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Super-cute little Finnley would prefer it if you didn't get too close to his people, or any food you might have dropped on the floor. The two pieces of solving resource guarding are changing how the dog feels about the proximity of someone to the thing/person he's guarding, and changing what the dog does about the proximity of someone to the thing/person he's guarding. Working on one without the other is an incomplete job.

I'm meeting more and more dogs who start out every walk already so excited that anything they see can set them to barking and lunging. The customary approach of trying to teach obedience skills and train the dog to white-knuckle its way through a stay or watch me despite being madly aroused is backwards. I'm helping people like Indy's family address the arousal itself. Here's a picture showing her tense body language in our first visit. Watch this space for the update.

We expect our dogs to be love-sponges and to crave our cuddles and petting. It's hard to resist putting your face right up to an adorable face like Milo's to ask for a kiss. But not every dog feels the same way, or wants physical affection all the time, and some may view our expressions of affection as invasion of their safe space. A combination of social handling exercises and learning to invite instead of invade goes a long way to improving the relationship.

Stormy really, really, really wants you to throw her chew stick for her. When you look at that face, you can see how hard it is to say no. But when she gets wound up - at this or other things - she has trouble winding down again. We're working on it together.

Gentle giant Rocky just moved in with his new family right before Christmas. Adopters of adult re-homed dogs often find there's an adjustment time where they're not seeing the same personality they will after the dog settles in, and Rocky's served up a couple of surprises his people have wisely opted to address proactively. Between their quick action and his settling-in time, I bet they're all headed towards a good life together.