Many Shiba Inu owners will tell you that “mine” is the first and most favorite Shiba word.
Shibas think that everything, including food, toys, the house, the neighborhood, and even their supposed owners, belong to them.
If not properly handled, many Shiba Inus, and indeed dogs in general can get aggressive about guarding their resources. Shibas are bred to be guard dogs so they have a strong guard instinct.
Dogs often guard objects from people because they associate people coming near them with their objects being taken away.
When my Shiba was a puppy, he used to pick up all these dirty items from the street including tissues, pieces of plastic, etc. I did not want him eating the stuff, so I would always take them away from him. Ultimately, he started guarding his toys because he thought I would take them away from him as well.
I did not know it at the time, but I was teaching him that …
People coming near him = Loss of resources
When dogs show aggression and we back away, they also learn that …
Aggression = People backing away = Get to keep resources
What helped my Shiba most in breaking this resource guarding cycle is to help him re-associate people coming near him to be something positive rather than something he should guard against. In essence I want to retrain my dog so that he associates …
People coming near = More resources
In this way, my dog will seek out people rather than try to get them to back away with aggression.
Here are some food aggression and resource guarding techniques that helped with my Shiba Inu.
The key is to set my dog up for success and not expose him to situations where he feels he has to resort to aggression. The less he practices that aggression, the less it will become a habit.
Therefore, it is also important to take away all high priority items (such as bones and rawhide) and not give my dog anything to guard. I only give him very low priority items. I cut food up into small pieces and give those to him one at a time so he has nothing to guard.
Make sure that everyone remains safe at all times. I use leashes, baby-gates, or a basket muzzle as necessary. My Shiba still wears a drag lead (with a flat collar) around the house so that I can more easily control him when I need to.
To discourage resource guarding behavior, I also follow the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free) program. This just means that our dog has to do something for us, before he gets anything in return including food, toys, going into the backyard, or coming into the house.
In this way, our dog learns that we are the source of all his resources, and he has to work for us to get what he wants.
If your dog is already aggressive and causing bite wounds as a result of resource guarding, contact a professional trainer.
Never try to take items away from an unknown dog. Even seemingly easy-going dogs may sometimes try to protect a high-priority item.
I’ve read through all of the posts on resource guarding. But I’m dumbfounded on dealing with my shiba Suki. Ever since Suki was a puppy she has unexpectedly gone after my feet. I used to give treats like smoked bones, pizzle sticks, dental chews. Long periods of time would pass with no incidents. Out of the blue she would attack my feet. I’ve taken her to trainers and an animal behaviorist but I could never replicate the situation. She does not food guard her dish or toys. The professionals have insisted she isn’t resource guarding because there is no warning growl, etc. I’ve taken away all chew treats and has only the nylabone and toys to chew. I haven’t had any incidents for over 6 months until Christmas. She went after my 95 year old mother in law and another guest. The only thing I can figure is there was a sealed Christmas stocking with rawhide chews for another dog. HELP!
OH! My shibe does this too! I have been told that they do this because they are herding dogs (they are not, they were originally bred for hunting) but when my Sophie does this, it is usually to get my attention and direct me somewhere. Does she nip at your ankles? When Sophie does that, it’s to get me to walk/run away in a certain direction.
We have a 5 year old Shiba, our second one. He seems to have a resource guarding attitude but seems to have a few quirks with it that I’m curious if they are associated or a different behavior altogether. We have to feed him a special low fat diet due to some pancreatitis two years ago. We mix a bit of dry and wet food and overall he eats it fine but every meal he has to tip most of the food out of his bowl and push it around on the floor. He will also regularly carry pieces of food to the living room and drop them and leave them. Or he will sit and stare at it for hours like it’s going to move. When one of us gets up he grabs it and runs off with it then returns and drops it once we sit back down. I know some of this is resource guarding but I don’t know what the rest of it is. What is the best way to break this behavior? Every time we pick up his food he whines like we are doing a bad thing but as we reassure him he is ok but will dump it again in short order…sometimes this behavior is amusing but mostly it’s just messy and annoying. Thanks for all the great articles.