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Catherine, thanks for the reply, I typically use only one technique for resource guarding. I use the technique from a catch workshop in which you find the distance where the dog shows no signs of stress, anxiety or possessive body language such as hovering, hard stare, etc. One I find that distance I toss High value treats and say nothing to dog and walk by them while tossing the treats. I than slowly work on decreasing the distance. My experience is that when trying to use a word like drop, it works well with lower items that the dog possesses but when generalizing the training and moving to higher value items many of the dogs won’t release on the word “drop”. I have found that not making them make that decision works better with the higher value items. At least thats with the dogs I am working with. I know there are many factors involved in resource guarding but does making a dog choose between responding to the word drop or keeping a highly valued item cause them stress. The dog already is stressed why would add to it by making them make a added stressful decision. Please let me know if I am way off it this thought process. Does classical conditioning get to the point where they don’t think about decisions like this?