Some Free Tips to Stop a Dog Resource Guarding His Food

For this Fremont dog training session we worked with 5 year-old Husky Copper, sharing tips to stop his resource guarding of food.

Anytime you have a dog who has a resource guarding problem, it is something you need to address immediately. Dogs get better at everything they do, including guarding their food bowl.

Stopping Resource Guarding in Dogs

As a Dog Behaviorist I have found one of the easiest ways to stop a dog from guarding things is to create situations where the dog sees someone approaching as a positive instead of a negative. Often dogs who guard things do so out of fear that their resource will be taken away. Sadly one of the most common things people do when a dog guard things is take it away which absolutely makes the behavior more pronounced.

If you’re looking for help with a dog who guards things, check out the free positive dog training video below for some tips to stop a dog from resource guarding.

One of the secrets to stopping resource guarding in dogs is to make sure that you’re always prepared. You never know when a dog is going to start protecting something, so having small cashes of treats strategically placed around your home is smart. If the dog starts to guard something, you know you have access to treats so you can practice this exercise to stop a dog from guarding things. You want to take advantage of every opportunity to fix a dog’s resource guarding problem with this easy exercise.

I also went over the concept of dog consent and showed the guardians what cut off signals look like. We also went over a simple drop it exercise which which is something I would strongly recommend the guardians practice whenever Copper has any low value items. The more they practice having him drop and give up low value items, the easier it will be to get him to drop higher value items if he decides to start resource guarding other things.

At the end of the session we headed outside so that I can share some loose leash walking tips with Coppers guardian. I’d like to see her practicing these exercises daily, while making sure that she is not practicing in environment that is too overwhelming, distracting or interesting. When she determines the environment is too busy, she needs to go to an easier location or level that has less distractions.

To help Copper’s guardian remember all of the dog behavior tips I shared in this in-home Fremont dog training session, we recorded a roadmap to success video that you can check out below.