5 methods That will help minimize resource Guarding
Last updated on September 14, 2018 By Puppy Leaks 9 comments
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Disclaimer: resource guarding (commonly referred to as food aggression) is a severe behavior. If your pet dog exhibits any aggression or guarding that you’re uneasy with please seek the help of a professional. resource guarding won’t just go away, and it tends to gets worse if not managed properly. If your pet dog has severe guarding issues (where they snap or growl at you) please seek out the help of a professional trainer or behaviorist.
Does Your pet dog Guard Their Food?
Does your pet dog guard their food? Do they get stiff and uneasy when you technique their bowl? You’re not alone.
Resource guarding is attributed to 44% of all pet dog bites to children under the age of 6. It’s not a fun behavior to manage, and in severe cases it’s a major liability.
The recommendations in this post is only recommended for dogs with mild resource guarding. As I pointed out above I recommend seeking out the help of a professional if your dog’s guarding behavior is severe.
What is Canine resource Guarding?
Resource guarding is when a pet dog tries to prevent the taking away of an item in their possession such as food or a toy. In mild cases a pet dog might stiffen up when you technique the guarded object, but in severe cases they may growl or even bite.
Tip: If you’re struggling with your own dog’s guarding I recommend reading resource Guarding: understanding the behavior to help give you a better understanding of the behavior. It’s a behavior that’s typically misunderstood, and once you understand why your pet dog is guarding it will be much easier to manage.
Resource Guarding needs To Be Addressed
Dogs that guard their ownerships are a risk, especially for children. It’s a severe behavioral issue that needs to be managed before it gets worse. If you aren’t comfortable around your pet dog when he guards don’t hesitate to call a professional trainer. They will work with you and your pet dog in a controlled environment to help you learn to manage the behavior.
If your pet dog has a mild case of resource guarding the following ideas will help. I’m going to focus on the methods that help stop and minimize resource guarding around food. It’s the most common item dogs guard, but these methods will work for other items that your pet dog gets possessive of such as toys or other people.
Why Do Dogs Guard Their Food?
Resource guarding around food is the most common form of guarding (it’s typically just called food aggression). Your pet dog is not being aggressive to spite you, dogs that guard their food are exhibiting fearful behaviors. Whether it makes sense to you or not they see you coming towards their food as a danger – and they’re going to exhibit behaviors to prevent you from getting to it.
I’ve been through it a million times in my mind, and it still doesn’t make sense. I’ve never taken away my dogs food or acted in a threatening way towards her. Why does my pet dog think I’m going to take away her food?
But the thing is I had to let that question go in buy to manage it. I had to stop blaming myself, and I had to stop wondering why she felt that way and just deal with it. It is what it is – scientists believe it’s part genetic and part environmental. no one knows the exact reason some dogs guard and others don’t, but we do know that it’s a natural instinct left over from their wolf ancestors.
Because people typically misunderstand why their dogs guard and why there is social competition, lots of owners of resource guarders typically get angry and confrontational with their dogs. – Victoria Stilwell “Resource Guarding“
So yes it’s frustrating, but we need to step past those negative feelings we have towards our pet dog when they guard. Your dogs behavior isn’t personal, it’s a concern based response. It’s not something you can fix by confronting your dog, not can you fix it by trying to become a lot more dominant. any extreme punishment for resource guarding will likely make their concern worse, and it increases the probability of your pet dog lashing out.
So rather than worry about the causes for the behavior we need to focus on modifying it.
Once we stop pondering over the reasons why our pet dog is guarding it’s much easier to stick to the task at hand – managing the behavior. I’m hesitant to say cure because despite all the progress we’ve made it does come back. It’s not as severe as it was before, but every once in awhile my pet dog will get some new toy and start guarding again. Without some maintenance training from time to time dogs can revert back to full time guarding behaviors.
How to minimize resource Guarding around Food
Managing resource guarding is a long process, but if you’re consistent you’ll start to see results in a few days. It’s crucial to keep doing tnullnull