What to do if your dog is possessive of food and toys

When dogs appear to be aggressive over foods they find particularly tasty or their number one favourite toy, this is known as ‘resource guarding’. While this is all perfectly natural and normal behaviour in the dog world, it can be a problem if a dog shows this type of behaviour towards a person. Here we look at what you can do if your dog is possessive, what signs to look out for and how to stop possession aggression in dogs.

Behaviour is triggered by an individual’s emotional state. Aggression is often caused by fear and worry. That’s why it’s important to understand the emotion behind ‘guarding’ behaviours in order to successfully control the behaviour. Here are a few examples of guarding behaviours:

• Dog growls at strangers when waking on the lead = dog is worried about strangers.
• Dog growls at owners when he is on the sofa = dog is worried about losing his comfy spot.
• Dog growls and snaps at owner when they approach him whilst he is eating = dog is worried his food will be taken away.

Toy guarding

Toys are a highly useful resource for all dogs. Allowing your dog to play with dogs helps keep them fit, aids training, gives them something to chew on and encourages natural behaviours. Sometimes however, certain dogs get possessive over toys with other dogs and people when they’re touched.

Remember, your dog’s reaction won’t be unprovoked and it’s best not to respond verbally or physically. This approach can only make the situation worse and could result in a bite.

Encouraging positive toy play

• Teaching a dog the ‘take it’ or ‘leave it’ exercise is always a good place to start. If the dog is exclusively a guardian of toys, then the use of treats only for this exercise is recommended.
• Refrain from entering the dog’s personal space in order to obtain its toy. Teaching the dog to ‘retrieve’ (take the toy to the owner) is the key to success.
• Encourage a game of tuggy. Verbally reward the dog for pulling against you, and then suddenly let go of the toy whilst happily telling him that he is very strong and clever. Hold your hand out whilst still using a happy and praising voice and ask the dog if he wants to try his luck again. The first couple of times you might need to encourage him to come towards you, but providing you make the game of tuggy fun and exciting and let him win, the chances are that he will end up thrusting the toy in your hand to give it another go.

Guarding of stolen items

Some owners are unconsciously teaching their dogs to actively steal things! Their response to the dog running off with a stolen item is to chase after him, while commanding them to let go in a forceful way.  This will only encourage them further as the drive for a dog to steal something in the first place is generally due to boredom and/or attention seeking. The aggression problem arises for the same reason as with toy guarding – fear of punishment, and fear of losing possession of the item.

How to stop possession aggression in dogs

The ultimate way to stop possession aggression is to make sure your dog has lots of things to keep them entertained. This can be achieved in many ways, but if you are stuck for ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

What are the first steps to take?

The first thing to do if you find your dog keeps stealing things and becoming possessive is to ask yourself the following:

• Is the item dangerous for them to have?
• Just how valuable is the item to you?

If you suspect the item is dangerous for your dog to have in their mouth, or it’s a precious item to you and you don’t want it destroyed,  it must be removed from the dog as quickly as possible. And here are some top tips:

• Avoid direct confrontation. Grab some high value food such as a lump of cheese, liver, or sausage, and throw pieces of it to the dog in quick succession.
• As the dog starts to take the food, throw a handful of the food away from the stolen item and when your dog goes to devour it, take the opportunity to safely retrieve the item while your dog is distracted.
• Try lots of positive and encouraging verbal interaction so that you don’t frighten your dog.

Things to remember

• Try not to trigger the fear response or use any firm language or handling.
• Keep your tone happy and positive, as it will likely keep the dog relaxed and they’ll stay close to you. If you then need to walk towards the treat cupboard or fridge, continue to acknowledge their trophy. Chances are, your dog will follow you and then drop the item in the expectation of a reward.
• It’s far better to have a dog that steals things who then immediately seeks out their owner to show them their prize in order to get a reward, rather than having a dog that steals things who then runs off and guards it with its life.

Food guarding

Food guarding is typically understood, especially when a dog seems aggressive when it comes to protecting their food. Food is a valuable item for dogs, it stems from their instincts to hunt food in order to survive. For some dogs, having their dinner is the highlight of their day and having someone get in the way of that can be very distressing for them.

Signs food guarding include:

• The dog eating faster.
• Freezing over the bowl and staring.
• Snapping and biting.

Recognising these signs will help you know your dog is feeling uncomfortable and when to stop your approach.

How to handle food guarding

There are relatively easy ways for you to overcome this problem,  it just requires a gentle persistent approach:

• The first step is to ensure your dog has a healthy diet and not necessarily the tastiest.
• The second step is to have a selection of very high value food at your disposal.
• The final aim is when you approach your dog while it’s eating, they will lift their head to come happily out of the bowl in the hope something positive and nice will be added to it.

Top tips

• Training should start when you’re at a suitable distance away from your dog and their food. Remember to avoid triggering a sense of fear.
• Drop a decent sized chunk of high value food as close to their bowl as possible. The food should be thrown regardless to your dog’s response. This should be done approximately three times per meal.
• Once your dog lifts their head from the bowl, you may then step towards the dog and throw the food. Take this nice and slowly and build progress in stages, if it’s rushed in any way, you might end up back where you started.

If you’ve successfully achieved this, you’ll know your dog is recognising good emotion when a person approaches them while eating instead of being frightened or defensive. Hopefully by this stage, you will no longer be seeing any type of aggressive behaviour.

Any form of resource guarding can be tricky to live with, but understanding how a dog is feeling at the time will go a long way. You’ll have the confidence and knowledge of how to resolve the issue.

For more dog behaviour and training tips, read our articles on Ask Woodgreen.