Excerpt from Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs by Jean Donaldson
Dogs may guard food and/or food bowl, coveted toys or objects, their owners, or choice sleeping locations. Dogs often present with more than one kind of guarding and may also have body-handling problems. Of course, resource guarders may happen to also have any of a number of other behavior problems, but the most common constellation will involve guarding more than one kind of resource and being uncomfortable about certain kinds of body handling.
Location Guarding
The most common location guarding scenarios are:
- A dog who won’t let the owner or a spouse into the bed or bedroom once the dog is lying on the bed
- A who is grumpy and aggressive when jostled on
- A dog who threatens passersby and/or dogs when he is in his crate or car
An interesting feature of all resource guarding is that its severity may not only be tied to the value of the resource, but also to who is approaching. Location guarding, such as a dog who seems to let the wife but not the husband in the bed, is a prime example.
For more types of resource guarding, ways to recognize them and modify this behavior purchase the book Mine! from Whole Dog Journal.
