# food resource guarding



## rachellerigos (Jan 28, 2009)

Hello! have any of you had vizslas with resource guarding issues? My girl is four months old now and has a moderate to severe case of food guarding. Both my fiance and I have actually been bit by her when she was in the red zone guarding her treats that we supply to her. I'm worried that I may have made this worse by taking away these objects when I first noticed her guarding behavior thinking this is unacceptable; she does not get the treat. I have tried hand feeding, introducing little treats into the bowl while she eats but high value treats are a big no no; we have had to just eliminate them for the time being. I don't know it just makes me feel so bad and hurt and it is affecting our relationship; I resent her and am hurt. We prolly will hire an expert to come in but any advice would be great. She is fairly well socialized and has been to puppy kindergarden...anyways HELP ME.


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## Wetworks (Feb 23, 2009)

I would first take her out for some rigorous exercise, just to burn off some energy. Next, I would probably sit down at the table and have a bite to eat (some chips, a piece of bread, banana etc), while making sure she doesn't whine or beg. This shows that you are the pack leader, and you will share (feed) after you are done with your meal. Then I would prepare her meal barehanded and proceed to the location you usually feed her. Once there, make sure you have control of the space. A good initial step to doing that would be to issue a command for her to follow before placing the food down, like sit (and wait). Then put the food down and release her from the sit/wait command (I use 'okay'). 

I think you are doing the smart thing by consulting with a professional, but the above tips should help to some degree.

Best of luck and keep us up to date.


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## DixiesMom (Feb 5, 2009)

My precious :-\ 14 week old girl has started doing this with her rawhide, we are going to puppy classes now and the trainer says that anytime she gets her rawhide I need to hold on to the rawhide while she chews....she can only have it while I hold on to it. Gets slimey but I hope it works.


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