The Canine Ledger

Resource Guarding

Many dogs guard food or toys. What a survey of 3,589 dogs linked to guarding, what shelter studies found after adoption, and what's still unproven.

Written by thecanineledger

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If your dog has bitten, or growls, snaps or freezes over food or toys when children are around, keep the children away from the dog when it has food or toys, and talk to your vet. A vet can check for pain or illness and refer you to a qualified behaviourist.

Our note: This advice is ours. Keep children away from a dog that guards.

In a 2018 survey covering 3,589 dogs, “Teaching dogs to reliably “drop” items when requested was associated with a reduced likelihood of RG aggression” (Jacobs et al., Preventive Veterinary Medicine 2018, abstract). RG is resource guarding.

While that’s a useful lead, it’s an association from a survey, not a trial. We found no controlled trial of any way to treat resource guarding in pet dogs. This page sets out what the studies found.

1. What resource guarding is

A definition. Researchers who surveyed experts proposed this: “the use of avoidance, threatening, or aggressive behaviors by a dog to retain control of food or non-food items in the presence of a person or other animal” (Jacobs et al., Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2018).

Not only growling. The 2018 survey describes other patterns too: avoidance, such as turning away or moving off with the item, and “rapid ingestion”, or gulping.

2. What the owner survey linked to guarding

Who answered. Owners recruited on social media described “3589 dogs”. They were screened first on whether they could recognise guarding in videos.

Dog factors. “Dogs with higher levels of impulsivity were more likely to display avoidance, rapid ingestion and aggressive RG”. More fearful dogs were also more likely to guard aggressively.

Mealtimes. Adding tasty bits of food during a meal was linked to less severe guarding. But “removal of the food dish during mealtime was associated with an increased likelihood of expressing more severe or frequent RG behaviours”.

What it doesn’t show. This was a survey at one point in time. The authors say their results “can serve as a basis for future longitudinal RG research to establish causation.” It can’t show that teaching “drop” prevents guarding, or that taking the bowl away causes it.

Our note: The survey linked taking the bowl away with worse guarding. That is an association, not proof.

→ The “Alpha” Myth: Why Dominance Training Was Dropped

3. What the shelter studies found

Guarding in the shelter often doesn’t continue at home. In a New York shelter study, “more than half of dogs either assessed by shelter staff or described by surrendering owners as resource guarding did not guard in adoptive homes” (McGuire et al., Animals 2020).

A home feeding plan. A 2012 US study placed 96 food-guarding shelter dogs in homes with a feeding plan. Adopters were told to avoid conflict at mealtimes, “e.g., placing their hands into the bowl or repeatedly taking the bowl away” (Mohan-Gibbons et al., Animals 2012). By three months, adopters reported no food bowl guarding.

But there was no comparison group. “Adopters did not comply with at least one aspect of the program, so it is unclear why so little guarding was reported.”

Dropping the test. When nine US shelters stopped testing for food guarding, injuries stayed low and didn’t change: “104 incidents from a total of 14,180 dogs” (Mohan-Gibbons et al., Animals 2018).

Disclosure. The 2012 and 2018 studies were run by authors linked to a large US animal welfare charity, which uses the feeding plan.

Our note: The shelter studies test shelter dogs and shelter policy, not pet dogs.

→ Adopting a Dog From Abroad: Rabies Rules, Brucella, and What Changed

4. What to think about

  • Don’t punish a growl. A growl is a warning. We found no study of what happens when it’s punished, so this is our view.
  • Let the dog eat in peace. The survey linked taking the bowl away with worse guarding.
  • Teach a “drop”. The survey linked it with less guarding.
  • Get help early. A vet and a qualified behaviourist can assess the risk, especially with children in the home.

Our note: The point about not punishing growls is ours, not from these sources.

→ Dog Bites and Children: Who Gets Bitten, and What Prevention Can’t Yet Promise · → Reward-Based or Aversive Training: What the Studies Found

5. What we could not verify

Commonly saidWhat we found
“Take the bowl away so the dog learns you’re boss”Linked with worse guarding in one large survey.
“A dog that guards in a shelter will guard at home”Often not. More than half didn’t, in one shelter study.
“Guarding means the dog is dangerous”Not necessarily. Injuries were rare in shelters that stopped testing for it. Bites at home still happen.
“Method X cures guarding”No controlled trial found.
“Teaching ‘drop’ prevents guarding”Linked, not proven. It’s an association from a survey.

Sources

Always confirm with your vet before acting on anything on this page.