Resource guarding in puppies...

I am having a few problems with Arrow resource guarding. It is only with food and chews, with toys he is absolutely fine.

He resource guards from people, but I am working on this by feeding him from hand, adding food to the bowl and just generally getting him used to people walking around while he is eating. He is much better with me now, and now we are working on getting him better with other people too.

My biggest problem though, is that he is terrible with Jake. He will growl and snarl if Jake so much as walks in the room. If they are both eating then he is fine, but once Jake finishes he goes crazy. Jake has never tried to take food off him, or anything like that... Jake stays well away from him when he is eating.

Arrow is ok if I am handing them treats, and will wait until his turn, and does no snarling, growling etc.

I know people might suggest feeding them separately, keeping chews away etc, which is great for the short term. But, I don't want to be doing that forever and especially since he is still a puppy, I would much prefer to work on it.

What are the best ways to do this? Jake was never like that, neither with people or other dogs (not that he has had another dog living with him until now, but in the park he has never had any problems) so I'm not sure where to start what with Arrow doing this so much with Jake... Jake is now scared to be around Arrow while he is eating.

OH is not impressed with it, and says it better get sorted ASAP.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Aww and the OH isnt helping much is he? men!!

Sounds like you are doing good work - and great if he can take treats and wait his turn with Jake there, the only things I can think of is to keep doing that - make the treats slightly bigger, make the gaps between them begger so they each learn that waiting while the other eats means nice things happen

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3339

Good article SB
Kinda everything I have been doing with the crazy girl of mine and her and Ben are now happy in all situations EXCEPT one
and I just cant figure out how to train it at the moment I just manage it

Mia is OK if she has a bone or something to eat
She is fine if Ben has a bone - even if she dosent
She is happy if noone has the bone

BUT
If she has had a bone and got bored of it and hidden it somewhere then she guards this area - usually Ben has no idea what is going on and if she feels he is too close or looking the wrong way - or I move or whatever - then she will launce an attack
this is about twice a year - and the only fights we have now
I have to tempt her away with a trail of treats (and even then she is wary) send her to her bed then take the bone away then she is fine

any ideas??

Thanks guys

I had a bad day with him today... I was doing things around the kitchen, and he was in the corner eating. I stepped closer to him to reach something on the worktop, and he jump forward snarling. No contact or anything though. He has been ok with me for about a week so I wasn't expecting it.

It gets so frustrating, and it is a behaviour that I struggle with because I really don't like it.

I fed him his dinner slowly by hand tonight, and then as a reward at the end, he got a turkey neck (well, half but ssh, he doesn't know that!). So, I was pleased with that. I also interrupted him eating for a few seconds to give him a bit of cooked liver, and liver is his favourite thing, so he was very pleased with that.

If he has a crate why not feed him in that, removes the need he feels to guard his food

Not much to add really other than keep doing what you are doing and maybe show OH this thread... It isn't a quick fix for most dogs and considering he is young it may just be insecurity causing it.

If its any consolation, rave went through a little stage of this after the last litter mate left later (he went at almost 4months as he went abroad) she was very possessive around the other dogs with food, Though not so much towards people, I didn't do anything overly different, just spoke to her when she was eating and praising her verbally( without making any attempt to go near her, i just wanted her to relax) made sure she would happily take treats with the others in close proximity and as quickly as the problem developed it disappeared. She now has no issues with food around her.

He does have a crate, which I will use when needed for now but I wouldn't want that to be a long term solution, especially when he is so young that it can be worked out. I don't plan on keeping his crate up once he is old enough... or at least not in this house because it takes up so much room.

OH isn't being too bad... he just isn't impressed with his behaviour, and wants it sorted. He doesn't do anything to Arrow about it though, like no 'challenging' him etc.

I did think it could be 'puppy' thing, I am sure I read/heard that it can be a common problem in puppies. Although, we didn't have any real issues with Jake.

Arrow has his times when he is bad with people, but he is worse with Jake. I also feel like I know good ways to get him over his issue with people, but it is with Jake that I am unsure of. The link that SB posted has some good ideas though, so I will be enrolling OH to help with that

TBH if your puppy is this bad with YOU around food at this age I would do some SERIOUS training around this.

Dogs do not "grow out" of things, they get better at them.


Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs by Jean Donaldson is a mine of info and available on Kindle.

I would back up what SB has said about the book 'Mine'

Whenever you approach when the pup is eating always have a better treat with you than the food being eaten. At first just chuck it towards the pup so it realises that you being around when eating is a good thing, then build it up closer and closer until you can eventually hand the pup the food. At first it will take it suspiciously but it will get better.

The food resource guarding could likely escalate to toys and and other resources (socks or anything else the pup can get it's teeth into). So, be careful around that too. Never remove a toy or resource, always exchange. I would have toys that they get freely (I give mine free use of kongs) and toys that you control.

The pup has to learn that you or your OH being around does not mean removal of resource but indeed means accumualtion of better resource (better toys (I sometimes stuff the kongs with food) or better food e.g. roast chicken treat presented when eating kibble)

Hope that helps. The resource guarding may never be totally eliminated but with the three P's you will get there