Food Aggression

[cassieturner]

Hey All,

I own a beautiful 6 month old border collie named Lexie, she has pretty much been a perfect pup! Up until now.. the past couple of weeks she has started showing food aggression. Prior to that she was fine, i always patted her when she was eating - as instructed in the training books :laugh: but lately when i pat her she growls at me. I did a bit of research and some people say to hand feed her and lead her to the bowl then keep your hand in the bowl. This worked for a couple of days until today - today she just refused to go near the food when i was around, she would only eat when i hand fed her. I then left her outside with her food and she still didnt touch it. Im worried im making the situation worse! Any advice would be very much appreciated!

[JackC]

Hi Cassie, Welcome to DOL forums

your pup is at the same stage as mine and for the next few weeks may flip you off with your commands or not do as asked, just keep your head up and don't loose hope, be persistent and constant.

Edited September 11, 2013 by JackC

[cassieturner]

Thanks heaps! I'll give it a try and see how I go

and yes i've heard this is the age they like to test you! This has been my only problem with her so far though, she usually is quite obdedient for her age!

Edited September 11, 2013 by cassieturner

[The Spotted Devil]

Personally I think it is possible to create some food guarding issues by constantly interrupting pups when they are eating. If someone kept putting their hand on my plate or near my face when I was eating and threatening to take my food away I'd get pretty growly too. In fact I do when one of my cats tries to pinch something! Remember that growling is a warning and reprimanding a dog for doing so is generally considered one of THE worst ideas ever.

My pups and dogs are allowed to eat in peace with no interruption from cats, dogs or humans. Generally they don't eat out of bowls but have their food scattered or in a food toy. They are taught a "give" command (swap toy for food for example) and a highly rewarded "sit". If I really need them to give up their dinner or something in their mouth I ask them to sit or give. They offer the behaviour. I remove the item. They get a reward. If I had a young dog that was resource guarding I would remove the food receptacle completely and scatter dry food in the backyard or feed their entire ration as training - teach them that all good things come from me as opposed to me taking things from them. If you are unsure about what to do I would suggest you seek professional advice - and seek out a recommendation for one on here.

[RallyValley]

Feed her her dinner one piece at a time. Put it in the bowl, move away then put another piece in the bowl. She will get used to your hands near her bowl soon enough.

[cassieturner]

Thanks for the advice guys! and yes this is my last resort then if not i will be looking for a professional :)

[BC Crazy]

My female Border Collie was a fierce resource guarder when I first got her at 12 weeks old. She was a shocker.... only with raw food like her prized chicken wing. Anything in her food bowl she was fine with.

The first wing I gave her as soon as I put it on the lawn, she stuffed the whole thing straight into her mouth so I went to see if she was OK with it & I couldn't get within 10 feet of her. She barred her teeth, ears

flat to her head & growled She meant business, big time. I'd never seen anything like it especially in one so young. She would charge at me to make me back away. She scared the life out of me in all honesty.

What I did with Stella is I cut the chicken wing up into pieces & I'd go out & give her a say 2 small pieces then walk away a bit, then approach again & give her more & so on so as she connected me approaching her to give her

something more. Not take her treasured wing from her. This took time but gradually she started to improve. I also taught her the command "leave it". So as time went by I was able to give her a whole wing, walk away then approach

her & ask her to leave it & she would straight away. Then I instantly would give it back to her plus some bonus treats & leave her in peace to eat her wing. I have never had a drama since & she is 2.5 now :) This method

worked for us. I never believed in patting them while they were eating as I think they should be able to eat in peace but I feel that if I need to I should be able to remove their food without fuss. My concern was with Stella

when she was younger that she ate so quickly if she got a bone stuck I needed to be able to help her get it out with fear.

IMHO CT & I am no expert.... with Lexie , Don't touch her food bowl while she is eating , she may bite you. A growl is a well mannered dog warning you. Bad mannered ones just bite. Now it seems she is now stressing about meal

times which may increase the likely hood of her biting in fact. I would change up meals with her, maybe say give her breakie in a kong. Then approach her with a couple of 'high valued' treats & give them to her while she is

eating then walk away. Then work form there with her. This will take time though. Sorry for the long winded post but thought I had to explain what worked for us. You have to get Lexie to see you being around

at meal times a bonus not a threat. Good luck with her & keep us posted with your progress k :) Also would love to see a pic ????

I ignore any negative behaviour, growling etc praise anything positive.

Edited September 11, 2013 by BC Crazy

[Dogsfevr]

I agree the more you play god with there food bowl the bigger issues people seem to have & create

Never ever done it with any of our dogs & never ever had an issue & if the bowl is required to be touched not a peep out of them as we all have mutual respect .

Personally i would just place the dog away in a safe area allow it to eat in peace .Leave it for awhile & seek assistance to make sure you are doing the training correctly not creating a bigger issue.

Many training books are just plan useless in there advice ,one of the things we dread when selling puppies

Edited September 11, 2013 by showdog

[Salukifan]

Hey All,

I own a beautiful 6 month old border collie named Lexie, she has pretty much been a perfect pup! Up until now.. the past couple of weeks she has started showing food aggression. Prior to that she was fine, i always patted her when she was eating - as instructed in the training books :laugh: but lately when i pat her she growls at me. I did a bit of research and some people say to hand feed her and lead her to the bowl then keep your hand in the bowl. This worked for a couple of days until today - today she just refused to go near the food when i was around, she would only eat when i hand fed her. I then left her outside with her food and she still didnt touch it. Im worried im making the situation worse! Any advice would be very much appreciated!

No training book I would recommend would suggest constant interference with a dog's food. Fastest method I can think of to heighten anxiety about food and hence trigger any tendency to resource guard.

Want my honest recommendation? Ditch those training books, employ a decent trainer (ask for a recommendation here) and buy a crate. Feed the dog in the crate for the rest of her life and leave her alone until she's done. You've got a dog with a tendency to resource guard and the safest way to ensure she never creates an issue is to secure her while she eats. I would also secure her while any food is consumed in your house.

Anyone who tells you this is a leadership or dominance issue is talking out of their armpit. Even the lowest dogs in a pack will resource guard - its a perfectly natural response to competition for food. Sadly for us, its an undesirable one too.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Haredown Whippets

[dragonwoman]

Hey All,

I own a beautiful 6 month old border collie named Lexie, she has pretty much been a perfect pup! Up until now.. the past couple of weeks she has started showing food aggression. Prior to that she was fine, i always patted her when she was eating - as instructed in the training books :laugh: but lately when i pat her she growls at me. I did a bit of research and some people say to hand feed her and lead her to the bowl then keep your hand in the bowl. This worked for a couple of days until today - today she just refused to go near the food when i was around, she would only eat when i hand fed her. I then left her outside with her food and she still didnt touch it. Im worried im making the situation worse! Any advice would be very much appreciated!

No training book I would recommend would suggest constant interference with a dog's food. Fastest method I can think of to heighten anxiety about food and hence trigger any tendency to resource guard.

Want my honest recommendation? Ditch those training books, employ a decent trainer (ask for a recommendation here) and buy a crate. Feed the dog in the crate for the rest of her life and leave her alone until she's done. You've got a dog with a tendency to resource guard and the safest way to ensure she never creates an issue is to secure her while she eats. I would also secure her while any food is consumed in your house.

Anyone who tells you this is a leadership or dominance issue is talking out of their armpit. Even the lowest dogs in a pack will resource guard - its a perfectly natural response to competition for food. Sadly for us, its an undesirable one too.

Agree, leave the poor dog alone to enjoy her food in a safe place, always make sure she is never interfered with, you re making too big an issue out of it......................as far as I'm concerned all dogs should be able to eat in peace, just like most of we humans expect to be able to do

[Simply Grand]

The trouble with accepting the resource guarding and always leaving the dog alone while eating is that what happens if if one day, in one of those combinations of unlikely events, someone else reaches for the dog's food and gets bitten? It's a risk and something as an individual owner you have to decide if you're willing to take it.

Personally I absolutely second BC Crazy's advice, that's what I would do. And if you aren't totally confident with it and/or if you have the time and money, I'd still probably go for at least once consult with a reputable trainer anyway, people here can recommend someone :)

[Salukifan]

The trouble with accepting the resource guarding and always leaving the dog alone while eating is that what happens if if one day, in one of those combinations of unlikely events, someone else reaches for the dog's food and gets bitten? It's a risk and something as an individual owner you have to decide if you're willing to take it.

Personally I absolutely second BC Crazy's advice, that's what I would do. And if you aren't totally confident with it and/or if you have the time and money, I'd still probably go for at least once consult with a reputable trainer anyway, people here can recommend someone :)

You know what? You can condition your dog to accept YOU interfering with its food and what happens if one day someone else (eg. a child) reaches for the dogs food? Chances are they could be bitten if they ignore the dog's warnings.

The best way to deal with a resource guarder is to never ever allow the dog's food to be interfered with and not to allow the dog to be around people with food. End of story. A physical barrier like a crate is the best method.

No one interferes with my dogs when they are eating and that includes each other. Given that most of my friends are dog savvy, I'm not sure it would even occur to them.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Haredown Whippets

[Guest hankodie]

The trouble with accepting the resource guarding and always leaving the dog alone while eating is that what happens if if one day, in one of those combinations of unlikely events, someone else reaches for the dog's food and gets bitten? It's a risk and something as an individual owner you have to decide if you're willing to take it.

Personally I absolutely second BC Crazy's advice, that's what I would do. And if you aren't totally confident with it and/or if you have the time and money, I'd still probably go for at least once consult with a reputable trainer anyway, people here can recommend someone :)

I agree. One example I can think of is that if a dog runs off with something it REALLY shouldn't have (a dangerous item for example), you obviously need to be able to reach for it/take it away safely.

OP I'll chime in with what the others said about employing the help of a trainer - even just one session will equip you with some knowledge to help deal with the situation. Can you source a reputable trainer where you live? :)

As for my dogs, I teach them from an early age to "trade" whatever it is they are eating/chewing on for something else. My puppy Hank at the moment LOVES bones, so every so often I will call him off his bone for a piece of cheese, then I let him go back to his bone and I simply walk away. I do this sometimes with his food too. Another thing I do is I sometimes put Hank's food in a kong and I'll sit with him and we'll both "work" on getting the food out, then I give him lots of praise for playing/figuring out how to extract the kibble, so food becomes a bonding activity for the both of us.

I don't think you need to put your hand in puppy's bowl - this is more than likely stressing him out even more if he's already guarding his food. The idea is to get puppy to understand that you are not a threat to him/his food, and only good things come from you!

Hope you work it out :) and we'd love to see some photos of her!

[Simply Grand]

I agree that you can't condition against every situation the may ever be in and guarantee it won't ever bite but you can work against the dog's reaction that any human near food means the food will be lost so must be guarded.

I wouldn't ever suggest that a dog that has shown signs of resource guarding should be pushed with food being taken away regularly, all and sundry around the food etc, and the training that people coming near while food is there = good thing may well need to be reinforced forever, but I would personally rather do what I could to reduce the risk than rely on keeping the dog away from people any time food is around ever.

[Salukifan]

I agree that you can't condition against every situation the may ever be in and guarantee it won't ever bite but you can work against the dog's reaction that any human near food means the food will be lost so must be guarded.

I wouldn't ever suggest that a dog that has shown signs of resource guarding should be pushed with food being taken away regularly, all and sundry around the food etc, and the training that people coming near while food is there = good thing may well need to be reinforced forever, but I would personally rather do what I could to reduce the risk than rely on keeping the dog away from people any time food is around ever.

Dogs are situational learners. Ever seen a dog that walks like a dream for one person and hauls others around on the lead? As I said, if you think the fact that you, as the dog's owner can touch its food means the dog won't guard, you are sadly mistaken. Indeed, take your dog out of its normal feeding routine, try to take a really treasured piece of food (like a chop bone) from it and risk the consequences. In my friend's case that meant a trip to the hospital and 20 stitches caused by her own dog. So much for conditioning your own dog not to guard.

Crating is safer.

Hankodie, one of the biggest dog fights I've ever seen was between a bunch of Golden Retrievers a pet owner's picnic at a river near here. Bunch of strange dogs, lots of food on a table... owners oblivious to the dog's body language and it was on... It does NOT pay to be complacent around dogs and food.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Haredown Whippets

[Guest hankodie]

Hankodie, one of the biggest dog fights I've ever seen was between a bunch of Golden Retrievers a pet owner's picnic at a river near here. Bunch of strange dogs, lots of food on a table... owners oblivious to the dog's body language and it was on... It does NOT pay to be complacent around dogs and food.

I don't think I was being complacent? I advised OP to seek the help of a professional first and foremost, they would probably be able to assess the situation a lot better than a bunch of people on a forum.

Also any breed is capable of food aggression so I don't see how that's relevant.

[Simply Grand]

Dogs are situational learners but they can also generalise. My own dogs aren't resource guarders so I haven't dealt with it as an owner. In a shelter environment though I am currently seeing a number of dogs, particularly young dogs, who have shown resource guarding behaviours but are quite quickly able to respond well to various different people who they don't know well coming close, bringing good things etc while they are eating, and also responding to leave it and swap type training.

It absolutely does not make these dogs bomb proof, it does not mean that high value things will get the same response, it does not mean they will show the same response around other dogs, multiple people etc etc etc but it can significantly reduce their negative reaction to humans approaching them while eating.

Yes, of course crating is safer, but in many (not all) dogs resource guarding is a behaviour that can be improved

and that would be my choice.

For Cassie (OP), you recognize you have an issue and there are various options for managing it so you have to choose what will work best for you, your pup and your family, best of luck :)

[Salukifan]

Hankodie, one of the biggest dog fights I've ever seen was between a bunch of Golden Retrievers a pet owner's picnic at a river near here. Bunch of strange dogs, lots of food on a table... owners oblivious to the dog's body language and it was on... It does NOT pay to be complacent around dogs and food.

I don't think I was being complacent? I advised OP to seek the help of a professional first and foremost, they would probably be able to assess the situation a lot better than a bunch of people on a forum.

Also any breed is capable of food aggression so I don't see how that's relevant.

When I was talking about complacence, I was referring to the idea that training can make a food guarding dog "safe" around food. The example I gave involved a novel situation with a hell of a lot of food available - result - resource guarding. From any dog's perspective, that picnic table was the mother lode.

Any sensible professional will discuss desensitisation or avoidance as methods of dealing with any kind of aggression. No professional I can think of would tell you desensitisation will guarantee non-aggression in novel or escalated situations like the picnic table and a bunch of strange dogs. Avoidance is the only guaranteed method of preventing aggression from a resource guarder.. read that as feeding behind a barrier like a crate.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Haredown Whippets

[Weasels]

I agree. One example I can think of is that if a dog runs off with something it REALLY shouldn't have (a dangerous item for example), you obviously need to be able to reach for it/take it away safely.

You don't though, I use a really strongly trained "drop it" whenever one of mine finds some dangerous treasure, It's way more reliable for them, because their natural reaction to someone reaching for their head is to pull away even if they don't have food in their mouth. Drop works from a greater distance too. Never had to grab anything from a dog mouth.

--

Chess was a resource guarder when we adopted her. After training human approach = good, she still isn't happy about people other than me touching her while eating, but it certainly decreased the distance people can get from her before she growls. Perfectly fine for anyone to walk past her now, so the training was worthwhile, but she'd still react if really pushed. Management and training in combination worked best :)

[Simply Grand]

LBD totally agree, management + training