterinarian may also have some great recommendations for trainers and behaviorists in your area who can give your dog specialized attention and training to help manage their resource guarding. Behaviorists and trainers can conduct behavioral assessments to get to the root of your dog's resource guarding issues, work with them on desensitization and counterconditioning, and teach them reliable commands that can help dogs ease out of these unwanted behaviors – all while educating you and giving you things to work on with your dog at home to make sure the training sticks. 

If you do seek outside help for resource guarding, be sure to work with a reputable and licensed professional. Resource guarding can be very difficult to manage, especially in more severe cases, and it's easy to make a dog's fear and distrust worse if you're not following proven management techniques to a tee.

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