When Dogs Rule the House: How Too Much Freedom Fuels Aggression

A few years ago, I was working with a dog. I had been working with him since he was a puppy, and at two years old, he had a lot of opinions. A confident dog, he had been given a little too much of everything by his owners: access to all furniture, allowed to walk on the kitchen table, and toys galore that he could play with whenever he wanted to. So at two years old, with a confident personality and limited boundaries, this dog started taking control in other areas. The result of all this power was a dog who had developed a nasty habit of resource guarding. Resource guarding is when a dog feels they need to guard and fully possess an object of choice, usually food or a toy, and will fight you before letting you have it. It is characterized as a stress response. Unlimited control in dog world leads to stress because, without the presence of solid leadership, dogs spiral. This dog had already started to bite his owners if they dared challenge him to release an object he had in his mouth. And then one day, when I was watching him, and tried to reclaim a toy we had been playing with together, he decided that was no longer an option. This dog attacked my shoeless foot, then made his way to my arms, leaving me with four punctures altogether. That day completely changed how I approach helping dogs and their owners resolve this behavioral issue. Hint: a bulk of the pressure relies heavily on the HUMAN.

If you have a dog that is extremely possessive of objects to the point of harming you or others, it’s not something you want to take likely. This is a behavior that will never go away or ‘fix itself’. Almost every dog I have met who exhibits resource guarding fits the profile of the dog that I described above. The goal is to reduce stress across the board. While there are steps that can be taken to greatly reduce the practice of this behavior, in my experience, it is a behavior that can be successfully managed, but never fully resolved. So, how do you reduce a resource guarders stress?

Step 1:

Remind your dog who owns the home aka the space you live in together. Creating solid boundaries gives these dogs much needed perspective. When they are left unattended, utilize a crate to establish these boundaries. When you are home together, have them on leash at all times and limit free roaming. Toys come out only at playtime and go away when play time is done. They can play with their leash on, and you can use the leash to help you communicate expectations and the rules of the game more clearly. The last thing a resource guarder needs is the added pressure of your hand near them when they have something of value in their mouth. You will get more cooperation from them by communicating with them clearly, from more of a distance.

Step 2:

No graze feeding. If a dog is allowed to eat when the want, they have been given ultimate control over a valuable resource. By putting them on a feeding schedule, you eliminate this choice thus maintaining boundaries over food.

Step 3:

Eliminate furniture privileges. A dog with resource guarding issues should not be allowed to elevate themselves. Elevation = authority. By allowing them to elevate themselves, you will be confusing them which…stresses them out! 

The above protocol is a basic outline, and requires consistent application. After about 3 months of practicing this routine, the next step is to give your dog a little more freedom, more flexibility, and see if the habits you created with limited options, carry over. But the structured foundation you built within those three months should never falter. The moment it does, your dog will regress back to their old habits. 

The goal here is to greatly reduce stress by eliminating as many options in your dogs life as possible. It will be harder for you more-so than them to get behind these protocols. The last thing a dog wants to do is bite and if they are feeling they have to bite the people within their inner circle, this is an indication of great stress and unhappiness. Boundaries and direction make dogs SUPER happy!!