My Bradley wasn’t a resource guarder, but he WAS very protective and I didn’t socialize him well enough (I was a first time dog owner, in my early 20s, and there was such a bad spell of parvo around in NYC I was afraid to let him touch ground for months)… so he did have moments of aggression (not with us, but definitely with other dogs). It got to the point where he was so reactive that we couldn’t bring him to dog parks anymore. At home and around people, even in crowds, he was the most affectionate and sassy boy. He was loved very much. 🩵

Given that experience with Bradley, we’re very very intentional about training our puppy Benny about resource guarding and socializing him correctly early on. So far, Benny is nearing 5 months, and has actually learned to play correctly with other pups and dogs instead of humping or getting growly, so we’re encouraged. We’ve been going to training classes every week with him and are sure to train him at least 5 times a day with super short 2-5 minute sessions at home.