My son has adopted a pitbull cross that guards her food/bones and has bitten him when he has tried to take them. I'm sure you have had to deal with this often but we are unsure. He has watched basic obedience but progress is slow as this dog is very strong and very driven. When walking with no distractions, he finds it difficult to get her attention or even hold on to her without a prong collar. I think he may need to get an eCollar for her. Are you able to point us to any articles, esp. re the food guarding? We welcome all advice (I think she is about two years old).

This clip is from the DVD with JJ Belcher From Rescue to the Home - he touches a little on preventing serious resource guarding.

https://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/1660/JJ_Belcher_on_Resource_Guarding

And this QA from Cindy. https://leerburg.com/qa/qna.php?id=3313

I think a lot of rescue dogs have resource issues of some sort. I had one that wasn’t aggressive, but she hoarded things. Once she felt comfortable in my home, she eventually stopped hoarding.

Has your son worked on marker training with her? Nothing beats marker training in building a trusting bond with your dog.

Best of luck!

Good morning from CNY,

I have taken in quite a few rescues in preparation for their finding a forever home. Some had no hoarding issues, and some had pronounced hoarding issues, especially of food.

The degree of intensity of the dog has much to do with the time it will take to resolve food issues, I think. A high drive or strong willed or afraid dog will present the most challenge, I think.

Addressing fear can be the challenge of bonding with the dog and minimizing its conditioned fears. Trust reduces fear, in my experience. Trust is enhanced by consistency. Marker training is a real asset but it can still take time and patience.

I have a GSD rescue that will never completely give up its food issues, I have concluded. And it has been several years in the trying to modify his behavior. He will sit and wait to be released to eat but once eating it is a risk not worth taking to interrupt him or to try to interrupt him and recover his bowl. There is no doubt in my military mind but what he will bite.

It was a major change in behavior when he complied with the sit and wait to be released to eat. He's now good for longer durations before release but he does salivate. His two meals a day are uninterrupted. But his compliance to wait to be released is good enough for me.

I can recover bones or toys with out issue from him but he truly doesn't want to be interrupted when eating. And that didn't happen overnight.

Anything food and it is prudent to be wary.

Whatever his conditioning about food before he came here left a lasting imprint. He still attacks his food as if he hasn't eaten in days, and doesn't believe he'll be fed again. You'd think I could have turned that food focus to my advantage but alas no, and goodness knows I have tried a lot of approaches.

Aside from that trait, and an unwillingness to make new best friends, he is the most loyal and empathic dog I have ever had. He is a shadow.

An old school guy once told me when it came to dogs eating to just feed the dog and get on with it. I have adopted that approach with this dog.

Two cents.

 Quote: Kim Winsor

My son has adopted a pitbull cross that guards her food/bones and has bitten him when he has tried to take them. I'm sure you have had to deal with this often but we are unsure. He has watched basic obedience but progress is slow as this dog is very strong and very driven. When walking with no distractions, he finds it difficult to get her attention or even hold on to her without a prong collar. I think he may need to get an eCollar for her. Are you able to point us to any articles, esp. re the food guarding? We welcome all advice (I think she is about two years old).

Disclaimer: I am NOT a pro dog-trainer, but have Adopted and/or Fostered a number of potentially dangerous Rescues with resource-guarding ISSUES...

So here's my 2 cents worth:

A) I personally NEVER use an ecollar for this, as it's a Bad Idea all the way around.

B) Avoid the Issue totally by feeding in solitary confinement (put the food in FIRST, then add the dog).

C) AFTER the food has been Eaten, then let the dog out FIRST, and remove the empty bowl LATER.

D) Do NOT give the dog any Bone or Toy that you ever want to Take Away from it (work Smarter, not harder, LOL).

E) As others have posted already, this is often a Bond-Building process that MAY resolve naturally over time -- Meanwhile it should NEVER be turned into a Forced-Compliance issue that will only make the dog Fear AND Hate you to no good end ... Down the road, once Mutual Trust has already been established via GROUNDWORK protocol (and depending on the dog's ongoing temperament type) hand-feeding MAY be tried, but continuing to feed in-confinement is Easier & Safer and avoids any Set-Backs from possible mishaps as well

Excellent. Thank you so much. This simplifies things considerably. Really
appreciate the input.

I have had a similar problem with Slippie, one of my Pits, in the beginning, (ça 7 years ago) I had not the slightest experience with dogs. If I could start again I'd follow the advices above. Although she always was very human friendly, I think she'd have bitten me because of her greed when I was taking food away or even simply delivering it. I then only threw pieces in her direction. !!! One thing at least she learned: Waiting for the next piece. (She was on a chain).

Then I pretended to eat out of her plate in order to show her: This is my plate, but I'll give you some of the food If you keep waiting. At least it worked. I had read this somewhere.

Later on I found LB, took courses and so learned about Marker Training, which was a huge eye opener for me. Don't want to go now into every detail. Just:
What finally helped me was when she had a quite solid sit-stay and then additionally learned the "leave it" . Once she had got this fully, I could put several pieces of food directly in front of her snout or elsewhere. She didn't move and left the food until I gave her the permission to take it.

Meanwhile I can take the plate or a bone away whenever I want, also out of her mouth. She doesn't even growl.
Of course I'd start now in a very different way if I had known before. I'd recommend absolutely Marker Training. Of course beginning very gradually as shown in the courses. Additonally I'd never leave the responsability to a child. A child - depending on the age - can certainly learn training and managing a dog, but it has to be taught by someone experienced and always under supervision. If we want to teach this to a child, we first must have the knowledge and experience ourselves. If not it might be very dangerous. Take care, don't do it like I did it at first!