Aggression In Dogs: Resource Guarding

Struggling with resource guarding behaviour in your dog? Here’s a well-tested framework to help pet owners struggling with this problem.

- Matthew Ng

“My dog is food aggressive” is a common label from dog owners. When probed further, owners usually relate very similar experiences when it comes to feeding their dogs.

From the definition of aggression, the dog’s resource guarding is an outward expression of its need to eliminate competition and maintain access to valued resources.

What is valued by the dog can be contextual in nature. For example, a dog may choose to guard a piece of fallen cotton pad from its female owner’s dressing table.

The contextual cue that made a difference could be the female owner’s presence or, the dressing table in the couple’s bedroom.

Assessing Aggression

When assessing your dog’s aggressive behaviour, behaviour consultants rely on functional assessment to determine a set of interventions needed.

Functional assessment asks what the dog achieves in behaving in such a manner. A behaviour consultant may also conduct a motivational assessment to determine which aspects of its needs – tangible, escape, sensory and attention – were being fulfilled by behaving in that manner.

In resource guarding, the dog believes that specific individuals are competitors of valued resources when placed in a certain context of occurrences ie: setting events.

Therefore, we should ask why those individuals became perceived as competitors in that context. Also, in which context those individuals ceased to be competitors.