I’ve got two spaniels, came from a rescue as a bonded pair and they are fairly inseparable. One of them resource guards food from the other dog but not humans and any vessel it came in (bowls/mats etc) we manage this fairly easily by just taking up the bowls once they finish and keeping them in different rooms at meal times.
Today they had some wet food on a lick mat in different rooms.
I took up dog 1 (who doesn’t resource guard) mat and opened the door to get dog 2 (who does resource guard) mat, dog 1 managed to get between my legs and approach dog 2 who growled but dog 1 ignored and kept going toward him (this was in the space of a few seconds) dog 2 lunges for dog 1 who retaliated and they had a proper scrap for 90 seconds or so (we slightly struggled to break it up).
It was very noisy which I’ve been told is a good thing as it can mean it’s “handbags” rather than anything really nasty and we’ve not found any cuts etc on either of them.
They’ve spend much of the time since in the same bed cuddled up to each other (which is what they normally do) and seem totally calm/happy with each other.
Im a bit shaken and unsure if we should keep them separated from each other for a couple of days? Dog 2 is a fairly anxious character and really leans on dog 1 and I’m just a bit stunned and shaken. Has anyone had something similar happen? I’m very very surprised as they are generally gentle dogs