Though resource guarding is a perfectly natural impulse for a dog to have, it can also be an incredibly dangerous one. If resource guarding is not appropriately identified then a person, oftentimes a child, can get hurt. Most people know that dogs may resource guard their food but did you know there are lots of other things dogs resource guard? Dogs may resource guard their empty food bowl, bones, toys, and even a person!

Though many people think that they are familiar with what their dog’s are okay with, the signs of resource guarding can easily be missed and so it is helpful to become familiar with all the different possibilities of body language that can suggest possible resource guarding – better to be over-cautious than under cautious.

As can be read in our article How to Identify Body Language Consistent with Resource Guarding, “You can see how some of these body language signals could be missed if a person is not closely paying attention. It is also easy to understand how this body language could be seen as play instead of resource-guarding. If you are not sure if the dog you are working with is displaying actual resource guarding or playful resource guarding. It is always best to err on the side of caution.”

Read the whole article here so you can keep yourself, your family, and your dog safe.