There are two completely different phenomena that all get called “resource guarding in dogs.” The first is a behavioral disturbance that needs to be fixed. The second is addressed with proper training and management.
- Fear-Based or Stress-Induced Guarding – A Behavioral Disturbance
Real-life examples I have worked with
Case Type 1: A friendly young Labrador suddenly becomes frightened of the owner’s adult son (reason unknown). When the doorbell rings and the dog realizes it’s that young man, the Lab runs away from the door, bolts into the kitchen, and freezes over his food bowl — very often an empty stainless-steel bowl. Body language: whale-eye, ears back, stress panting, low or tucked tail, worried expression. Every other family member can still reach in and take the bowl away with no reaction whatsoever.
Case Type 2: Extremely common: newly adopted shelter or rescue dog. Weeks or months in a concrete kennel make the food bowl the only predictable comfort in an otherwise frightening day. Once in the new home the dog suddenly growls or stiffens when anyone approaches the dish — even though he seemed fine at the shelter. (More on shelter-stress behaviors in my article “Why Rescue Dogs Bite Suddenly”.)
These cases are not normal predatory behavior. The dog is using the bowl as a safety object or stress-relief anchor. These are learned or acquired behavioral disturbances indicating the need for proper behavior modification and management.
- Normal Predatory / Possessive Behavior – Healthy and Fear-Free
Watch a wolf that has just killed an elk calf, a bear with a salmon, or an African wild dog with a gazelle leg. The animal will:
- drag the carcass to a safe spot
- stand or lie over it
- hard-stare, growl, or snap at scavengers
- tolerate or share with pack members or offspring
- eventually relax once competition is gone
This is exactly the behavior Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and every field ethologist since has described as the normal consummatory and possessive phase of the predatory sequence. There is zero fear, zero trauma, and zero pathological stress — only confident, satisfied ownership of something the animal worked to obtain.
Domestic dogs retain this sequence almost intact (minus most of the dissection/consumption phase that was bred out centuries ago). Give a healthy terrier, Malinois, or Labrador a raw meaty bone, a favorite tug, or even a stolen sock and you will see the same proud, high-tailed, hard-eyed possession followed by relaxed chewing once the “threat” retreats. Nothing is broken here.
- How to Tell the Difference in 30 Seconds
| Situation | Body Language | Motivation | Category | Needs Treatment?
| Fearful Lab or shelter dog guarding empty bowl when scary person appears | Whale-eye, ears back, stress signs | Fear / stress relief | Behavioral disturbance | Yes |
| Healthy dog guarding a tug, bone, or “kill” | Forward, hard stare, high tail, proud | Confident possession | Normal predatory sequence | No… but does need proper training |
Why So Many People Believe “All Resource Guarding in Dogs Is Fear-Based”
Limited Knowledge and Experience: Trainers who work primarily in shelters and rescues see fear-based and stress-based guarding every single day and tend to not see pure, confident predatory possession. Over time that sample bias creates the honest but mistaken belief that all resource guarding in dogs comes from fear or insecurity. That belief then becomes dogma taught in seminars and social media. There is also a market for consultants, and internet gurus, who scare the public into thinking that their secret program is the answer to all of this: many are self-proclaimed experts who are pronouncing the wrong diagnosis and remedy for every one of these cases.
I believe many such dogs end up being put on the “e-list”, meaning condemned to euthanasia, for all the wrong reasons. Worse, less qualified people are making these recommendations and dooming many dogs that could be turned around. This is the crux of many of the force free/ balanced trainer arguments… and they are both wrong.
Expert Knowledge and Experience: Trainers who work with well-bred pets, working lines, sport dogs, or hunting breeds see confident, normal possession constantly — and immediately recognize it for what it is. I have cited, below, references that describe normal predatory behaviors: these are the Gold Standard which we should be comparing all these cases to.
Unfortunately, some perfectly normal dogs are diagnosed as being “dangerous”, and the worst possible treatments are applied by the so-called force free or balanced trainers. Too much time is spent defending their philosophies and not enough time studying animal behavior. “Resource guarding” is a catch-all, meaningless term that doesn’t help distinguish between behavioral disturbances and normal behavior. The same is true of the term, “reactive”, which lumps in everything from the happy untrained dog to the truly dangerous dog, and everything in between. These are not all the same, they shouldn’t all be defined as the same, and different problems require different solutions. Getting it wrong puts lives on the line, often to the detriment of unsuspecting owners and innocent / fixable dogs.
Takeaway for Every Dog Owner and Trainer
Next time your dog stiffens over something, ask two questions:
- Confident and forward, or fearful and avoidant?
- High-value item he “earned,” or random/empty object when a scary person appears?
Get the terminology right, and the correct diagnosis and protocol almost chooses themself.
Select References
- Lorenz, K. (1966). On Aggression
- Tinbergen, N. (1951). The Study of Instinct
- Scott & Fuller (1965). Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog
- Mech, L.D. The Wolf
- Coppinger, R. & L. (2001). Dogs
- Winkler, Armin – articles on prey drive at rivannak9services.com/articles
- Overall, K.L. (2013). Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats