My dog is an aggressive dog, high prey drive and high maintenance. He developed a food aggression and I wanted to share how I managed, calmly and effectively to end it. I read your ebook on Dealing With Dominant Dogs and felt I should share my experience.
When his food aggression came out, I immediately stopped feeding him from his dish. Yes, he was ALWAYS made to sit and wait to be released before eating, but as soon as he started munching down he would tense and growl if I touched or came near him. Leading up to this I had already taught him the "Leave It" command wherein I would hold food or a treat in my hand near him and he was not allowed to receive it until released to do so.
To cure the food aggression (which took a few weeks), he was allowed to eat small portions at a time out of my hand. If he was too excited and bit he would have to wait a few minutes before the next handful. His entire feeding portion was done like this until it was all gone, handful by handful. He was praised everytime he took the food nicely from my hand. While he was eating the food from the one hand I would pet him and praise him with the other. This was time consuming and difficult but worked very well. I did this for a couple weeks. Then I held the food in my hand, in his bowl and repeated this for a couple weeks - petting him every time and talking calmly and praising him. He still was (and is) required to sit and wait for the release to begin eating (I don't wait too long on the release, poor thing starts drooling if I do). Now I am able to give him his entire food portion in his bowl (though I still put my hand in there and give him some food by hand to keep the aggression from reappearing) and pet him all over with no tension, no growling whatsoever. I also, intermittently will tell him to leave his dish mid eating for a treat I drop outside the bowl. I will continue to do this, probably the rest of his life, just to make sure we have no more issues.

Eina, great job. I hope you will post more often.

This is the method my rescue recommends for food guarding. I have never had occasion to use it (thank goodness) but I'm glad to know it works if you are willing to put the time in. Good for you.

My pup and I are still learning together. I have not yet been able to cure him from meaty treat aggression except on two occasions where I must have done something right. I had given him a bone to chomp on and he got nasty with me when I came near - on subsequent tries I made him lie down and wait, then leave it until released to chew while I held on to it. While it worked, the unfortunate part is he spit out bone fragments the next morning - no more of those type of bones for health reasons. I also purchased a treat filled hoof for him and didn't think much of it since he's not aggressive about a regular chew hoof without the filling. He tensed and growled at me, I yanked it away, stuck it in the trunk of the car (we were travelling at the time) and gave it to him some 30 minutes later. Now he's not interested in it at all AND not aggressive with it. He's only 8 months old but I'm determined there will be any aggressive tendencies eliminated as peacefully as possible as we go along. I'll post as I come across new problems and find successful resolutions.

Hi Eina,
I am also having this problem with my dog. I think it is more related to the pack problems that I have identified after reading info from this site but I was wondering if you had something like what happened to me last night happen to you and if/how you got past it.

Calli is still very "this is my house." And i have recently started working on this. That is a topic for another thread which i have already posted however.

Last night I was attempting to feed her from her bowl as usual, but was trying to stop the growling when I came close. So with each growl, i would pull the bowl away and wait 5 mins or so before attempting to give it to her again. After about 7 try's of this, i was beginning to give up. So i tried playing with the food in front of her, then giving it to her. She would stop growling as i was playing with it, and look away (submissive it seemed?), but then when I stopped and set the bowl in front of her to eat, she would start snarling and growling again, but would not eat. I then tried doing what you did and feeding it to her by hand, but the snarling and growling didn't stop.

Have you, or did you, run into a situation where your dog was so aggressive that he wouldnt eat? What did you do?

Thanks

Ben

 Quote: Ben Gossler

Last night I was attempting to feed her from her bowl as usual, but was trying to stop the growling when I came close. So with each growl, i would pull the bowl away and wait 5 mins or so before attempting to give it to her again. After about 7 try's of this, i was beginning to give up. So i tried playing with the food in front of her, then giving it to her. She would stop growling as i was playing with it, and look away (submissive it seemed?), but then when I stopped and set the bowl in front of her to eat, she would start snarling and growling again, but would not eat. I then tried doing what you did and feeding it to her by hand, but the snarling and growling didn't stop.

Ben,
The method you are using will virtually guarantee that your dog becomes more food aggressive. You are taking away the dog's food when she is eating, and reinforcing in her mind that she has something to growl about.

You are creating more anxiety for her by messing with her food.

Make her sit for her food and wait for your 'OK' to eat, then leave her alone.

If there are kids in the house and you are worried that someone may get bitten, feed her in a crate or other secure area where she can eat in peace and won't be disturbed...

Ben, I wouldn't do that any more. If you were hungry and someone kept grabbing food off your plate as you were trying to eat, how long before you put a fork in their hand?

I don't mess with my dogs food when they are eating and they don't mess with mine while I'm eating!

I like the hand feeding method and often use that when I have a new adult dog here, nothing makes the bond better then the dog realizing food comes from me.

Feed her in the crate for a few days and then maybe start the hand feeding after she has eaten. It might take her a while to realize that you aren't going to grab her food away.

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

The method you are using will virtually guarantee that your dog becomes more food aggressive. You are taking away the dog's food when she is eating, and reinforcing in her mind that she has something to growl about.

You are creating more anxiety for her by messing with her food.

Make her sit for her food and wait for your 'OK' to eat, then leave her alone.

If there are kids in the house and you are worried that someone may get bitten, feed her in a crate or other secure area where she can eat in peace and won't be disturbed...

Also,

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=298344&Searchpage=2&Main=27693&Words=Olivia+Brown&topic=0&Search=true#Post298344

and

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/264372/page/0/fpart/1

We train new behaviors by repetition. Can you see what repetition is being practiced in your situation?

It is so hard to grasp that dogs live in the here and now. They either ARE, or they AREN'T. Never "kinda".

If you set the food on the ground, leave the room, allow the dog to eat relaxed and in peace with no aggression shown, are they still food aggressive?

 Quote: michael_wise

... If you set the food on the ground, leave the room, allow the dog to eat relaxed and in peace with no aggression shown, are they still food aggressive?

"If a tree falls in the forest ... "



Even if someone came back and said "I can't guarantee that situation ever single day every single meal forever and ever," I still come back with "This is how the dog learns that his food, given by me, is safe. You can certainly guarantee it for that long, and most of the time thereafter."

I don't know. This wrangle is one that has never made any sense to me. Any question about it at all? Feed the dog in the crate.


All JMO.