If you notice your puppy resource guarding against you, there's a video to help: ruclips.net/video/XDdf1w_9Ha0/видео.html See the follow up video on This!'s resource guarding - ruclips.net/video/XUJksPoQNps/видео.html And a quick video showing This! sharing - ruclips.net/video/XsoLba0xl6Y/видео.html
1. Journal (time, resource, location, target dog, action and outcome) each dog vs dog aggression behavior 2. Identify and remove triggers (keep dog under threshold) 3. Create a safe environment (Use positive reinforcement in the form of a bed/crate or activity before they react to triggers and reward dogs coming near each other peacefully) - Don't discipline dog for resource guarding - Don't use high value food/toys for positive reinforcement because the dog will guard that too - Refer to "Mine!" by Jean Donaldson for a more in-depth guide on resource guarding - Refer to a certified Veterinary Behaviorist if the dog is aggressive in any way
We have always been a two Labrador household until our most recent addition of a 3rd (high-drive, field-bred) Labrador puppy just over a year ago. There was definitely a learning curve regarding resources. One thing that really helped me was for the puppy to learn where she was in the hierarchy for treats, toy play, etc. I found that using each dog’s name prior to handing out any resource really clarified things for her and kept expectations where they should be. Once she became really proficient at IYC, I also added a game where I would drop a low value piece of kibble on the floor, cue one of my other dogs to get it with their name, and at the same time, give the puppy a super high value treat as a reward. Liz Dole, DVM
My Aussie doesn't resource guard but he bark, bark, barks until he gets a toy away from my other dog. I'm currently in your Recallers class and it is helping me alot. I play hot zone with him and he is learning this is a more rewarding behavior. Anyone watching this that's thinking of joining Recallers...I highly recommend 👌
Teaching "trade" helped a lot for me. Teaching to "share" by holding the object while they chew and not letting go, periodically "out" and giving it back or giving something better. Keeping a leash on so they cannot go hide and take it away to a private area, which in some cases are where they get offensive. Sticking to lower value chews as you mentioned as well. Tons of patience and repetition, that's for sure! Really depends on the severity of the dog though! Definitely best to combat with obedience and play management to set them up for success!
I’m the prodigal daughter returned to Susan’s training methods because of an incident of resource-based aggression a month ago by my 4yo (the other 10yo dog was bleeding). Darcy (aggressor) is currently on doggy prozac, I’ve increased our exercise, I’m learning from both Susan and Darcy how to better manage the environment, and we’re playing ItsYerChoice and target games multiple times a day. I’m looking forward with confidence to better relationships among the three of us 🥰
This is so good to hear. My pup showed resource guarding early on and I believed I had caused it - or was to blame. The subtle signs can be *so easy* to miss. This was reassuring and helpful!
Hi Jennifer I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
This is extremely helpful. I have a one year old blind border collie/cross and we also have a 14week old border collie. My blind dog isn't much of an eater, however when she does eat, she lifts her lips at the puppy if the pup comes too close. We control the environment and work on hot zone with the pup, which has helped immensely. I can't thank your team enough for all of the training you freely offer and give of yourselves.
I have a 3 year old German Shepherd who has become the “lifetime” problem. We got him during a difficult time for our family (5th Shepherd- none at same time) and we did not see the early signs. ZZ would get aggressive at people coming in the house. Unfortunately for him, our boxer would run at people full speed and bark as they came in, but he just wanted love and kisses. This was also the behavior of our previous shepherd. But ZZ was scared and reacted with aggression. We didn’t get help till the first bite, as we didn’t understand that his fear would lead to aggression, we had never seen this. Our first two trainers had us correct him. Which we had been doing. But nothing seemed to help. I joined Recallers, but only got as far as Crate Games as I didn’t make the connection of the training building confidence. Our current trainer has been helping me connect the dots and by the 4th lesson we figured out we were both ReCallers. THANK YOU for making the statement about keeping him below threshold being boring! It is very boring and my family want to do more fun stuff so most training lands on me. So currently, I can walk him on bike trail with the only issue being dogs. Currently I pull him off the trail, make him put back to trail, and play “Look at That”. Most times I don’t have enough distance to keep anxiety down where he will take a treat, but we have 6 successful “no bark” passings in a row. At home, we leash him if someone comes in. Mostly my son’s fiance is just about our only visitor thanks to ZZ. He is getting better with her, has sniffed her a few times with her making no eye contact. 80% of the time it is a no bark event when she comes over. There are days he looks like he doesn’t understand why he can’t visit her more, but then next time we get a lip curl. Please send me some kind of encouragement. It is a lifetime issue and we are making progress. I looked last year for a veterinarian behavioralist but couldn’t find one in our area. It is heartbreaking to have a dog with so much fear, I really wish I understood this when he was a puppy.
I've been listening to all Susan's podcasts in preparation for getting a puppy; and decided to apply these techniques to my two cats, who sometimes have snarling tiffs with each other. I have been rewarding them with treats when they are hanging out together; and stopped reinforcing their fights by talking to them and giving them both pats afterwards (I thought I was calming them down). Its amazing! Already the frequency of fights has gone down heaps, the tiffs they do have aren't nearly as intense or long lasting, and they even share sleeping on my bed near each other without angst! Really amazing stuff and a great insight into how I've been unwittingly reinforcing undesirable behaviour. Thanks so much Susan, I'm learning so much for having a dog in the future but also how to help support my cats too. You legend!
This is soooo good to read, Louis! We love that you're preparing for your puppy (you're going to to great!) and that Susan's podcast helped your cats' relationship 😻 So many wins! ❤️
Very helpful! I have a 6 month old American Pitbull Terrier who is mostly super chill, but he will calmly inch his way toward the other dog and slowly take away a bully stick, antler chew or kong. He's a little more animated with diving after a toy the other dog is moving toward. I'll be watching this video a few times,....
Yes, please do more on resource guarding and your journey with This! My almost 9 month old Kelpie puppy resource guards food from my 3yo greyhound/wolfhound/deerhound. She is getting better slowly, but would love to know what else I could be doing to help her!!
Hi Sally I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
This was so good! I always learn something new! My first Corgi, Daisy, would growl at me EVERYTIME I fed her and made her wait. She never snapped at us. What I have learned since her passing, following Susan, joining Recallers, is that that were several events that may have contributed to her becoming very aggressive towards other dogs. She is gone now and I am doing my best to create a positive environment for my current Corgi, Bazil. Thank you Susan for all the golden GEMS that you share!!! I love my dog even more.
Thank you Susan. I do experience dog vs dog resource guarding. I've learned to watch the dogs carefully, usually say"be nice to each other" prior to escalation, but like trigger stacking, tension build and I step, before the dogs flare up, sending each one to their crates. I like the information and warnings you share. I am guilty of reprimanding the dogs as well. It's such a easy solution to direct them to the hot zones or get them to retrieve or any number of other redirects where they can get rewarded for doing good! I also have one dog who will run toward the other and bump it as she runs past it. This drives me crazy! I suspected it had something to do with pecking order and am glad you mention it in the podcast as resource guarding. I have noticed this behavior when both dogs are leashed after I allow them to explore freely on leads. I have started to anticipate when this is about to happen and quickly shorten up the leash of the dog doing the bumping. Is this the right thing to do?
My puppy started resource guarding just before her first heat at 6 mo old. She started with food, her exercise pen and kennel. Now she even does it with the water bowl. She doesn't like to drink at the same time as the other dogs and if they come over to drink her lip curls and she will snap them away. I asked some people what to do and they said to do the things you said not too. She is just over a year now and I don't really trust her when she is eating. My other dogs leave her alone when eating and drinking but I am still not trusting her to not go after them or another dog. She is also starting to resource guard me if another dog comes to me. Thank you for the information. I hope this will help us both.
I love you for your shout out to Jean, among all the other reasons! I have found great success with FLOODING the environment with resources takes the pressure off (plenty more where that came from) and builds confidence. It's about teaching "sharing," and reinforcing dogs for "sharing," and it's also teaching them, don't worry!
@@devawoods7360 Same, our weim wants to own all the toys, doesnt matter if there are other toys, if our terrier has a toy she wants the toy and will take it and if the terrier gets close to her he will growl. We have tried playing a game where the dog who doesnt have a toy gets treats if they leave the other dog alone. It is hard though because both are very treat focussed and just end up not wanting the toy haha
Owned 9 dogs working on number 10 (4month lab/Persian mix) and have never had an issue with food aggression until now. I really appreciate your insight and understanding. Blessed to have a loving dog, he may have issues but thanks to you we can work through them an I can guarantee him a safe life without stupid issues like hurting someone unnecessarily. Much love, ty again!
Great podcast. So far I do not have any problem with my 3 dogs but I guess it is because I have always managed who and where they play with toys. All the toys are away and out only when they play with me :) Thank you Recallers and Susan for all I have learned and put in action since I started your program.
Thank you so much!! ❤this episode is incredible important to me, my pup started to guard me, I love her so much and don’t want her to feel like I can be taken from her.
This is another great video to have out for people who are struggling with resource guarding of people , places, things , and anything else they want to resource guard. I have a 4 yr old who resource guards me, and also food but not toys and not bones . I have been doing the boring and removing the triggers or resources I find behaviour changes. I manage and do tons of recalls, iyc , bring me ,and outs. Counter conditioning and desensitization is my go to training. I have a new 6 month old deaf puppy who hasn’t shown any resource guarding. I’m always watching but not journaling. I will start this tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll find more information. Thanks again for another great video. Please keep us posted and do another update on this topic.
My dog started resource guarding (treats, toys, sticks and me) and I didn't know what to do. I'm going to watch this again and again and again and start working at it. Thanks!
Thank you Susan. Phew I have work to do. My rescue dog is doing this. I thought he was just selfish with the toys (he now has 2 puppies to keep them away from), but I think it's more serious. I think I will take you up on your "I need help:!
Susan thank you so much, I've learn so much. I have a 4 month old golden doodle and I'm noticing how he reacts when I put his food down. Time to put into action this lesson. Thank you again.
Goodness, I would give so much to have had this video when Win first came to us at 4 months old. I did so much, so wrong back then with his barrier frustration/resource guarding at the doors and windows. Thanks to your expert, Sharon, I am watching this now and forming a plan. Windsor deserves my patience and the manipulation of our environment to help him through this. Thank you, Susan, for being so honest about your dogs’ experiences with resource guarding and your plans for addressing it.
Brilliant advice! Yes please do a follow-up! My Phoebe seems to resource guard me against other dogs, but I will start a journal to be sure, I love that idea! I'm in HSTD so my dogs are learning about recalls and Hot Zone. Thank you once again for making our lives and our dogs lives better!!!
What an important podcast. I have been so grateful that I had Recallers training with my dogs before I had a resource guarding issue. It gave me the knowledge and tools to deal with this issue when I needed to nip it in the bud before it became a huge issue. I picked up a few more ideas from this podcast for future use. Once again, thank you for all you do to make our lives with dogs easier
It’s like those people who say “let them fight it out, they will learn” it’s such a dangerous mindset. I agree to not ignore this behaviour and teach the dogs that they shouldn’t guard a resource. My dog guards the sofa from the cat. I want to foster in a few months so I’m gathering as much information as I can to handle this situation and not let it escalate. Thank you so much for these videos Susan!
Loved this. Please, would you discuss resource guarding against people. It would be great if you could give people warning signs and some suggestions to help their dog before it becomes a bigger problem. Thank you
I have two border collie, mum and daughter and I’ve only just started seeing this in the daughter towards the mum now she’s reached two years old and is completely resource guarding her food now, I never saw any sign of it when she was a young puppy. Thanks for your help, Jenny
My dog is 4 yrs, got second dog when he was almost 3. His resource guarding is toys, but VERY inconsistant. One day a certain toy is "it" and another day a different toy is "it". AND it may only happen once a month! I will start journaling when it happens to try to figure out what was going on in his environment when he feels insecure. BTW, he's 50 lb hound dog mix and she's a 2 yr old 15 lb terrier mix. Both neutered. Thanks so much for your podcasts. I really love them and have learned a lot from them.
So I made the mistake of sharing ONE training treat with my rescue dog and our cat, which our previous dog had been fine with, but our rescue was a stray. I’m not sure she’s ever had anything of her own. And the cats have been hitting her, so she now acts like she is afraid of them but also guarding me. And she freaks out when I’m training her and our one cat comes out again. When the cats come too close to me her eyes become saucers and she tries to force them away. I think it’s a mix of jealousy and she is thinking they’re going to hit me too. Also I was grieving our previous dog really hard after we had our rescue for two months, I am her anchor as I’m here with her 24/7 while my husband works, so my pulling away emotionally I’m sure is not helping her. It’s been really hard. Sitting down to watch this video, I hope it helps, as I don’t ever want to have to rehome her, and I want her and the cats to live in harmony. ❤️ Edit: I need to add that she is about a year old now. We’ve almost had her 3 months.
Hi Susan, thank you for such helpful information. I have 3 foster puppies who came from Mexico. They were at a private shelter in Mexico and they got fed and taken care of but never have lived with people. Flicky, a Malinois Shepherd pup, was only 5.5 mos old but she was the one that resource guarded against the other two pups; one is bigger but mellower, the other is 3 mos older and same size as her. Back in Mexico, she was in the same kennel with her brother, that was larger than her, in fact, I heard that she was a runt. Therefore, she had to be strong to eat whenever she had a chance to survive. I understand how and why she has become a resource guarder. Here, the 3 foster pups are kept in our utility room and whenever I prepare their meals on top of the washer, she is right by my legs to guard the foods I am preparing! She actually attacked them and chased them away, or sometimes they even got into a fight. When I shouted Hey!! Stop it!! They stopped fighting so it was not a serious bloody fight but still I wanted to correct the behavior. What I did was to treat the other dogs when they came close to me despite Flicky's growing. I never treated Flicky but the other pups got treated every time, that was showing Flicky that the food I was preparing was not only for her but for them too. I did that every single mealtime. Pretty soon, she accepted that they get close to me and to the foods I was preparing. I think she got my message!!
Hi Holly I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
Thanks so much! We adopted Lilly a year ago and her resource guarding seems to be getting more intense. She’s a tiny terrier mix and guards me. No one can get near me especially if they talk with their hands. Do you have an episode about doggo guarding their human?
Thank you Susan!! I have recently found out that my puppy mixed Spanish mastiff has been food guarding the lunch and dinner food (dog food) against our older Dalmatian dog. It is always when preparing the food. Your podcast video gave me the information I need to know and how to proceed.
My 3 year old heeler is has resource guarding against toys rooms and me. I am going to seek a vet behaviorist like you pointed out. It is a lot of work to keep the peace.
Thank you so much, fantastic information. It is invaluable to hear how you deal with the practicalities of dealing with these issues, sharing your wealth of knowledge. You are an inspiration. X
Our almost 5 month Aussie just showed her first sign of resource guarding with our son’s dog. Thank you for the information. Please let us know how This is doing now.
A way that will reduce the severity of resource guarding is to expose the dog to this stress and slowly manage it. Food is a big trigger. Buy several water melons and cut into many pieces. Let the dogs eat it. Do this with everything that the dog resources. YES the dog may get sick from too much food but it will reduce this aggression. This should be done to all resources. Same with toys. Put 50 toys in the room. Also it helps greatly that this is done in a large space. You have to remember fight or flight, if they have room they will run away. Good luck. Ps, working lines should be out working, many problems will reduce when mentally stimulated on a daily basis.
This video is SO appreciated. Just knowing that your dogs resource guard and about this second fear period was an immediate relief that my puppy isn't bad. My hallucination was that your dogs are perfectly raised and live together with universal joy. My big doofy 6 mo puppy is doing great on Recallers so this was an upsetting change, I've already stopped the rehearsals and reinforcing HZ and his favorite tricks and it is improving. I decided to do low energy tricks because they make me smile and that helps me have a calmer affect while I work through this.
Thanks for this I will try all your tips, I have a rescue dog come into our home, and a few weeks later there is so,e resource guarding going on, the new dog is quite reactive, she came from a shelter, so any information I can glean is wonderful. Thank you
Thank you so much! In three weeks time I’m getting a new Rottweiler puppy. ( I’ve never had a dog from a puppy before, I have always had adult rescue dogs) Rottweilers are notorious resource guarders so I am trying to learn as much as I can and be proactive. I love all the information you put out! Thank you again😊
THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY for this podcast...Lol out here I'm on my own...NO VETERINARY BEHAVIORIST in sight. .even when I was in the dog world so to speak ...none...that was many years ago....what I'm saying is that there must be thousands of people like me that live in countries where this service is not available.So i value your information. .thanks. ..granny owned by a cattle dog.
this makes me feel so much better, i’ve owned a lab and golden retriever, had zero guarding with those breeds, i taught both to let me see what they had, but a completely different experience with my border collie/GSP….she knows how to give up the tug toy on command, so i’ve been working with her to give up whatever she has, my slipper…whatever, at first she would drop it and come for the treat but she’s finally understanding she has to bring it to me, like a fetch, and deliver it to me, because i’m trying to teach her to retrieve things for me, like my golden would do. before treating her i stand over the item, moving her back, taking possession before treating her, and before treating i verbalize good drop it….she has finally reached a point of understanding. now we’re working on leaving things in the first place. she will bring items to me to play tug, trying to entice me, but i won’t even put my hands near it…i have grandkids so i only play tug with her tug toy, which is put away after the game. i am sure i made some training mistakes, especially how different she is from my other dogs. her mouthing was so bad, and once she was past 1 if i did any correcting, and i tried to be gentle…she started this drive by attack thing. i did wise up quickly even softer voice, very very soft correction and mostly just distracting her. trying to avoid the conflict in the first place…she is bitey mostly when she’s tired. mostly she goes after my husband, finally i have him accepting the solution, he finally just puts a grate to block her access, she calms immediately, there’s no game to rehearse this bad behavior. she’s now 2 and getting better, i’ve been working on going to her place. i need to train this downstairs because when we have company she never stops moving, but we seldom have company….first i need to train the “place” training downstairs..,and then add people. yesterday we had grandkids, i make sure she has her ball because that keeps her focus on the ball. they know how to pick it up and toss it. i’ve taught her to drop it so no little hands take the ball, they know to tell her to drop it…so she’s compliant with them. it’s adorable to watch the 5 year old giving commands and her behaving him. i don’t allow any teasing and no giving treats because last spring she tried to snatch it from him…i’ve taught them to hold their hand open, he hadn’t opened his hand yet and i think she didn’t think he was going to give it. i bought a long spoon and am going to train her to take treats with it, once i get that accomplished,i may let the grandkids give her a treat using the long spoon, keeping little fingers away from her mouth.
This is great info Susan, I am in Recallers and have a 10 yr. old Aussie Mix who resource guards me and food or water bowls and treats from other dogs and our cats, it is very challenging.
We have a 15 year old labradoodle Jessy and a 9 month old bcollie ausie shepherd cross - Stanley. Jessy LOVES Stanley’s food and will take any opportunity to head over to his bowl if he leaves any (and he does the same to hers- I do feed them in different rooms). I really try not to leave their bowls down with food in them but if I miss it and I notice one of them heading towards the others’ bowl I swoop in as quickly as I can and just pick it up without saying anything. Stanley will now rush ahead of her if he notices her going in that direction and block his food with his body and without growling will then turn toward me as if to say, “get over here and deal with this, you forgot to pick it up.” If she does beat him to it and is really digging in, he will stand near her but not growl or push her aside but again look at me with “those eyes” at which point I’ll pick up his bowl. I hope Im on the right track,... I LOVE the videos about how you are training THIS! Thank you and keep them coming!
Hi annelie I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
So great to know there is a way out of resource guarding. I've never had any trouble with it with any of my Labs, fortunately, but I have always wondered the best way to handle it. Thank you for the explanation!
Many years ago I had a dog who became aggressive towards some of the humans in the house. Listening to this I did so many things wrong when she was a puppy! She finally needed to be euthanized because I was so terrified she would end up attacking the baby we had at the time. I know better now and so can do better with our new puppy!
Hi Wendy, give yourself grace, as you said you did your best with what you knew. We have a wonderful Puppy Essentials playlist for you and your pup: ruclips.net/video/rUIX5qW85tU/видео.html Don't forget to subscribe so you can be notified of our upcoming videos! 🐕
I just gave my dog a 3' bubble and offered him a piece of beef liver, it took about 10 repetitions and then he laid up against me for pets and let me touch, hold, and take the toy. I do expect that we will need a period of practice to stabilize and ingrain this but I also anticipate it going smoothly, he likes learning. In my experience a calm but strong NO, followed immediately by a treat and praise when they drop the object has not escalated this issue in any of the 10-12 dogs I've used it with, but I'm watching this because I know I'm only experienced not an expert.
Rewatched so I could write this down for just noticing Gemma will resource guard me or my hubby or toy so will be working on this to correct it. Thanks so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️
just want to let you know how much this podcast helped me when my coonhound puppy started resource guarding towards my very senior, blind dog & cat: his "food balls" (treat dispenser balls, with his kibbles in them) and bones... I just took them away! He hasn't ever acted like that with any other items, or me, so I guess that is lucky. Hoping to be able to reintroduce them at some point, so he can see that they are not a big deal
Added a coonhound to our pack of 2. She’s starting to show signs of guarding (my two boys have never showed this), so this is completely knew to me. I will start removing toys and reintroducing them when appropriate. I think we have put too much value on them. I appreciate the insight.
This is super helpful. We have a 15 y/po border collie and 4.5 mo old bordercollie that are currently both displaying resource guarding with food and treats. Older dog is most likely doing it because of dementia, younger because of second fear period.
Thank you for your comment. We have a playlist full of awesome tips on this subject ruclips.net/p/PLphRRSxcMHy1JqsmK9_tnBuTQpBXFfYXi (Rachel - DogsThat Team)
Hi Susan, I love your videos! I’m a foster parent who helps other fosters with training their dogs. I have one particular dog, about 2yrs old, she guards anything that’s in her mouth; especially tugs and balls. She’s also has at least 2 bite histories on file plus @ least 1 other dog attack that we know of. We’ve been muzzle training with her. I was told she’s constantly rubbing,tugging, pulling at the muzzle to get it off. I thought using the muzzle while practicing loose leash walking, then randomly having a play break with the ball would make a great reinforcement. Plus, with a muzzle, she isn’t able to trap the ball. So, we’d walk several steps, toss the ball for a break, let her play, then tell her “give” “leave it “, walk away from the ball & get back to work. At various times, she would immediately get the ball back, other times , she would work longer before getting the ball. At one point, we had her in a kennel with the ball & brought outside the dog that she previously attacked. She paid no mind to the dog working in front of her kennel. I was told this dog is not human aggressive, however, i firmly believe she would be so Over threshold with the ball that she wouldn’t make the distinction between the ball or human. Will you please share some other “games” we can use with her to build relationships. Unfortunately, with rescues being so overcrowded, lack of fosters, and more pups looking for homes, I feel the organization wants quicker results even though I’ve repeatedly stated she’s not a one and done, this is a process and training is ongoing. At the end of our session, we were sitting with the ball on our lap, she was laying down in a relaxed position in front of us.
Hi Lisa, thank you for fostering and doing what you do to help dogs! Our playlist on multidog homes has a lot of tips and strategies - ruclips.net/p/PLphRRSxcMHy2ee0fquucowgCTcl1kCdO- Our video for Project Togetherness is one with a lot of help for the first days with dogs new to our homes - ruclips.net/video/K17x8i_Qb9k/видео.html
I need help Szep,my nearly 9 year old Pumi was injured ( suspected cruciate) started grumbling at Darcy ,(4year old PUMI )every time he got near. As both dogs had up to that point been the best of mates Darcy at first ignored Szep's grumbling. The Vet was only allowing Szep exercise to relieve himself on lead, otherwise total rest for at least 10 days. To facilitate this I put Szep in a cage. No problem there as Szep loves his cage/ crate. Szep had 2 toys in his ' house' and a bone. Darcy would lay right next to the crate and Szep was totally relaxed by this. Of course I had to exercise both dogs separately. When I took Darcy out Szep went spare ( lesson to me- exercise the dogs individually sometimes when Szep got better- which he has). Long story short- Szep has now started 'protecting toys, any toy he might be playing with and grumbling is leading to the occasional warning snap. Both dogs used to love playing tug-with each other- not anymore- Darcy is now giving Szep a wide berth and does not try to engage Szep in play. As Darcy is staying away from Szep as long as he has a toy there are no more grumbles. Out on joint walks they are friends and they often share a bed like in the old days, but if Darcy wants a toy he will pick one and leave the area near Szep, if Szep follows Darcy will leave the toy for Szep who often totally ignores it. How can I get them to play together again? Szep has definitely appointed himself as toy monitor- no problems with food, but I keep a careful eye on them with a new fresh bone.
I needed this video! Thank you for the great advice. Please keep them coming. My dog has dog on dog aggression especially going in our bed at night. They both sleep on our bed but my 1 year old male puppy is starting to really bully my older dog when she tries to get in the bed. I will definitely read the book you talked about and will probably go to a vet behavioralist. Thank you!
Yes please, also general confidence building in the pup, my pup is seeing monsters everywhere at the moment so I’m taking it all super slowly but would love to see your journey with This as she is one week older than my Kelpie pup x
I just had an experience like this with my eight month old golden doodle. She was resource guarding a bone and growling at me and I reached to her mouth to take the bone out and she snapped at me and bit my finger. I yelled at her I guess and I didn’t mean to but the bite hurt and I think I lost my temper. I didn’t lay hands on her but I yelled and grabbed her snout and said “no biting”. After watching this video I know I definitely got that wrong. I hope I didn’t permanently damage my dog by that one instance of discipline.
Thank you for that podcast. My 2 yr old pointer amstaff mix definitely resource guarded against my senior dog. Senior was 14 at the time - she was euthanized for age related illness😩 - I n the beginning, everyone got mad at her ( she was of course a puppy), grabbed her snd hollered at her. She would guard her bed, toys, space and favorite person. Since the death of my senior, she only now guards one of my cats. She play well with my don’s 1yr old dog. I’ve only seen one instance of guarding over ice cream which was managed by removing the ice cream. I need to know how to handle it if we go some where and another dog is present and I might be training heel or sit whatever with treats, the other comes to visit and POW! She goes after the fog. Or if she starts to guard against my son’s untrained, crazy- wild 1yr old dog.
Thank you for this video I adopted two puppies not related but both seven months old and the new boy has some triggers. I’m trying to not scold him when he does it but it’s also hard because he lashes out at the other puppy and I need to learn new skills on this as I’ve never experienced this before
My dog developed resource guarding a few months after I adopted him (towards my parents’ dog, usually food but a few instances of toys, his bed, or me). I’m able to identify the body language and generally would just take him into a separate space. When I grab his collar to move him out (no yelling, anger, etc) he will begin his feral growling (I’ve been around countless dogs and I swear I’ve never heard a growl like his) towards the other dog but has never acted beyond that. When he went to training for general obedience, the trainer recommended I ask him to lie down when he shows his early warning signs. I just wanted to get another opinion on this- I can tell that my previous method of physically removing him from the trigger sets him off as he becomes vocal. I’ve found that after a few seconds in a down, he does tend to recenter himself, but I worry this doesn’t reinforce the idea that guarding isn’t the right choice? When I allow him to break his down, he tends to approach the other dog and shake off, stretch, yawn, etc which I’ve known to be as friendlier signals.
When my new 4 mos old ACD puppy arrived here from the rescue (a pretty bad wee fear biter🐊!) my Mother in Law gave her a HUGE hip bone to welcome her (as a joke too- the bone was bigger than she was!) She wanted a photo of her with it. Ugh! As soon as the first chew happened she looked drunk/addicted to it (it still had a bit of meat on it). I let her chew it supervised for a bit and then moved to trade her for it...she growled and bared her teeth at me and looked as though she SERIOUSLY considered taking it further. I was lucky that it wasn't my other dog or one of my family members. ALL my mistake. I seriously should have known better in the first place...for starters we didn't even know her well enough or were aware of what experiences she had before we got her. Shame on ME. From that point on she was tracked VERY carefully and only given small things to chew that weren't even nearly as valuable in safe/supervised places and I had her practice trading them for very high value treats. We also incorporated the Hotzones to help redirect her which she loves (because she is clever and figured out very quickly that she get paid regularly there!) Looking back now I feel as though she was also guarding the action of chewing almost as much as WHAT she was chewing (poor teething pup!). Now that I know her very well , I know that she STILL loves chewing THAT much. Long story short... she is 9 months old now and hasn't shown any RG for a full two months- but vigilance is important. I am slowly teaching turn taking now as well. SO many people who DON'T know better kept telling me to just give up and manage it with separation (that Cattledogs are notorious for instinctual RG behavior and that I wouldn't be able to ever train the behaviour out.) Thank you very much Susan for addressing the tough issues we face with our dogs in everyday life. We can always count on you for giving clear and positive information on how to deal with them and work through them when and if they happen. I appreciate you and enjoy (and learn from) your podcasts very much. P.S. Sorry for the novel🙈📖
THANKS needed this. My Gemma barks at our clocks in the bedroom or where they ate so will do IYC and Hot Zone in another room to see if it helps. I now turn down the clocks and turn off lights and that most the time works but would be happier if we solved it. Great podcast as always ❤❤❤❤⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My youngest border collie was a terrible resource guarder and guarded things that were none of his business, like parcel deliveries, shopping bags and seemingly random items so was sometimes hard to predict. He was fine with food or toys around the other dogs. We fixed it, pretty much how Susan described. Now he takes himself to his raised bed or table when he sees something he wants to guard so there is very rarely an issue these days. Recaller games are a great toolkit for helping with this, for sure.
My BC as a puppy stole a bowl and when I went to get it from her she bit me badly. I was shocked. Now she resource guards only chew bones , which she does not get anymore and things she steals and thinks is hers. She is 5 yrs old now.
My almost 5 month old Border Collie puppy is dabbling in resource guarding, and the suggestions Susan made are helping reduce and eliminate this. It's my almost 4 year old mini poodle mix who is the real resource guarder and she is escalating. She mostly tries to keep the puppy away from me, but she will also sit in her kennel with her food dish and growl even when he's no where near her, almost as a matter of principle it seems. How do I manage the environment when I'm the resource? I usually just quietly pick her up and put her in her kennel or an xpen away from me when she does that.
I am having trouble with resource guarding with my 6 month old puppy and my cats. It’s mainly over high value bones or treats. I want to get ahead of this.
Hi Susan my little dog resource guards from us. A comfy lap, a viewpoint(window sill, kitchen door) the recycling basket. Could you expand to include resource guarding against their humans please?
I also need help with this- I have a dog I am boarding for a few months... He is guarding my friend from other dogs. I am also Recallers Alumni- and have an ongoing membership to Recallers. The situation is that my friend and I are walking dogs together- if one of my dogs gets close to my friend, the dog growls and lunges at the dog that is too close to his "resource". This dog is very insecure and lacks confidence and I have been playing IYC with him. He is also very picky about foods- interested in nothing but meat. So I don't have a range of treat values like I do with my dogs. Also to anyone reading this- Recallers is WORTH IT!!!!!! I can't say that enough. I have an ongoing membership and don't plan on giving it up.
I'm not sure you'll see this as this video is quite old but I thought I would anyway. My puppy is only 3 months and is showing some resource guarding against dogs (only one dog another puppy 4m who's quite pushy) and I am so worried as I was trying so hard not to have that due to a friends dog who has resource guarding. This video has totally built back some of my confidence. I'm ready to go through this challenge and will contact my vet even just for a chat to see what's needed 💗
I love these podcasts and watch them religiously - and I don't even have a dog! 😂 I would like to have a dog in the future but I am not sure how my cat would respond. Do you have any experience of introducing cats and dogs and helping them get along, Susan? Thank you and have a great weekend.
Thank you so much for this! One of our adult pit bulls resource guards all her toys, snacks and food/water bowls against our adult golden retriever. There have been horrible fights where they’ve hurt each other and we are at the point where we have to do everything separate it’s so frustrating I don’t know what to do
God I love you SG. I did recallers about 10 years ago with a rescue Carpathian Shepherd, who still might have her moments, but my goodness it taught her manners. The same with my BC. My issue is that we now have a rescue pup (who got a lot of attention for 3 weeks as he was on death's door) who has started to bully my older BC. I *think* he's resource guarding me or food. So this video is helpful, but I can't remove myself as easily as I can remove food. Thinking cap on and any comments or help HUGELY appreciated.
Hi @Lulu Oak, thank you for your lovely comment! And for rescuing your puppy. Our playlist for multi dog home has a lot of tips and strategies to help with household harmony - ruclips.net/p/PLphRRSxcMHy2ee0fquucowgCTcl1kCdO-
Just adopted a dog from the shelter and I think this is exactly what she's doing with her food. She'll finish it but then attack my other dog (if she's within view) once she's done. We're guessing she's about 1 yr so I'm hoping I can work with her to resolve this
I would love to see a follow up to this video! My Terv, Riggs, will be 3 soon and he is a resource guarder against other dogs. He will guard toys, food, and people but his reactivity varies depending on the time of day, the target, and his own mental state. We’re still in the journaling phase so hopefully that will help us identify more specific potential triggers. I think a common theme is his own insecurity so we’ve been working on that too. Honestly, it’s so nice to hear how common RG is because sometimes I feel like a failed trainer. Thank you for being so open about your dogs and taking some of the stigma from this particular issue.
If you notice your puppy resource guarding against you, there's a video to help: ruclips.net/video/XDdf1w_9Ha0/видео.html
See the follow up video on This!'s resource guarding - ruclips.net/video/XUJksPoQNps/видео.html
And a quick video showing This! sharing - ruclips.net/video/XsoLba0xl6Y/видео.html
1. Journal (time, resource, location, target dog, action and outcome) each dog vs dog aggression behavior
2. Identify and remove triggers (keep dog under threshold)
3. Create a safe environment (Use positive reinforcement in the form of a bed/crate or activity before they react to triggers and reward dogs coming near each other peacefully)
- Don't discipline dog for resource guarding
- Don't use high value food/toys for positive reinforcement because the dog will guard that too
- Refer to "Mine!" by Jean Donaldson for a more in-depth guide on resource guarding
- Refer to a certified Veterinary Behaviorist if the dog is aggressive in any way
What if we can’t find a vet behaviorist in our area?
We have always been a two Labrador household until our most recent addition of a 3rd (high-drive, field-bred) Labrador puppy just over a year ago. There was definitely a learning curve regarding resources. One thing that really helped me was for the puppy to learn where she was in the hierarchy for treats, toy play, etc. I found that using each dog’s name prior to handing out any resource really clarified things for her and kept expectations where they should be. Once she became really proficient at IYC, I also added a game where I would drop a low value piece of kibble on the floor, cue one of my other dogs to get it with their name, and at the same time, give the puppy a super high value treat as a reward.
Liz Dole, DVM
My Aussie doesn't resource guard but he bark, bark, barks until he gets a toy away from my other dog. I'm currently in your Recallers class and it is helping me alot. I play hot zone with him and he is learning this is a more rewarding behavior.
Anyone watching this that's thinking of joining Recallers...I highly recommend 👌
Teaching "trade" helped a lot for me.
Teaching to "share" by holding the object while they chew and not letting go, periodically "out" and giving it back or giving something better. Keeping a leash on so they cannot go hide and take it away to a private area, which in some cases are where they get offensive. Sticking to lower value chews as you mentioned as well. Tons of patience and repetition, that's for sure! Really depends on the severity of the dog though! Definitely best to combat with obedience and play management to set them up for success!
I’m the prodigal daughter returned to Susan’s training methods because of an incident of resource-based aggression a month ago by my 4yo (the other 10yo dog was bleeding). Darcy (aggressor) is currently on doggy prozac, I’ve increased our exercise, I’m learning from both Susan and Darcy how to better manage the environment, and we’re playing ItsYerChoice and target games multiple times a day. I’m looking forward with confidence to better relationships among the three of us 🥰
This is so good to hear. My pup showed resource guarding early on and I believed I had caused it - or was to blame. The subtle signs can be *so easy* to miss. This was reassuring and helpful!
Hi Jennifer I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
This is extremely helpful. I have a one year old blind border collie/cross and we also have a 14week old border collie. My blind dog isn't much of an eater, however when she does eat, she lifts her lips at the puppy if the pup comes too close. We control the environment and work on hot zone with the pup, which has helped immensely. I can't thank your team enough for all of the training you freely offer and give of yourselves.
I have a 3 year old German Shepherd who has become the “lifetime” problem. We got him during a difficult time for our family (5th Shepherd- none at same time) and we did not see the early signs. ZZ would get aggressive at people coming in the house. Unfortunately for him, our boxer would run at people full speed and bark as they came in, but he just wanted love and kisses. This was also the behavior of our previous shepherd. But ZZ was scared and reacted with aggression. We didn’t get help till the first bite, as we didn’t understand that his fear would lead to aggression, we had never seen this. Our first two trainers had us correct him. Which we had been doing. But nothing seemed to help. I joined Recallers, but only got as far as Crate Games as I didn’t make the connection of the training building confidence. Our current trainer has been helping me connect the dots and by the 4th lesson we figured out we were both ReCallers. THANK YOU for making the statement about keeping him below threshold being boring! It is very boring and my family want to do more fun stuff so most training lands on me. So currently, I can walk him on bike trail with the only issue being dogs. Currently I pull him off the trail, make him put back to trail, and play “Look at That”. Most times I don’t have enough distance to keep anxiety down where he will take a treat, but we have 6 successful “no bark” passings in a row. At home, we leash him if someone comes in. Mostly my son’s fiance is just about our only visitor thanks to ZZ. He is getting better with her, has sniffed her a few times with her making no eye contact. 80% of the time it is a no bark event when she comes over. There are days he looks like he doesn’t understand why he can’t visit her more, but then next time we get a lip curl. Please send me some kind of encouragement. It is a lifetime issue and we are making progress. I looked last year for a veterinarian behavioralist but couldn’t find one in our area. It is heartbreaking to have a dog with so much fear, I really wish I understood this when he was a puppy.
I've been listening to all Susan's podcasts in preparation for getting a puppy; and decided to apply these techniques to my two cats, who sometimes have snarling tiffs with each other. I have been rewarding them with treats when they are hanging out together; and stopped reinforcing their fights by talking to them and giving them both pats afterwards (I thought I was calming them down). Its amazing! Already the frequency of fights has gone down heaps, the tiffs they do have aren't nearly as intense or long lasting, and they even share sleeping on my bed near each other without angst! Really amazing stuff and a great insight into how I've been unwittingly reinforcing undesirable behaviour. Thanks so much Susan, I'm learning so much for having a dog in the future but also how to help support my cats too. You legend!
This is soooo good to read, Louis! We love that you're preparing for your puppy (you're going to to great!) and that Susan's podcast helped your cats' relationship 😻
So many wins! ❤️
Very helpful! I have a 6 month old American Pitbull Terrier who is mostly super chill, but he will calmly inch his way toward the other dog and slowly take away a bully stick, antler chew or kong. He's a little more animated with diving after a toy the other dog is moving toward. I'll be watching this video a few times,....
Yes, please do more on resource guarding and your journey with This! My almost 9 month old Kelpie puppy resource guards food from my 3yo greyhound/wolfhound/deerhound. She is getting better slowly, but would love to know what else I could be doing to help her!!
Hi Sally I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
This was so good! I always learn something new! My first Corgi, Daisy, would growl at me EVERYTIME I fed her and made her wait. She never snapped at us. What I have learned since her passing, following Susan, joining Recallers, is that that were several events that may have contributed to her becoming very aggressive towards other dogs. She is gone now and I am doing my best to create a positive environment for my current Corgi, Bazil. Thank you Susan for all the golden GEMS that you share!!! I love my dog even more.
Thank you Susan. I do experience dog vs dog resource guarding. I've learned to watch the dogs carefully, usually say"be nice to each other" prior to escalation, but like trigger stacking, tension build and I step, before the dogs flare up, sending each one to their crates. I like the information and warnings you share. I am guilty of reprimanding the dogs as well. It's such a easy solution to direct them to the hot zones or get them to retrieve or any number of other redirects where they can get rewarded for doing good! I also have one dog who will run toward the other and bump it as she runs past it. This drives me crazy! I suspected it had something to do with pecking order and am glad you mention it in the podcast as resource guarding. I have noticed this behavior when both dogs are leashed after I allow them to explore freely on leads. I have started to anticipate when this is about to happen and quickly shorten up the leash of the dog doing the bumping. Is this the right thing to do?
My puppy started resource guarding just before her first heat at 6 mo old. She started with food, her exercise pen and kennel. Now she even does it with the water bowl. She doesn't like to drink at the same time as the other dogs and if they come over to drink her lip curls and she will snap them away. I asked some people what to do and they said to do the things you said not too. She is just over a year now and I don't really trust her when she is eating. My other dogs leave her alone when eating and drinking but I am still not trusting her to not go after them or another dog. She is also starting to resource guard me if another dog comes to me. Thank you for the information. I hope this will help us both.
I love you for your shout out to Jean, among all the other reasons! I have found great success with FLOODING the environment with resources takes the pressure off (plenty more where that came from) and builds confidence. It's about teaching "sharing," and reinforcing dogs for "sharing," and it's also teaching them, don't worry!
I have tried this but it doesn't seem to work for us, she gets more stressed trying to guard/hoard everything.
@@devawoods7360 Same, our weim wants to own all the toys, doesnt matter if there are other toys, if our terrier has a toy she wants the toy and will take it and if the terrier gets close to her he will growl. We have tried playing a game where the dog who doesnt have a toy gets treats if they leave the other dog alone. It is hard though because both are very treat focussed and just end up not wanting the toy haha
Thank you for sharing this! This is real life and your honesty is helping loads of us
Owned 9 dogs working on number 10 (4month lab/Persian mix) and have never had an issue with food aggression until now. I really appreciate your insight and understanding. Blessed to have a loving dog, he may have issues but thanks to you we can work through them an I can guarantee him a safe life without stupid issues like hurting someone unnecessarily. Much love, ty again!
Susan you are amazing! I can listen to you for days and days! Thank you for this incredible talk. Just brilliant. Tremendous gratitude🙏🐾❤️🐾
Great podcast. So far I do not have any problem with my 3 dogs but I guess it is because I have always managed who and where they play with toys. All the toys are away and out only when they play with me :) Thank you Recallers and Susan for all I have learned and put in action since I started your program.
Yes please keep us posted on your journey with This ! I’m very interested in seeing how she progresses.
Thank you so much!! ❤this episode is incredible important to me, my pup started to guard me, I love her so much and don’t want her to feel like I can be taken from her.
Thank you so much, your approach feels like there is hope. We need alot more info and guidelines in this area.
This is another great video to have out for people who are struggling with resource guarding of people , places, things , and anything else they want to resource guard. I have a 4 yr old who resource guards me, and also food but not toys and not bones . I have been doing the boring and removing the triggers or resources I find behaviour changes. I manage and do tons of recalls, iyc , bring me ,and outs. Counter conditioning and desensitization is my go to training. I have a new 6 month old deaf puppy who hasn’t shown any resource guarding. I’m always watching but not journaling. I will start this tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll find more information. Thanks again for another great video. Please keep us posted and do another update on this topic.
My Ripley resource guards so many things. Thank you for sharing. Please do more podcasts on Resource Guarding.
My dog started resource guarding (treats, toys, sticks and me) and I didn't know what to do. I'm going to watch this again and again and again and start working at it. Thanks!
How are things going? My dog is doing the same thing. I’m just starting my research. Does it get better????
Thank you Susan. Phew I have work to do. My rescue dog is doing this. I thought he was just selfish with the toys (he now has 2 puppies to keep them away from), but I think it's more serious. I think I will take you up on your "I need help:!
Susan thank you so much, I've learn so much. I have a 4 month old golden doodle and I'm noticing how he reacts when I put his food down. Time to put into action this lesson. Thank you again.
Goodness, I would give so much to have had this video when Win first came to us at 4 months old. I did so much, so wrong back then with his barrier frustration/resource guarding at the doors and windows. Thanks to your expert, Sharon, I am watching this now and forming a plan. Windsor deserves my patience and the manipulation of our environment to help him through this. Thank you, Susan, for being so honest about your dogs’ experiences with resource guarding and your plans for addressing it.
Brilliant advice! Yes please do a follow-up! My Phoebe seems to resource guard me against other dogs, but I will start a journal to be sure, I love that idea! I'm in HSTD so my dogs are learning about recalls and Hot Zone. Thank you once again for making our lives and our dogs lives better!!!
Thank you for your podcast.
I'm looking forward to helping my dogs get over this very serious problem.
What an important podcast. I have been so grateful that I had Recallers training with my dogs before I had a resource guarding issue. It gave me the knowledge and tools to deal with this issue when I needed to nip it in the bud before it became a huge issue. I picked up a few more ideas from this podcast for future use. Once again, thank you for all you do to make our lives with dogs easier
You are so welcome... LaDonna we love having you with us in Recallers!
It’s like those people who say “let them fight it out, they will learn” it’s such a dangerous mindset. I agree to not ignore this behaviour and teach the dogs that they shouldn’t guard a resource. My dog guards the sofa from the cat. I want to foster in a few months so I’m gathering as much information as I can to handle this situation and not let it escalate. Thank you so much for these videos Susan!
Loved this. Please, would you discuss resource guarding against people. It would be great if you could give people warning signs and some suggestions to help their dog before it becomes a bigger problem. Thank you
My cavalier is three years old and developed really bad possession aggression. Thank you for your video
Yes, Id love some more information on this topic. Ive rewatched this podcast many times and hear new information each time.. thank you🧡
I have two border collie, mum and daughter and I’ve only just started seeing this in the daughter towards the mum now she’s reached two years old and is completely resource guarding her food now, I never saw any sign of it when she was a young puppy. Thanks for your help, Jenny
My dog is 4 yrs, got second dog when he was almost 3. His resource guarding is toys, but VERY inconsistant. One day a certain toy is "it" and another day a different toy is "it". AND it may only happen once a month! I will start journaling when it happens to try to figure out what was going on in his environment when he feels insecure. BTW, he's 50 lb hound dog mix and she's a 2 yr old 15 lb terrier mix. Both neutered. Thanks so much for your podcasts. I really love them and have learned a lot from them.
June, as you start your record keeping journey - also visit Podcast #16 to help with your observation skills and note taking. Lynda(TeamSusan)
So I made the mistake of sharing ONE training treat with my rescue dog and our cat, which our previous dog had been fine with, but our rescue was a stray. I’m not sure she’s ever had anything of her own. And the cats have been hitting her, so she now acts like she is afraid of them but also guarding me. And she freaks out when I’m training her and our one cat comes out again. When the cats come too close to me her eyes become saucers and she tries to force them away. I think it’s a mix of jealousy and she is thinking they’re going to hit me too.
Also I was grieving our previous dog really hard after we had our rescue for two months, I am her anchor as I’m here with her 24/7 while my husband works, so my pulling away emotionally I’m sure is not helping her. It’s been really hard. Sitting down to watch this video, I hope it helps, as I don’t ever want to have to rehome her, and I want her and the cats to live in harmony. ❤️
Edit: I need to add that she is about a year old now. We’ve almost had her 3 months.
Hi Susan, thank you for such helpful information. I have 3 foster puppies who came from Mexico. They were at a private shelter in Mexico and they got fed and taken care of but never have lived with people. Flicky, a Malinois Shepherd pup, was only 5.5 mos old but she was the one that resource guarded against the other two pups; one is bigger but mellower, the other is 3 mos older and same size as her. Back in Mexico, she was in the same kennel with her brother, that was larger than her, in fact, I heard that she was a runt. Therefore, she had to be strong to eat whenever she had a chance to survive. I understand how and why she has become a resource guarder.
Here, the 3 foster pups are kept in our utility room and whenever I prepare their meals on top of the washer, she is right by my legs to guard the foods I am preparing! She actually attacked them and chased them away, or sometimes they even got into a fight.
When I shouted Hey!! Stop it!! They stopped fighting so it was not a serious bloody fight but still I wanted to correct the behavior.
What I did was to treat the other dogs when they came close to me despite Flicky's growing. I never treated Flicky but the other pups got treated every time, that was showing Flicky that the food I was preparing was not only for her but for them too. I did that every single mealtime. Pretty soon, she accepted that they get close to me and to the foods I was preparing. I think she got my message!!
Hi Holly I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
Thanks so much! We adopted Lilly a year ago and her resource guarding seems to be getting more intense. She’s a tiny terrier mix and guards me. No one can get near me especially if they talk with their hands. Do you have an episode about doggo guarding their human?
Thank you Susan!! I have recently found out that my puppy mixed Spanish mastiff has been food guarding the lunch and dinner food (dog food) against our older Dalmatian dog. It is always when preparing the food. Your podcast video gave me the information I need to know and how to proceed.
My 3 year old heeler is has resource guarding against toys rooms and me. I am going to seek a vet behaviorist like you pointed out. It is a lot of work to keep the peace.
Thank you SO much for this episode!
Thank you so much, fantastic information. It is invaluable to hear how you deal with the practicalities of dealing with these issues, sharing your wealth of knowledge. You are an inspiration. X
Our almost 5 month Aussie just showed her first sign of resource guarding with our son’s dog. Thank you for the information. Please let us know how This is doing now.
A way that will reduce the severity of resource guarding is to expose the dog to this stress and slowly manage it. Food is a big trigger. Buy several water melons and cut into many pieces. Let the dogs eat it. Do this with everything that the dog resources. YES the dog may get sick from too much food but it will reduce this aggression. This should be done to all resources. Same with toys. Put 50 toys in the room. Also it helps greatly that this is done in a large space. You have to remember fight or flight, if they have room they will run away. Good luck. Ps, working lines should be out working, many problems will reduce when mentally stimulated on a daily basis.
This video is SO appreciated. Just knowing that your dogs resource guard and about this second fear period was an immediate relief that my puppy isn't bad. My hallucination was that your dogs are perfectly raised and live together with universal joy. My big doofy 6 mo puppy is doing great on Recallers so this was an upsetting change, I've already stopped the rehearsals and reinforcing HZ and his favorite tricks and it is improving. I decided to do low energy tricks because they make me smile and that helps me have a calmer affect while I work through this.
Thanks for this I will try all your tips, I have a rescue dog come into our home, and a few weeks later there is so,e resource guarding going on, the new dog is quite reactive, she came from a shelter, so any information I can glean is wonderful. Thank you
Glad it was helpful, let us know how your training goes ❤️
Thank you so much! In three weeks time I’m getting a new Rottweiler puppy. ( I’ve never had a dog from a puppy before, I have always had adult rescue dogs) Rottweilers are notorious resource guarders so I am trying to learn as much as I can and be proactive. I love all the information you put out! Thank you again😊
THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY for this podcast...Lol out here I'm on my own...NO VETERINARY BEHAVIORIST in sight. .even when I was in the dog world so to speak ...none...that was many years ago....what I'm saying is that there must be thousands of people like me that live in countries where this service is not available.So i value your information. .thanks. ..granny owned by a cattle dog.
this makes me feel so much better, i’ve owned a lab and golden retriever, had zero guarding with those breeds, i taught both to let me see what they had, but a completely different experience with my border collie/GSP….she knows how to give up the tug toy on command, so i’ve been working with her to give up whatever she has, my slipper…whatever, at first she would drop it and come for the treat but she’s finally understanding she has to bring it to me, like a fetch, and deliver it to me, because i’m trying to teach her to retrieve things for me, like my golden would do.
before treating her i stand over the item, moving her back, taking possession before treating her, and before treating i verbalize good drop it….she has finally reached a point of understanding.
now we’re working on leaving things in the first place. she will bring items to me to play tug, trying to entice me, but i won’t even put my hands near it…i have grandkids so i only play tug with her tug toy, which is put away after the game.
i am sure i made some training mistakes, especially how different she is from my other dogs. her mouthing was so bad, and once she was past 1 if i did any correcting, and i tried to be gentle…she started this drive by attack thing. i did wise up quickly even softer voice, very very soft correction and mostly just distracting her. trying to avoid the conflict in the first place…she is bitey mostly when she’s tired. mostly she goes after my husband, finally i have him accepting the solution, he finally just puts a grate to block her access, she calms immediately, there’s no game to rehearse this bad behavior. she’s now 2 and getting better,
i’ve been working on going to her place. i need to train this downstairs because when we have company she never stops moving, but we seldom have company….first i need to train the “place” training downstairs..,and then add people. yesterday we had grandkids, i make sure she has her ball because that keeps her focus on the ball. they know how to pick it up and toss it. i’ve taught her to drop it so no little hands take the ball, they know to tell her to drop it…so she’s compliant with them. it’s adorable to watch the 5 year old giving commands and her behaving him. i don’t allow any teasing and no giving treats because last spring she tried to snatch it from him…i’ve taught them to hold their hand open, he hadn’t opened his hand yet and i think she didn’t think he was going to give it. i bought a long spoon and am going to train her to take treats with it, once i get that accomplished,i may let the grandkids give her a treat using the long spoon, keeping little fingers away from her mouth.
This is great info Susan, I am in Recallers and have a 10 yr. old Aussie Mix who resource guards me and food or water bowls and treats from other dogs and our cats, it is very challenging.
Hi! Have you found any solutions that seems to be working?
We have a 15 year old labradoodle Jessy and a 9 month old bcollie ausie shepherd cross - Stanley. Jessy LOVES Stanley’s food and will take any opportunity to head over to his bowl if he leaves any (and he does the same to hers- I do feed them in different rooms). I really try not to leave their bowls down with food in them but if I miss it and I notice one of them heading towards the others’ bowl I swoop in as quickly as I can and just pick it up without saying anything. Stanley will now rush ahead of her if he notices her going in that direction and block his food with his body and without growling will then turn toward me as if to say, “get over here and deal with this, you forgot to pick it up.” If she does beat him to it and is really digging in, he will stand near her but not growl or push her aside but again look at me with “those eyes” at which point I’ll pick up his bowl. I hope Im on the right track,...
I LOVE the videos about how you are training THIS! Thank you and keep them coming!
Susan thank you for this episode! You've answered my prayers. I was so hoping that you'd cover this topic! Listening to it NOW because we need help.
Hi annelie I hope my comment didn't sound as a form of privacy invasion your comment tells of a wonderful woman with a beautiful heart which led me to comment I don't normally write in the comment section but I think you deserve this compliment. If you don’t mind can we be friends? 🌺Thanks God bless you….🌹🌹
So great to know there is a way out of resource guarding. I've never had any trouble with it with any of my Labs, fortunately, but I have always wondered the best way to handle it. Thank you for the explanation!
This is so reassuring! Thank you! A follow up would definitely be helpful!
Many years ago I had a dog who became aggressive towards some of the humans in the house. Listening to this I did so many things wrong when she was a puppy! She finally needed to be euthanized because I was so terrified she would end up attacking the baby we had at the time. I know better now and so can do better with our new puppy!
Hi Wendy, give yourself grace, as you said you did your best with what you knew. We have a wonderful Puppy Essentials playlist for you and your pup: ruclips.net/video/rUIX5qW85tU/видео.html
Don't forget to subscribe so you can be notified of our upcoming videos! 🐕
I just gave my dog a 3' bubble and offered him a piece of beef liver, it took about 10 repetitions and then he laid up against me for pets and let me touch, hold, and take the toy. I do expect that we will need a period of practice to stabilize and ingrain this but I also anticipate it going smoothly, he likes learning. In my experience a calm but strong NO, followed immediately by a treat and praise when they drop the object has not escalated this issue in any of the 10-12 dogs I've used it with, but I'm watching this because I know I'm only experienced not an expert.
Rewatched so I could write this down for just noticing Gemma will resource guard me or my hubby or toy so will be working on this to correct it. Thanks so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Yes please let us know how you are progressing with This! Very interesting podcast
just want to let you know how much this podcast helped me when my coonhound puppy started resource guarding towards my very senior, blind dog & cat: his "food balls" (treat dispenser balls, with his kibbles in them) and bones... I just took them away! He hasn't ever acted like that with any other items, or me, so I guess that is lucky. Hoping to be able to reintroduce them at some point, so he can see that they are not a big deal
Added a coonhound to our pack of 2. She’s starting to show signs of guarding (my two boys have never showed this), so this is completely knew to me. I will start removing toys and reintroducing them when appropriate. I think we have put too much value on them. I appreciate the insight.
Enjoyed this useful video. A friend of mine told me they had a dog with this issue and I was curious. I learned a TON!!
This is super helpful. We have a 15 y/po border collie and 4.5 mo old bordercollie that are currently both displaying resource guarding with food and treats. Older dog is most likely doing it because of dementia, younger because of second fear period.
i love that room where you do the grooming.
Thanks for your help 🙏
Great advice! Going to work on this!
Thank you for your comment. We have a playlist full of awesome tips on this subject
ruclips.net/p/PLphRRSxcMHy1JqsmK9_tnBuTQpBXFfYXi (Rachel - DogsThat Team)
Fantastic opportunity to get the help you need in Recallers. Fasinating podcast, thank you 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
Hi Susan, I love your videos! I’m a foster parent who helps other fosters with training their dogs. I have one particular dog, about 2yrs old, she guards anything that’s in her mouth; especially tugs and balls. She’s also has at least 2 bite histories on file plus @ least 1 other dog attack that we know of.
We’ve been muzzle training with her. I was told she’s constantly rubbing,tugging, pulling at the muzzle to get it off.
I thought using the muzzle while practicing loose leash walking, then randomly having a play break with the ball would make a great reinforcement. Plus, with a muzzle, she isn’t able to trap the ball.
So, we’d walk several steps, toss the ball for a break, let her play, then tell her “give” “leave it “, walk away from the ball & get back to work. At various times, she would immediately get the ball back, other times , she would work longer before getting the ball.
At one point, we had her in a kennel with the ball & brought outside the dog that she previously attacked. She paid no mind to the dog working in front of her kennel.
I was told this dog is not human aggressive, however, i firmly believe she would be so Over threshold with the ball that she wouldn’t make the distinction between the ball or human.
Will you please share some other “games” we can use with her to build relationships. Unfortunately, with rescues being so overcrowded, lack of fosters, and more pups looking for homes, I feel the organization wants quicker results even though I’ve repeatedly stated she’s not a one and done, this is a process and training is ongoing.
At the end of our session, we were sitting with the ball on our lap, she was laying down in a relaxed position in front of us.
Hi Lisa, thank you for fostering and doing what you do to help dogs! Our playlist on multidog homes has a lot of tips and strategies - ruclips.net/p/PLphRRSxcMHy2ee0fquucowgCTcl1kCdO-
Our video for Project Togetherness is one with a lot of help for the first days with dogs new to our homes - ruclips.net/video/K17x8i_Qb9k/видео.html
I need help
Szep,my nearly 9 year old Pumi was injured ( suspected cruciate) started grumbling at Darcy ,(4year old PUMI )every time he got near. As both dogs had up to that point been the best of mates Darcy at first ignored Szep's grumbling. The Vet was only allowing Szep exercise to relieve himself on lead, otherwise total rest for at least 10 days. To facilitate this I put Szep in a cage. No problem there as Szep loves his cage/ crate. Szep had 2 toys in his ' house' and a bone. Darcy would lay right next to the crate and Szep was totally relaxed by this. Of course I had to exercise both dogs separately. When I took Darcy out Szep went spare ( lesson to me- exercise the dogs individually sometimes when Szep got better- which he has). Long story short- Szep has now started 'protecting toys, any toy he might be playing with and grumbling is leading to the occasional warning snap. Both dogs used to love playing tug-with each other- not anymore- Darcy is now giving Szep a wide berth and does not try to engage Szep in play. As Darcy is staying away from Szep as long as he has a toy there are no more grumbles. Out on joint walks they are friends and they often share a bed like in the old days, but if Darcy wants a toy he will pick one and leave the area near Szep, if Szep follows Darcy will leave the toy for Szep who often totally ignores it. How can I get them to play together again? Szep has definitely appointed himself as toy monitor- no problems with food, but I keep a careful eye on them with a new fresh bone.
Hoping you do a follow up on “This!” and her journey in resource guarding!
I needed this video! Thank you for the great advice. Please keep them coming. My dog has dog on dog aggression especially going in our bed at night. They both sleep on our bed but my 1 year old male puppy is starting to really bully my older dog when she tries to get in the bed. I will definitely read the book you talked about and will probably go to a vet behavioralist. Thank you!
Did your situation get better? My dog is starting to do the same thing with our other dog with getting in our bed. Uggg
Yes please, also general confidence building in the pup, my pup is seeing monsters everywhere at the moment so I’m taking it all super slowly but would love to see your journey with This as she is one week older than my Kelpie pup x
So important I wish I had this two years ago for sure. Thanks to Recallers we are getting Rose to be calm and a way better family dog. Thank you Susan
I just had an experience like this with my eight month old golden doodle. She was resource guarding a bone and growling at me and I reached to her mouth to take the bone out and she snapped at me and bit my finger. I yelled at her I guess and I didn’t mean to but the bite hurt and I think I lost my temper. I didn’t lay hands on her but I yelled and grabbed her snout and said “no biting”.
After watching this video I know I definitely got that wrong. I hope I didn’t permanently damage my dog by that one instance of discipline.
Hi Morgan, give yourself grace, you can do this. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou
Yes would love a follow up podcast on how it is going with This.
I'm sharing this with a lady asking what to do about her husky pups starting food aggression.
This was incredibly helpful
Thank you for that podcast. My 2 yr old pointer amstaff mix definitely resource guarded against my senior dog. Senior was 14 at the time - she was euthanized for age related illness😩 - I n the beginning, everyone got mad at her ( she was of course a puppy), grabbed her snd hollered at her. She would guard her bed, toys, space and favorite person. Since the death of my senior, she only now guards one of my cats. She play well with my don’s 1yr old dog. I’ve only seen one instance of guarding over ice cream which was managed by removing the ice cream. I need to know how to handle it if we go some where and another dog is present and I might be training heel or sit whatever with treats, the other comes to visit and POW! She goes after the fog. Or if she starts to guard against my son’s untrained, crazy- wild 1yr old dog.
Good Podcast! So nice of you to share your training journey with "This!". Great information as always:)!
Thank you for this video I adopted two puppies not related but both seven months old and the new boy has some triggers. I’m trying to not scold him when he does it but it’s also hard because he lashes out at the other puppy and I need to learn new skills on this as I’ve never experienced this before
Very helpful. Thank you.
My dog developed resource guarding a few months after I adopted him (towards my parents’ dog, usually food but a few instances of toys, his bed, or me). I’m able to identify the body language and generally would just take him into a separate space. When I grab his collar to move him out (no yelling, anger, etc) he will begin his feral growling (I’ve been around countless dogs and I swear I’ve never heard a growl like his) towards the other dog but has never acted beyond that. When he went to training for general obedience, the trainer recommended I ask him to lie down when he shows his early warning signs. I just wanted to get another opinion on this- I can tell that my previous method of physically removing him from the trigger sets him off as he becomes vocal. I’ve found that after a few seconds in a down, he does tend to recenter himself, but I worry this doesn’t reinforce the idea that guarding isn’t the right choice? When I allow him to break his down, he tends to approach the other dog and shake off, stretch, yawn, etc which I’ve known to be as friendlier signals.
When my new 4 mos old ACD puppy arrived here from the rescue (a pretty bad wee fear biter🐊!) my Mother in Law gave her a HUGE hip bone to welcome her (as a joke too- the bone was bigger than she was!) She wanted a photo of her with it. Ugh! As soon as the first chew happened she looked drunk/addicted to it (it still had a bit of meat on it). I let her chew it supervised for a bit and then moved to trade her for it...she growled and bared her teeth at me and looked as though she SERIOUSLY considered taking it further. I was lucky that it wasn't my other dog or one of my family members. ALL my mistake. I seriously should have known better in the first place...for starters we didn't even know her well enough or were aware of what experiences she had before we got her. Shame on ME. From that point on she was tracked VERY carefully and only given small things to chew that weren't even nearly as valuable in safe/supervised places and I had her practice trading them for very high value treats. We also incorporated the Hotzones to help redirect her which she loves (because she is clever and figured out very quickly that she get paid regularly there!) Looking back now I feel as though she was also guarding the action of chewing almost as much as WHAT she was chewing (poor teething pup!). Now that I know her very well , I know that she STILL loves chewing THAT much. Long story short... she is 9 months old now and hasn't shown any RG for a full two months- but vigilance is important. I am slowly teaching turn taking now as well.
SO many people who DON'T know better kept telling me to just give up and manage it with separation (that Cattledogs are notorious for instinctual RG behavior and that I wouldn't be able to ever train the behaviour out.) Thank you very much Susan for addressing the tough issues we face with our dogs in everyday life. We can always count on you for giving clear and positive information on how to deal with them and work through them when and if they happen. I appreciate you and enjoy (and learn from) your podcasts very much.
P.S. Sorry for the novel🙈📖
THANKS needed this. My Gemma barks at our clocks in the bedroom or where they ate so will do IYC and Hot Zone in another room to see if it helps. I now turn down the clocks and turn off lights and that most the time works but would be happier if we solved it. Great podcast as always ❤❤❤❤⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My youngest border collie was a terrible resource guarder and guarded things that were none of his business, like parcel deliveries, shopping bags and seemingly random items so was sometimes hard to predict. He was fine with food or toys around the other dogs. We fixed it, pretty much how Susan described. Now he takes himself to his raised bed or table when he sees something he wants to guard so there is very rarely an issue these days. Recaller games are a great toolkit for helping with this, for sure.
My BC as a puppy stole a bowl and when I went to get it from her she bit me badly. I was shocked. Now she resource guards only chew bones , which she does not get anymore and things she steals and thinks is hers. She is 5 yrs old now.
My almost 5 month old Border Collie puppy is dabbling in resource guarding, and the suggestions Susan made are helping reduce and eliminate this. It's my almost 4 year old mini poodle mix who is the real resource guarder and she is escalating. She mostly tries to keep the puppy away from me, but she will also sit in her kennel with her food dish and growl even when he's no where near her, almost as a matter of principle it seems. How do I manage the environment when I'm the resource? I usually just quietly pick her up and put her in her kennel or an xpen away from me when she does that.
I am having trouble with resource guarding with my 6 month old puppy and my cats. It’s mainly over high value bones or treats. I want to get ahead of this.
Hi Susan my little dog resource guards from us. A comfy lap, a viewpoint(window sill, kitchen door) the recycling basket. Could you expand to include resource guarding against their humans please?
Thank you for this video! This helps me a lot and gives me hope! I also have MINE, so will be reading more...
Susan, please could you do a podcast on when YOU are the resource that is been guarded. We are Recallers Alumnis.
I also need help with this- I have a dog I am boarding for a few months... He is guarding my friend from other dogs. I am also Recallers Alumni- and have an ongoing membership to Recallers. The situation is that my friend and I are walking dogs together- if one of my dogs gets close to my friend, the dog growls and lunges at the dog that is too close to his "resource". This dog is very insecure and lacks confidence and I have been playing IYC with him. He is also very picky about foods- interested in nothing but meat. So I don't have a range of treat values like I do with my dogs.
Also to anyone reading this- Recallers is WORTH IT!!!!!! I can't say that enough. I have an ongoing membership and don't plan on giving it up.
My dog does this if I'm around other dogs at the dog park. I learned just to stand up and she would stop.. its weird.
@@sonyagower1720 At dog parks or among multiple dogs I have heard that moving around would help.
@@piajacobsson2476 That's what I do and she doesn't Guard me. But if I sit down she Growls at any Dog that comes near.
I'm not sure you'll see this as this video is quite old but I thought I would anyway. My puppy is only 3 months and is showing some resource guarding against dogs (only one dog another puppy 4m who's quite pushy) and I am so worried as I was trying so hard not to have that due to a friends dog who has resource guarding. This video has totally built back some of my confidence. I'm ready to go through this challenge and will contact my vet even just for a chat to see what's needed 💗
Millie, you've got this! Thank you for your lovely note.
Great pod cast. Do you see issue with sibling dogs? I have sibling shepherds they listen good individually but not together.
I love these podcasts and watch them religiously - and I don't even have a dog! 😂 I would like to have a dog in the future but I am not sure how my cat would respond. Do you have any experience of introducing cats and dogs and helping them get along, Susan?
Thank you and have a great weekend.
Thank you so much for this! One of our adult pit bulls resource guards all her toys, snacks and food/water bowls against our adult golden retriever. There have been horrible fights where they’ve hurt each other and we are at the point where we have to do everything separate it’s so frustrating I don’t know what to do
God I love you SG. I did recallers about 10 years ago with a rescue Carpathian Shepherd, who still might have her moments, but my goodness it taught her manners. The same with my BC. My issue is that we now have a rescue pup (who got a lot of attention for 3 weeks as he was on death's door) who has started to bully my older BC. I *think* he's resource guarding me or food. So this video is helpful, but I can't remove myself as easily as I can remove food. Thinking cap on and any comments or help HUGELY appreciated.
Hi @Lulu Oak, thank you for your lovely comment! And for rescuing your puppy. Our playlist for multi dog home has a lot of tips and strategies to help with household harmony - ruclips.net/p/PLphRRSxcMHy2ee0fquucowgCTcl1kCdO-
Just adopted a dog from the shelter and I think this is exactly what she's doing with her food. She'll finish it but then attack my other dog (if she's within view) once she's done. We're guessing she's about 1 yr so I'm hoping I can work with her to resolve this
I would love to see a follow up to this video! My Terv, Riggs, will be 3 soon and he is a resource guarder against other dogs. He will guard toys, food, and people but his reactivity varies depending on the time of day, the target, and his own mental state. We’re still in the journaling phase so hopefully that will help us identify more specific potential triggers. I think a common theme is his own insecurity so we’ve been working on that too. Honestly, it’s so nice to hear how common RG is because sometimes I feel like a failed trainer. Thank you for being so open about your dogs and taking some of the stigma from this particular issue.
Hello, where can I see the videos of This! Seeing monsters etc? This is exactly where my girl now!