There's a lot of conventional wisdom around here (not talking about Cesar Milan-esque dominance theories), and I'm interested in those you choose not to follow. 
With my particular dogs, I'm not following conventional wisdom about resource guarding. I'm letting my dogs work it out themselves (under supervision).
By way of background, Bailey is 4 years old (medium sized mixed breed); I've had him his whole life, and know him probably better than I know myself. We've also been working with a trainer for over a year (even more intensively since Grace came home), and I trust her she knows B very well, too. Grace, the newbie, is 19 wk old (!) golden. I've decided to let them work out how they handle resources. The only thing they "guard" from each other are high value raw bones, and I always supervise closely when those are out. Basically, I let Bailey correct Grace when she gets too close, and if Bailey has lost interest and lets Grace "steal" something, I let them work that out, too. Neither shows any guarding behaviors with me.
I'm trying to let them work out their relationship generally on their own terms as much as possible. If Grace gets to be too annoying and can't settle down, she gets crated, but if Bailey seems to be okay, I let them work it out. (Probably goes without saying, but they're always supervised. But Grace is really almost always still supervised, lol.)
I understand that this is probably specific to my dogs, but would love to hear from others who do their own thing! I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Sometimes it's scary to go against conventional wisdom.
With my particular dogs, I'm not following conventional wisdom about resource guarding. I'm letting my dogs work it out themselves (under supervision).
By way of background, Bailey is 4 years old (medium sized mixed breed); I've had him his whole life, and know him probably better than I know myself. We've also been working with a trainer for over a year (even more intensively since Grace came home), and I trust her she knows B very well, too. Grace, the newbie, is 19 wk old (!) golden. I've decided to let them work out how they handle resources. The only thing they "guard" from each other are high value raw bones, and I always supervise closely when those are out. Basically, I let Bailey correct Grace when she gets too close, and if Bailey has lost interest and lets Grace "steal" something, I let them work that out, too. Neither shows any guarding behaviors with me.
I'm trying to let them work out their relationship generally on their own terms as much as possible. If Grace gets to be too annoying and can't settle down, she gets crated, but if Bailey seems to be okay, I let them work it out. (Probably goes without saying, but they're always supervised. But Grace is really almost always still supervised, lol.)
I understand that this is probably specific to my dogs, but would love to hear from others who do their own thing! I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Sometimes it's scary to go against conventional wisdom.
