Description
Price: $14.95 - $10.33
(as of Feb 21, 2025 07:43:09 UTC – Details)
Dogs that become demonic around the food dish, snarly on the sofa or grouchy when chewing on a bone are all too common. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you recognize, evaluate and treat resource guarding in pet dogs.
Publisher : Dogwise Publishing; First Edition (January 1, 2002)
Language : English
Paperback : 102 pages
ISBN-10 : 0970562942
ISBN-13 : 978-0970562944
Item Weight : 5.6 ounces
Dimensions : 5.54 x 0.28 x 8.48 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book informative and helpful for understanding resource guarding in dogs. They describe it as a good, practical guide with clear guidance on how to change behavior. Many praise the content as helpful for pets and their owners. However, some readers feel the writing style is overwritten and technical. Opinions vary on how easy it is to read and follow, with some finding it written in layman’s terms while others mention it gets into technical language quickly.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Natalie Watson –
Why did I not read this sooner?
I’ll agree that the writing style was unnecessarily dry and technical at points, but I would still give this book an enthusiastic five star rating on the basis of its content, ignoring the style. My dog has had very mild dog/dog resource-guarding problems since she was about eight months old. She’d never snap or actively chase a dog off, but she would hunker down over her items and growl like a chainsaw until the other dog went away. Around a month ago, as she neared three years of age, it suddenly intensified. She started charging toward her brother, who became very cautious in her presence.Last week, I watched her as she ate her breakfast. She took not a single bite for thirty minutes because she was too busy death-glaring at her brother, whom she could see from the corner of her crate window. Her brother was not interested in her food or her crate; he wasn’t even facing in her direction. But she couldn’t take her eyes off him long enough to eat. It just about broke my heart to see her in that much distress. I bought Mine! and read it in a single sitting, then reread it a day later to make sure I’d grasped the specifics (as an added note, I’ve worked in the pet industry for years and have trained dogs professionally, so most of this was not new material for me). I know that results mid-session after the dog has figured out the game rarely correlate to a “cold trial” at a later point, but it was so incredibly encouraging to see my girl calmly allowing my boy to approach her food bowl, sniff it and back away. As an added bonus, it seems to be really improving their relationship. Their play has always been safe and free of guarding incidents, but there was a pushy tension in it before that has almost disappeared since we started the training described in this book.I definitely intend to continue using these methods on my own dogs until the resource-guarding clears up, and I’m glad to have a book that I can recommend to my training customers when they come to me with guarding-related questions. If you’re reading these reviews, you’re interested in buying the book. If you’re interested in buying the book, you probably need it. It’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.
Jessica Norman –
The premier book on resource guarding in dogs.
The title kind of says it all – if your pup resource guards food, items, toys, chews, space, the couch, you name it, this book is your guide to helping your pup learn that they do not need to guard items. A huge amount of knowledge for a small price!
SC23 –
Good insight into dog brain
I really like the Donaldson series. I didn’t specifically need this one for my dog, but I bought it as a resource. It is easy to read and follow. I like that it explains WHY dogs do the things they do, not just tips for working with dogs.
QueenBorg –
Great insightful book
Really good insightful book on the behaviors of your dog and really understanding it from their point point of view so you can become a better dog owner and train your dog easily
BB –
great book! good condition
good delivery turn around time
Desert Gal –
Helpful and clear, but horrible delivery
This book is important and informative, but the way the author goes about providing the information is harsh. Even while I agreed with many aspects, I felt like I was slapped in the face with them. Some sentences made me even wonder if she liked dogs. Helpful information if you read the book with a large bottle, yes, bottle of wine. You’ll need it to calm yourself.
Jessica Gatch –
Understand my dog more
Was recommended this book for my dog’s resource guarding. Very informative and has helped me understand my dog a little more.
Nicole –
Helpful resource for owner guarding
While this book is clearly written for dog training professionals, as a first time adult dog owner, I was easily able to read it and formulate a training plan for my dog to help with his owner guarding. I found nothing about this book that was all that hard to get through and all animal behavior phrases were explained. I appreciated the background behind where the behavior stems from, other associated behavior problems, and why we train it the way we do. All-in-all, I have found this book extremely helpful. This is resource guarding from humans. If your dog resource guards from other dogs, then you want her book “Fight!” which I also plan to order.
Ace –
As a newcomer to dog behaviour and training, I found it informative. It provided valuable insights into managing resource guarding in dogs with practical tips and strategies. It was also helpful as a reference for my studies in becoming a dog behaviourist. In general, the book is easy to read and digest, making it a great choice for beginners.
Christine B. –
Good advice for dog training, in resource guarding situations
Zalia –
Excelente libro. Más orientado a entrenadores que a propietarios de mascota, aunque estos últimos también pueden sacar gran provecho del libro. Es conciso y al grano, no le falta ni le sobra nada.Lo recomiendo encarecidamente.
sarah johnson –
Great book full of good knowledge
Dandy –
I just finished reading this one again. I love how compact it is-makes it easy to share and read quickly. I’ve recently started The Culture Clash and although I found that writing to be stuck up, this is anything but. It’s written very informatively and explains the cause/effect relationship you want to train very clearly. I actually found this to be much more humorous and lighthearted-when you should be rewarding the dog, she adds comments about how AMAZING your dog is to keep you both motivated which I found cute.The organization put in makes the book very straightforward, and starts from what guarding is and moves to how to manage and train well. Considerations for trainers reading to help a client are included, like when the author’s opinion on euthanization is stated, although very clearly allows room for situational changes. For example, she says that when a dog is puncturing (consistently) then in a lot of cases she will suggest euthanization or strong management-and in homes with children or owners who seem less than dedicated she may be quicker to suggest this than with adult only homes, etc. There is a great focus on how owners can vary in ability as well as the dog, and matching the right combinations to reduce guarding can be key. The step-by step guide to how to fix each different type of guarding and how to flexibly create a training routine is excellent, though a bit repetitive in parts (extra steps added where a good understanding would have sufficed, though it adds for clarity to people new to guarding).It also has a good explanation of counter conditioning and desensitization, and how to establish a set up and eventually change the set up to a real life situation INCLUDING examples of common mistakes, which I really appreciated. Likewise, timing is explained through the description and visualization of simultaneous and backwards conditioning, in comparison to creating the anticipated emotional response you want. One that stuck with me is that reaching for the treat pouch could be conditioned so strongly to the treat delivery that the original conditioning is now simultaneous and ineffective rather than cause/effect type of style.Using various rewards (and levels of rewards) are also discussed in an interesting way via predictability. I’m still slightly concerned about how to CC to multiple triggers (guarding AND reactivity, etc) when the goal is to have ONE good treat for working on something at a time. Balancing what’s most important and what’s realistic to pull off, within a reasonable schedule, is not realistically the BEST way we could approach this.”…Unlike operant conditioning, longer sessions are usually/ more fruitful for desensitizing resource guarders.” (page 43,44) I found this particularly interesting. I have always kept things short to keep from trigger stacking as well, and I wonder if changing this and just staying at step x for a longer period of time would truly be more beneficial.More than everything above, I love the practicality of the book. Donaldson clearly shows flexibility when dealing with guarding of different levels, different needs for generalization, and the like. The simple progressive steps lead to a system that works for anyone willing to work with the dog. She very much so shows an understanding that situations can change, regression can happen, and various encounters (novel people, places, whatever).I also would probably recommend this to anyone about to get a puppy (preventative measures re handling and the like) or anyone who can’t open their dog’s mouth, poke and prod, or whose dog has ANY sort of discomfort towards any remote sort of trigger ever (so everybody, essentially). I think it’s beneficial and short enough that they WOULD read it, and gain something from it.