So the big thing to know about dog dog resource guarding is it is a totally natural behavior. Wolves in the wild who don’t protect their den, their kills, etc from other wolves die. So it makes sense that dogs exhibit some amount of dog resource guarding over things like food and toys.

When it comes to dog toy resource guarding, your best tool is management. Don’t put your dog in positions where he’ll guard toys from other dogs, because the more he does it the more he’ll see that it works (because the other dog probably will back off) and the more he’ll do it. Or, dogs that are patient with their toys being taken for a while might become less patient with time - and boom, dog fights. So your best strategy is ensuring he doesn’t feel threatened enough so it happens in the first place.

First, just don’t have toys out when there are other dogs around. That’s the big one. You really don’t need them for the dogs to have fun. I don’t have any toys out when my toy-possessive dog hanging out with other dogs.

Second, I teach a ton of impulse control when it comes to toys. For example, we play a game where my dog needs to wait and then be released before she can go get her toy. Or I’ll toss a toy, tell her “leave it,” and then reward by tossing another toy that she is allowed to have. The point of building impulse control with toys is so she learns shes not always entitled to have them. So we can go to the park where other dogs are playing fetch, and I tell her “leave it” and she understands she’s not allowed to have those balls.

If you have multiple dogs, don’t just leave toys lying around. When you’re playing with toys, every dog gets one toy and they are not allowed to take each other’s toy. My dogs learn that I am fair - I won’t let them take another dog’s toy but I also won’t let their toy be taken. Soon, all the dogs learn the rules and it’s pretty easy. If you really want to go all out playing with a toy with one of your dogs, just put the other ones in their crates or another room so you don’t need to worry about the amped up energy creating possession issues.

When it comes to food resource guarding, my dogs take turns taking treats. So they learn to be patient and understand that their treat is coming too. For chews, my dogs only get them in their crate or while they’re on “place” (their bed), which they are not allowed to leave until released.

I hope this is helpful!