Resource guarding prevention in puppies

Resource Guarding Prevention in Puppies

What is Resource Guarding and why is it important to prevent it from developing?

Resource guarding is your dog showing aggression (from growling to snapping and even biting) in the presence of resources, or situations associated with resources.

The resources that your dog may want to defend will vary from a food bowl/food objects to resting spaces, toys, and ‘stolen items’, to name a few.

Resource guarding is actually a pretty normal behaviour – it is natural to want to protect what is valuable to you. We do it as humans – this is why we lock our doors and cars; we don’t want strangers to take our stuff!

Dogs also want to protect what is valuable to them. Those individuals that just let another dog take the food scraps that they found, or kick them out from a safe and comfortable resting place, did not have good odds of surviving natural selection, so protecting valuable resources was really important for survival.

Resource guarding becomes an issue when dogs decide that we are not trustworthy, and resources need to be protected from us.

As you can imagine, a dog that growls, snaps or bites presents a real safety concern, and this is definitely one of those situations where prevention is better than cure.

We can teach our puppies from the start that bringing things to us is better than running away with them. We can also teach our puppies that when we are approaching them when they have something nice, we are going to add something even better!

All puppies can guard valuable resources, however from experience, gundog breeds and gundog crossbreeds have often been bred to retrieve, and may value the possession more than some other breeds.

The more important food is to your puppy (let’s say your puppy has come from a large litter, where competition for food may have been higher), the more likely they are to view it as a valuable resource. It does not necessarily mean that they are going to guard it, however it somewhat stacks the odds…

Outside of food, when puppies guard seemingly random (usually stolen) objects, it quite often begins with us inadvertently adding value to the treasure; Puppy picks something up, we are not sure what it is, and our initial reaction is ‘OMG what have you got puppy?!’, leading to us chasing the puppy around, holding them down, opening their mouth and fishing out whatever is in there – a bit of wood, a tissue, a feather, or whatever else a puppy can lay their teeth on!

What is the puppy learning in this situation? Humans take ‘treasures’ off me, so I better keep away when they approach, and then it may escalate.

How can we tell if the puppy is guarding?

Some of the classical signs are:

·    Freezing (when you approach them when they have food/edible chews or a ‘stolen’ object.

·    Accelerated consumption – this can be relevant to edible, and even not-so-edible, objects

·    Growling (you may also see your dog giving you ‘whale-eye’ – when the whites of your dog’s eyes are visible)

·    Snarling – showing teeth

·    Air snapping – your dog didn’t miss you, they deliberately missed you! That was a warning!

·    Inhibited bite – teeth on skin but no damage done

·    You can imagine the rest…

What can we do to prevent resource guarding in puppies?

My Resource Guarding prevention Do’s:

1.    Encourage them to bring items to you! Make sure your puppy has plenty of toys/legitimate items they can pick up. Every time your puppy picks up an item, praise them and encourage them to bring it to you without taking it away.

2.    Establish a positive association with approach!  Every time you approach your puppy when they are eating, call their name and toss a higher value treat towards them. At other times, just let your puppy eat in peace.

Please note, you don’t have to be too close to your puppy, it’s the approach that matters.

This is very important if your puppy finds food valuable.

3.    Teach a ‘Drop’ cue – we teach it in our Level 1 Puppy Classes. This is for emergencies.

4.    Make it easy for your puppy to get it right! Move anything that you don’t want your puppy to pick up out of their reach. Make toys available and fun to pick up by regularly rotating them and engaging with your puppy when they do pick up the ‘right’ thing.

My Resource Guarding prevention Don’ts:

1.    No Punishment or Physical Force

Don’t take stuff away from your puppy, unless their life depends on it. If you do, you are more likely to make them wary of your approach, they may even consume the items quicker to prevent you from taking it.

2.    Taking Away Items Without a Trade! If I really need to get something from my puppy before I’ve taught them a reliable ‘drop’, I will swap it for a nice treat or toy.

3.    Messing with your puppy’s food while they are eating! It may or may not backfire, however stroking the puppy or handling their food while they are eating is not very helpful (your puppy doesn’t know what your intentions are when you are stroking them when they have a chew). Adding something better to their food bowl is more effective.

4.    Ignoring Early Warning Signs! If your puppy tenses up when you approach them while they are eating, or runs away with the stolen treasures, and even growls when you approach them when they have a chew – don’t ignore it!

If in doubt, please consult a qualified professional.

Please note, this blog is aimed at a prevention of resource guarding in puppies. If your adult dog is displaying signs of resource guarding – please seek help from a qualified professional!