Dog aggression/food guarding

[Gcwl36122]

We recently rescued a puppy, he is now almost 6 months. He’s had a tricky background and was very anxious when we first got him. Since day one he was aggressive towards us when eating his own food and would go berserk if we were cooking or holding food, if he managed to grab any food off the side etc he would lunge and growl at us even if we were in innocently walking past him and hadn’t realised he had anything. It could be anything as simple as an empty crisp packet from the bin.
Anyway we’ve really built his confidence up and followed advice to reassure him when he’s eating out of his own bowl-!make sure he waits and eats when we say and we throw treats every now and again for counter conditioning. He’s now comfortable eating near us from his bowl most of the time. He will not even flinch when we are unpacking the table and there’s food all around so he’s come on a great deal. The odd occasion he will run off with a pack of buscuits etc but we are able to distract and offer a replacement of higher value without any aggression most of the time. I’m making him wait for a command for most things such as getting in and out the car, through door, for play etc to help control any dominance. He’s just becoming quite aggressive if we give him a bone type chew.. most of the time I can see he is fearful and genuinely is guarding his treat. I’ve managed to build some trust in him and he will be beside me with the treat but if I get any closer than a metre he will growl and lunge towards me. He is terrible though towards the rest of the family and will lunge and go to bite if they even just enter the room. I am trying to keep his treat in the crate but this has led to some behaviour which I’m not sure is fear based or a learnt behaviour… the treat maybe in the crate and he hasn’t bothered with it for a while but if my partner walks in the room for eg he will suddenly remember the treat and then lunge towards my partner or who ever else comes in. I have spoken to the vet and a behaviourist but the only advice I’ve really had is to distract him. I will be treating this seriously and seeking more support from professionals however
I suppose I’m just wondering really if anyone else has experienced this and kind of behaviour what the future outlook maybe? I’m worried we will always face problems 😬 Any advice or tips?
Thank you

Do not give him long lasting treats at all ever.

Generally the purpose of chews is to relax and chill out a dog. In your dogs case it is causing extreme arousal and so doing him no favours at all. He will be much better without them.

Your dog shows specific behaviours in certain situations, if the situation does not arise the behaviour will not occur.

I would not see the cure for resourc guarding as building up trust. More that your dog is confident that he will not be disturbed or stressed when eating food.

I would put him in another room to eat his food so that he can chill out and relax eating it.

Sorry doing this in several posts!

You dont need to worry about dominance - your dog isn't . No need to do things before he does to stop his dominance although it may be a fun game for the pair of you to play eg cue and then reward is always good.

It’s really tricky because we can’t predict what he is going to guard, it could be something we haven’t given him so we can’t control the situation very well. I’d bought long lasting chews to help crate train him and for him to learn it’s a safe place to eat but maybe I was wrong with that 😬 I also bought a ball which you feel with kibble which he happily rolls around.. we don’t interfere with it unless he initiates play. He has his bowl of food in the crate but will happily let up interact with food with him ie hide it in a snuffle mat etc.

Many, many dogs will guard bones - it's very common as they're so high value to them.

I always say that if your dog guards bones, don't give them bones. There are SO many other options out there. Have you tried lower value treats - things like stuffed kongs or antlers?

I think this confuses me slightly as I’m probably trying to help him cope with situations. My worry would be that if he comes across an object he wants to guard in public he will not know how to cope? Or is it simply a case of not embedding a reaction so eventually it’s not a natural reaction?

If you're worried about him taking things in public and guarding them, the simple solution is to muzzle train him for walks.

The best thing to do for your stress levels (and his) is to prevent the behaviour in the first place rather than trying to deal with it when it happens, as you'll both be stressed and anxious (I hope that makes sense!).

My own dog guards bones but he can have pretty much anything else with no issues. So he doesn't get bones. They're not remotely necessary for him so it's just easier all-round not to buy them.

Yes I’ve tried a Kong but he’s not overly fussed by it tbh. It’s not just high value treats that he guards it could be anything and not neccassarily just food so it makes it really unpredictable. For eg he was playing with an old shoe he found and I happened to walk past and he went crazy! Yet he’d played with other shoes before and never had a problem with me nearby!

When we took on our Dalmatian, she had huge food guarding issues. Having had very laid back greyhounds before , this was a massive shock. She would steal out of the bin , you couldn't take anything off her at all , and more than once I had to fend her off with a broom after she thought I was going to take something she stole. That was two years ago . Since then , we had to completely rethink how we managed her. We feed her in a separate room away from the others to prevent her trying to take theirs, and she has to wait until they're finished. We don't give her bones or pigs ears or long lasting treats , ever . She loves broccoli, so she gets that , or her diet food , as treats instead, and to her , they are value enough that if she does get hold of something she shouldn't , I can distract her away from it long enough to remove what I need to without drama. That or picking up her lead. We've also been teaching her to wait for treats which has helped massively . It was such a problem that we almost had to give her up , but we persevered and she's so much better now.

True resource guarding does need professional help. I am a little concerned with the behaviourist you have spoken to if their advice was just distract and swop items, so it may be worth looking for an APBC member. Your insurance may pay for this.

However resource guarding is a good one to work on as a professional as the results can be amazing

When looking for professional help, run a mile from anyone who talks about dogs being dominant. Dominance theory has been disproved and the methods employed by people who still believe in it can make food guarding worse.

Are there any visiting/resident kids in your household?