Some Free Tips to Help a Dog with a Resource Guarding Problem

By: David Codr

Published Date: July 10, 2020

Baxter and Bailey scaled - Some Free Tips to Help a Dog with a Resource Guarding Problem

Today’s Omaha dog training session with 2 year-old Aussie German Shepherd Baxter (left) and 2 year-old Belgian Malinos Bailey focused on stopping resource guarding of a person.

I had already worked with Bailey, introducing him to another dog when he was a puppy. After the fmaily lost that dog, they adopted Baxter so little Bailey would have a companion.

The problem is Baxter dog sometimes guards the husband from the wife. We call this resource guarding in dogs and although it looks aggressive when its happening and can result in a bite, its not actually classified as aggression. This is because once the resource is removed from the situation, the dog’s guarding behavior stops.

Resource guarding comes from a primal instinct to protect high value items even though domesticated dogs don’t need to guard things. That is why forcibly taking things away from a dog who is resource guarding isnt a good idea; it validate’s the dog’s misguided belief that you are a theif. As a Dog Behaviorist, I have been called in many times to stop a dog from resource guarding.

I pulled out my camera so I could show the guardians an easy way to stop a dog from resource guarding. The guardians were worried the dog may not guard the husband while I was there, but I don’t have to see it to teach a dog to stop resource guarding. In the video below I share the secret to stopping resource guarding in dogs.

Training a dog to stop resource guarding is all about the dog changing its perception as a human approaching from a threat to an indicator that something amazing is about to happen. While the dog resource guarding problem didnt make it to the video, the process is still the same.

We covered a number of other tips in this in home Omaha dog training session so we filmed a roadmap to success summary video that you can watch below.

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This post was written by: David Codr