Training Philosophy
What Is Resource Guarding and How Do We Treat This Behavior in Puppies?
Resource guarding is aggressive behavior that can be directed towards people or other pets in the home. It occurs when a dog has access to a high-value resource, such as food, a favorite area, such as a chair or dog bed, food, or a person. Reactivity behaviors will often get worse if unaddressed, particularly as your puppy gets older.
Puppy growling during healthy play is a perfectly normal puppy behavior. However, if your puppy growls and stiffens when you or another family member grabs one of your puppy’s toys, that could be an early indicator of resource guarding. Or maybe your puppy hunkers down over items, hides them, or even swallows them whole? Treating your puppy’s resource guarding yourself can be challenging as punishing guarding can worsen the behavior.
Fortunately, resource guarding behaviors can be effectively addressed through behavior modification training. This includes behavioral wellness focus that uses science-based training methods, including classical conditioning that helps build positive associations through positive reinforcement and pairing exercises to reduce resource guarding behaviors.
Benefits of Resource Guarding Dog Training
One of the most common reasons that puppies resource guard is because they learn the behavior from an older dog in the home. If you notice your puppy copying their sibling’s aggressive behavior around food or toys, we highly recommend early intervention. When puppy resource guarding isn’t addressed early on, it can lead to serious fights with other dogs in the home later in life which we always want to avoid. We provide luxury dog training services, serving Miami and South Florida, including Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Sunny Isles Beach, Palm Beach, and Jupiter.
Our resource guarding program teaches your puppy to be confident and calm around other pets and people. This is because our behavior modification training teaches positive associations and how to appropriately respond to situations that previously caused stressful and aggressive behaviors.
For more information on puppy resource guarding, you can check out our puppy resource guarding blog, written by our co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Echterling-Savage. This blog discusses the early signs of resource guarding, ways to avoid it, and what to do if you notice this behavior.
Training Programs
In our Resource Guarding Puppy Behavior Modification Package, we offer private virtual sessions with Dr. Echterling-Savage, our Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB). Dr. Echterling-Savage is one of only a few Board Certified Behavior Analysts specializing in Applied Animal Behavior, with only around 50 CAABs in the country. With decades of expertise, including published research on canine behavior, Dr. Echterling-Savage is a leading expert in her field, making her consultations an invaluable opportunity for those seeking long lasting change.
Dr. Echterling-Savage will connect with you virtually to evaluate your puppy’s behavior, developing a training program that addresses your puppy’s specific needs. After your initial meeting, Dr. Echterling-Savage will continue to offer guidance and troubleshoot resource guarding scenarios, ensuring continued progress in your puppy’s training. This program runs for four weeks for mild cases and six weeks for moderate or severe cases.
Our programs are personalized to focus on the unique needs of your puppy. This includes teaching obedience skills and manners that are the most relevant to addressing resource guarding behavior. While providing socialization training both at home and throughout the Tampa Bay area.
Reactive behaviors that we address include lunging, snapping and growling at other pets and people, that can be associated with:
Depending on the distance from Tampa Bay, travel may be complimentary or require a small additional cost.
It’s important to analyze the causes of your puppy’s resource guarding behaviors, to see how to best address it through a personalized training plan. Resource guarding behaviors can be influenced by factors including a puppy’s dog breed, early life experiences, other pets in the household, exposure to any aversive training methods such as shock and prong collars, and a lack of socialization.
If not addressed, resource guarding behaviors will often worsen as a puppy gets older. Fortunately, our behavioral wellness focused training program has successfully treated resource guarding behaviors through the use of function-based interventions, such as classical conditioning and positive reinforcement.
Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology, specializing in animal behavior. With over 20 years of experience, she teaches dogs obedience commands, manners, and treats mild to severe behavioral challenges. Dr. Echterling-Savage mentors and trains Beyond the Dog’s trainers.
Sean Savage is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA). Sean has over 20 years of experience teaching puppies obedience commands and manners, and addressing a wide range of behavioral challenges including resource guarding behaviors.
Shelby Shipp is a dog trainer who supports our board and train programs. Before joining Beyond the Dog, Shelby worked as a veterinary assistant while completing her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science. She has experience training dogs in obedience and manners, and addressing complex problem behaviors.
During this program, your puppy will train and live with our co-founders, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage, at their home in Tampa Bay. Your puppy will also be working with our other Florida based dog trainer, Shelby Shipp.
Before starting the board and train program, Dr. Echterling-Savage will meet with you for a virtual consultation to discuss your puppy’s resource guarding behaviors, any other behavioral challenges, and your training goals. We also ask that you submit your completed “Indirect Assessment of Canine Behavior. Dr. Echterling-Savage will use this information to develop a personalized training plan to address your puppy’s reactivity behaviors, obedience skills, manners, and socialization training through private in-home and out of home training sessions.
Sean Savage, or a trusted team member, will then pick up your puppy from your home and transport them back to Tampa Bay, Florida. Your puppy will stay at Dr. Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage’s home, where they will live as part of the family for four weeks. Our trainers, Dr. Echterling-Savage, Sean Savage, and Shelby Shipp, will train your puppy both at home and throughout the Tampa Bay area, including at parks, shopping areas, hiking trails, farmer’s markets, and dog-friendly beaches. Each personalized training session will focus on addressing your puppy’s reactivity behaviors and teaching relevant obedience commands, manners, and socialization skills that support this progress.
Throughout the four-week training program, we will keep you updated on your puppy’s progress through progress reports, correspondence, photos, and videos. At the end of the training program, we will bring your puppy home, where we will have 4.5 hours of return and follow-up lessons. These lessons will help to teach you how to manage your puppy’s newly learned skills, reinforce positive behaviors to eliminate resource guarding behaviors, and ensure long-lasting success from their training.