First and foremost, I needed to assess each home environment to determine if management was even possible. All but one of these puppies belonged to a family with children under ten years of age. Typically, dealing with dogs who resource guard in home with children is difficult. Kids are kids and they may not even recognize when a dog is resource guarding something until it is too late. Even in homes where the family members know what to do when their dog is resource guarding, it may be the case that visitors or friends are caught unawares with catastrophic consequences.
We've talked about this before: Resource guarding per se isn't a bad thing. We all resource guard our homes and cars by locking them up, adding alarms and cameras, and reporting any suspicious activity in our neighborhoods. Now, I'm not saying you are going to escalate to biting an intruder on your property, but your resource guarding dog might! And what if it's not an intruder but your daughter's boyfriend sneaking around outside of your house? You get my drift. How far your dog is willing to take their resource guarding is the question to be answered honestly.
Dogs are natural territorial guardians and protectors. They are vigilant and watchful, noting changes that we might otherwise miss. Some not only protect their home turf, but they protect the people there as well. Others take it further, protecting their toys, beds, chews, bones, or food bowl. Some even protect the spot where they are sitting or laying down, no bed required. It's one thing for a dog to defend their territory or favorite chew or toy from another dog, and it's quite another for them to defend those things from you, their beloved human family members.
It's important to test for resource guarding behavior often and early with puppies. Breeders can test for it by observing their litters of puppies for signs of resource guarding behavior between siblings and note how issues are settled between the pups. If one puppy has a chew, for example, and a sibling approaches to try and take it, the interaction could go one of several ways. First, the puppy could give up what they have to their sibling. They could hold onto it tightly, turning away or trying to move away with it. They could stiffen over their prize and growl at their sibling to back off. They could snap or bite at their sibling to discourage them as well. Each of these possible outcomes says a lot about the puppy with the chew. Same goes for observing puppies around communal food and water bowls, beds, and when picked up or handled while resting.
Even if your breeder did all of these things, you still have work to do when you bring your puppy home! Now that they will be living and learning without their siblings, it's up to you to continue to test for resource guarding. The most common exercises that puppy owners are exposed to are those that test for resource guarding aggression around the food bowl. Let's review that first.
Start with an empty bowl and give that to your puppy. When they look up at you like, "What gives?! This bowl is empty!" add in about 1/8 cup of food (basically a small handful). Give them a brief pat. As long as they don't stiffen, growl, etc., you can add more food. Pet them some more. Still no stiffness or aggression? Rain some pennies from heaven, aka drop some yummy treats from above their head into the bowl. Over the course of a week's worth of meals, add in more hovering, more petting, etc. just to make sure they aren't guardy or defensive around their food or the food bowl. If you notice any stiffening, growling, or worse, seek help before continuing! Do not let your children practice these exercises unless you are certain your puppy does not resource guard their food or the bowl. And, of course, supervise your children doing the food bowl exercises.
Next, you will want to test guarding of bones, chews, toys, etc. Each time you give your puppy a new chew, bone, or toy, hold onto it. Let them sniff it and sample it, but don't just give it to them. Ask them to sit. Offer it for a bit more chewing or investigation. Let them get a grip on it and then ask them to drop it, or simply trade with you for a high value treat. If they will happily chew on it while you hold it and they'll trade for the goodies you have, go ahead and give them the new item. Do this every time you introduce a new toy or chew just to make sure you haven't inadvertently brought an item into your home that your puppy deems so valuable that they will guard and aggressively defend it.
I want to note something here. I realize that this seems like a lot of work, but for anyone who has ever dealt with a resource guarding puppy or dog, knowing what that dog will guard and what they won't is critical. Knowing this information helps you, the owner, to make smart choices with regard to what you give your puppy or dog and where you give it to them. Some dogs that resource guard can only have valuable items when in their crate, for example. This keeps everyone safe. And if your puppy or dog hoards an item, not chewing on it or eating it (if it's edible), then perhaps it's wise to remove that item from the list of things that they are even allowed to have. I've known many a dog who can't have bullysticks or bones because they hoarded them and would aggressively guard them, but never ate or chewed on them.
In every home, but especially those with kids, you'll want to test to see if your puppy is guardy with their beds, crates, or spot on the furniture, if you let them up there. If they are guardy on the furniture, they shouldn't be allowed up there, period. If they guard their bed, put the bed inside an x-pen so that you can better control that defensible area. If they guard their crate, put the crate in a lower traffic area to decrease the drama around the crate itself.
While it is possible to live with a resource guarding puppy or dog for the entirety of their lives, it isn't always easy and it isn't without some risk. Each person or family needs to determine for themselves if they are capable of safely managing a resource guarding dog or not. And if the answer is that they aren't, or they don't want to as that's not what they signed up for when they got the dog, then return them to the breeder, rescue group, etc. Resource guarding aggression isn't a curable problem but it can be manageable. You just have to the find the right match for the puppy or dog.
Finally, even if your puppy doesn't resource guard, teach them to trade items they have for food; teach them drop it when they pick something up, even if it's theirs, and give them a treat for their compliance; and teach leave it so (hopefully) you can call them off of or away from things you don't want picked up at all. These are all skills your dog will use for a lifetime.
As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
Here are Henley and Zelly sharing a new Nylabone. You can see that there is a second new bone next to Zelly, but she wants to the one Henley has, of course. They will both chew on that one, at the same time, until someone bores of that game and grabs the other one. This goes on anytime I bring in new toys or chews. They all want the same one, but they'll share whatever they've got.
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