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Do your dogs scuffle over special chew-bones or grow grumpy toward one another during mealtime? Even dogs who live very successfully together may sometimes squabble when treats are being doled out or when they settle down with their favorite bone for chew time. Resource guarding — aggression over food, bones, toys, or even comfy sleeping locations — is very common behavior in pet dogs and often a behavior concern for many dog guardians. Although it is a natural behavior for dogs to exhibit, it may sometimes be scary for both the dogs and the humans. Here are some tips to manage the behavior and help determine if your pets need additional training and behavior support.
Why dogs do it
Resource guarding is one of the most common types of aggression. The reason for its prevalence may be as simple as understanding the adaptive significance of the behavior. In a natural, non-domestic canine environment, guarding resources provides survival and reproductive advantage for the guarder. In such an environment, a dog who guards his food is more likely to live, and therefore, more likely to survive long enough to reproduce. This behavior is still strongly exhibited within our companion dogs who share our homes today; it did not disappear during domestication of the species.
How to help
For cases of resource guarding in which there are occasional squabbles, but fights occur rarely and do not result in damage to either dog, here are some general guidelines for management and resolution of the behavior.
Use management techniques for tense times. Many cases of mild to moderate resource guarding — in which the dogs get along well at all times other than when in possession of a specific resource — can be effectively managed with a strong and consistent management plan. The goal of the plan is to prevent altercations and reduce tension between the dogs by separating them during times you know tension or squabbling may occur.
Managing the behavior by separating the dogs can be achieved by using baby gates to block accessible areas or by closing doors to certain rooms for mealtime or chew-time privacy. For example, if fights break out only around mealtime, a suitable option may be to feed the dogs in separate areas or rooms of your home. If tension occurs only when chewing special chew-bones or playing with a specific toy, the dogs should enjoy their individual toys or bones in separate areas and be reintroduced to one another only after all remnants of the bones have been finished and the toys removed.
Avoid punishment: A resource guarder enjoying a valued resource usually appears to feel anxious and threatened when approached by another dog. This tension and anxiety is often displayed through warning signals (growling, snarling, or lunging) designed to discourage the dog from continuing to approach. Since the dog already feels threatened when approached, punishing the growly behavior will only increase his tension and anxiety.
It is almost as if your dog learns that the second dog is even more of a threat because now the very presence of the second dog also predicts getting in trouble. The downside of punishing the guarding dog is he may begin to feel increased anxiety when approached, the relationship between the two dogs will deteriorate, and the frequency of fights or scuffles will increase.
Help your dog to feel better: If you feel your dog needs support beyond a management approach, it is important to use science-based, punishment-free behavior modification techniques to teach your dog a new response. A certified applied animal behaviorist or qualified behavior consultant can customize a behavior modification plan tailored for your pet. An appropriate plan will use two of the cornerstones of behavioral psychology for treatment: counter conditioning and desensitization. These two techniques are used very successfully to treat behavior problems that have an emotional basis such as fear, anxiety and aggression.
Counter conditioning teaches a dog to feel better about a thing or event that initially caused him to feel fearful, anxious or threatened. The goal of counter-conditioning is to counter or change the dog’s current emotional response and train a new, enthusiastic response to the event.
Desensitization involves exposing the dog to a less intense version of the trigger that makes him feel threatened and gradually building up to the previously problematic event. This gradual move up to more intense versions of the trigger is contingent upon the dog demonstrating his new, enthusiastic emotional responses at each and every step until he looks forward to being approached by other dogs.
Seek help for severe problems.
For cases in which resource guarding between dogs results in frequent fights, damaging bites are inflicted, or either dog has required veterinary care after a fight, then the immediate support of a certified applied animal behaviorist (CAAB or ACAAB), veterinary behaviorist (DACVB), or qualified dog behavior consultant is necessary for appropriate behavior modification treatment.
For help resolving resource guarding in your pets, please contact the Humane Society of Boulder Valley’s Training and Behavior Center at (303)442-4030 option 4.
Lindsay Wood is director of Animal Training & Behavior for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley and an Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. The Training Center is located at 2323 55th Street in Boulder and offers public classes every day of the week. Info: boulderhumane.org
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