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Most of the time dogs show dog food aggression when there is more than one dog in the household but they can be aggressive toward their owners. Here are some suggestions on how to stop dog food aggression.
Dog food aggression is, in many ways, a natural behavior in dogs. When wolves or dogs live in packs they have a hierarchy and the top dogs eat first.
When lower wolves or dogs try to take food away before it’s their turn to eat, the higher ranking members will growl and snap to protect their food. They are warning away the other wolves or dogs.
If your dog is showing dog food aggression in your home, either to other dogs in the household or to you, then your dog needs some reminders that he is not living in a wild state and that this behavior is not acceptable.
He needs to be reminded that, as far as his relationship with you goes, you are the top dog.
You should take the approach that your dog needs to learn that all good things come from you. Here are some tips on how to stop dog food aggression:
1. When you feed your dog only give him a small portion of his food at a time. When he finishes each small amount wait until he looks at you, asking for more, before you give it to him. Let your dog get in the habit of remembering that you provide his food will tame his dog food aggression.
2. When your dog is eating his food you can periodically toss in something really delicious for no reason at all. Give him a tasty piece of steak or a nice piece of chicken.
Give him something really delicious that he loves. Again, this reminds your dog that you provide good things. You’re not competing with him for his food. You provide the food like some beneficent god. Maybe that’s a bit extreme but the point is that when you give your dog a delicious treat for no reason while he’s eating you’re reinforcing your alpha status with him.
3. Move your dog’s bowl around. Vary his meal times. Your dog may begin to guard a certain room in your house where you always feed him. Start feeding your dog in different rooms of your house and this will stop the dog food aggression.
This takes away your dog’s power and returns it to you. You control when and where your dog will eat. Again, this makes your dog dependent on you. When your dog has less control of the situation he is less likely to be aggressive.
4. A great way to solve dog food aggression is to feed your dog by hand. Again, this makes your dog dependent on you for his food. If your dog becomes aggressive when you put his bowl on the floor, take away the bowl.
Feed him from your hand. You can gradually reintroduce the bowl as he shows that he’s not going to growl or try to guard the food when you put it in the bowl.
These same dog food aggression training tips will work when it comes to teaching your dog to stop guarding toys and rawhides, too.
If your dog is aggressive about his food when other dogs are around you can do several things. Some people like to separate their dogs completely and feed them in crates or in separate rooms.
Other people prefer to free-feed their dogs. With this approach the owner leaves dry dog food down most of the time during the day for their dogs. This way the dogs can eat when they get hungry.
There is no rush for the food bowls and dogs have less incentive to guard the food. There are no specific feeding times so dogs don’t have to encounter each other at the food bowls.
If one dog is dominant then the other dog(s) can wait until that dog has finished eating to get their own food. There will still be plenty of food in the bowls.
The drawback with this dog food aggression training method is that some dogs can become overweight if the owner doesn’t monitor how much the dogs are eating carefully. You also can’t leave down canned food and this method doesn’t work for people who feed raw food diets.
If you have a dog who is guarding toys and rawhides from other dogs you can provide more toys and chews in the hope that this will distract him and the other dogs. This probably won’t work.
With a dog who guards resources, including toys and chews, he may simply collect more toys and chews. He may hide them for later or hide them so the other dogs can’t have them. You will probably have to step in and redistribute the goodies occasionally. If you have a dog who is guarding a particular toy and it’s causing fights, it’s probably best to get rid of the toy.
If you have re-established yourself as the top dog in your house and your dog respects you when you feed him, you should be able to take toys away from him when necessary without a return to aggressive guarding behavior directed at you.
If not, go back to the tips on dog aggression training. Learning how to stop dog food aggression can help you stop many of your dog’s bad behaviors. dog food aggression
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