06/08/2026
Resource guarding is an issue that I strongly recommend you work with a professional who understands Dog Psychology to overcome.
Some people adopt dogs who already have developed resource guarding, but for the most part, humans create this issue unknowingly with their dog.
Resource guarding stems from a relationship issue. It’s not generally about the item.
Think about it, why would a dog take food or objects and guard them from the human or humans they live with?
The dog believes that the food or object is theirs, and will guard it from those in the pack/family they see as weaker than them.
Where humans make a big error is all of a sudden trying to take leadership back by challenging their dog for the food or object they are guarding.
This can be dangerous because usually humans will try to get the food or object with tense and aroused energy, yelling at the dog, moving too quickly, etc.
Instead, humans should focus on the other signals they are sending to their dogs that have taught the dog that the human is not a parent/leader and instead more a of a friend/follower.
Things like allowing the dog to invade their space by jumping, climbing, or literally walking all over them, giving affection at the wrong times or excessive affection, coddling/babying the dog, giving the dog whatever they want when they whine, growl or bark to demand something, not providing enough structured exercise, etc.
That’s what needs to be focused on before we even think about focusing on resource guarding.
When dogs come here for our board and train program with an issue like resource guarding we focus on building a healthy relationship, providing structure, and fulfilling exercise needs before we work on the guarding itself.
When a dog sees you as a leader/parent figure, resource guarding doesn’t make sense to them.
All that being said, once the habit of resource guarding has developed, I again strongly recommend you seek a protessional who knows Dog Psychology for help.
