The dog who is always worried that everything is going to be stolen lives in a constant state of stress.  This isn't healthy.

 

How serious is the issue?

How valuable is the thing to them?  How serious a problem depends on the individual, the degree of intensity and willingness to do harm in order to keep it, and how much risk depends on your environment and the people and animals in it.  

Dogs naturally want to keep things of value to themselves and keep something someone else tries to take away.  Some are more competitive than others.  Playing keep-away, snatching a ball when you reach to pick it up, are all pretty normal canine reflexes.  In most cases, the dog just needs to learn to perform a happy, Willing Trade.  Me, too!  Puppies naturally push in when another dog gets attention or a treat.  They just need to Learn to Share. 

 

Whether it's normal behavior that just needs training or a potential safety issue is a matter of degree.  Some are dead serious about keeping a possession or defending a person, place, or thing, using aggression.  The behavior display can range from minor stress, negotiation signals and signs of avoidance, all the way to active attack and injury.  It can be learned defensive strategies because they have been caught and physically punished.

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Does the dog have good bite inhibition?  If he bites, does he bite hard and leave holes?  Some dogs guard things fiercely but have good bite inhibition and no one gets hurt.  Others inflict damage.  People and other pets get injured, sometimes severely.  This question is often the answer to "should we proceed with behavior modification?"  If management and training fail, how bad could the damage be?

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How predictable is the dog's reaction?  If it's very specific - if he's willing to lay down the gauntlet over a smoked knucklebone but nothing else - he never growls over anything BUT that - his threshold of what is so amazing that he "wants it enough to fight for it" is very specific and so is the solution: just never buy those bones!

 

Is the trigger predictable and the dog's body language easy to read? 

• Can you list the specific items, places, or things that he's worried about? 

• Is the level of reaction and type of response predictable? 

• Is there no history of injuries?  

Prognosis is good. 

BUT -

• If it's every day, multiple times per day, from any person or pet

• Not just over his full dinner dish while he's eating, but even when anyone walks by the dish when it's empty

• Over every crumb, toy, or dropped Kleenex

• If he hunkers down to guard places where those things happen, were, or might fall

• If it's been going on for a long period of time at high frequency

• If he has been regularly challenged and physically corrected for guarding

• If there have been injuries

You have a much more serious and difficult issue on your hands.  

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Risk-assessment is essential.  Is the risk too great?  Do you have children?  Are you frail or elderly?  Is this a large, powerful dog with a bite history?  Or a young dog who is just showing the first signs of possessiveness?

 

Should you proceed with behavior modification?  How capable are you in managing the environment and people in it to avoid risky situations and prevent rehearsal?  Do you have the time, dedication, and money to devote to training?  Or are you looking for a quick fix?  (There isn't one.)