I have owned/fostered dogs with really bad food aggression, so my plan was to have Dave used to me touching his face and having his food taken off him and having another dog close by from an early age. I haven't been doing it every meal, but have done it atleast every other day.

Today he snapped at my hand while I was stroking his ear. I immediately gave him a sharp pull on the collar and removed the bowl. Made him wait, put it down, made him wait until I said 'ok'. He did it again, this time when i was stroking his head, so I did the same thing.
Then I pulled him back and asked him to wait, removed the dish, put it down, made him wait until 'ok'. He soon got the hang of this, and after 5 or 6 times he will sit and wait if I touch the back of his neck. The rest of his meal was eaten eith no growls.

After dinner he immediately ran off and stol Dixie's bone so I walked over and 'claimed it' he dropped it and backed off and sat so I gave him a little treat from my pocket, then put him to bed for some quiet time (he always does after dinner) with a pork strip.


Anyway, I hope I am dealing with this the right way, it's been a while since I've dealt with food agressin but I want to get it out of him while he's young. Can anyone tell me if I am doing it right? From now on when I feed him i might use my house lead.

ps I checked, he has no sore bits on his head or ears


xx

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Hi. ARe you touching him whilst eating

We have a bit of possesion aggression with Oscar. He bit my 2 year old when he was very young over a pigs ear.

My trainer advised - Ensure all toys, chews bones are not left lying around (they belong to you and you decide when to play)

You need to correct the behaviour when it is a thought in his head so the moment he rumbles you say "NO" or "Uh UH" I don't necessarily agree with removing the food because i was told it might make them worse and the growl is a warning and if they think you are going to ignore the warning they will not give one and just bite.

I ensure all feeding and chews are out of the children way now to avoid a disaster and i do excactly what you have done (make him sit, move the bowl mid meal etc).

Something else to do is while he is eating PUT FOOD INTO HIS BOWL. Add something MORE tasty than his meal that way he will associate you being close to his bowl with recieving a treat rather than having something taken away.

I think it is something you always have to be aware of and work with

Yeah, I am touching him while he is eating, I did the exact same with Dixie when she was Dave's age and she has no food agression atall, my 3yr old can even take a chew off her (even tho he is not suppose to!).

This evenings meal went fine, I think where I was going wrong before was letting him think He owned the food in the dish, I just asked him to sit then put it infront of him then left him to it most of the time.
Now I make him sit and wait until I say 'ok' and I can now walk over and 'claim' the space the bowl is in he will back off a few steps and sit, wait for me to 'ok' him..

I don't want to add something extra tasty to his meal, we have just stopped giving him scraps at night as it made him not eat his dinner cos he was looking for the extra tasty bits! I just need him to know that me stroking and being close to him is good and he wont eat if he is being aggressive..

I don't want him to think he can growl at me and I leave him alone, i don't want him to growl atall, I need him to know that nothing 'belongs' to Him, and that Everything belongs to me.
He doesn't have access to toys at all times they are kept in a drawer (mostly because Dix will repetitively fetch!) he gets given a kong or a chew and a few toys in his pen when he is to be left.

Well I taught him the 'leave' command today and I have to say it has made a difference. If I wanted something off him before I usually had to catch him and take it off him. Now I can walk up to him, I guess in a different state of mind, like I own the think I want and say 'leave' and he will sit.

x

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If you don't want to add something tasty just add pieces of his kibble, it should still make the same connection.

I'll be honest, I don't really understand why you are touching him when he is eating? I'm not being critical, I just don't see why.

I have 3 adult rescue's who have no food agression issues, however I don't really touch them when they are eating.

What is your goal, i.e what do you want to achieve?

Well because I have a 4yr old boy and he knows not to perter the dogs but you can't predict what they are going to do when you turn your back.

My 1st puppy Roxy I stayed near her while she was eating when she was little, and one day when she was older, I brushed against her while she was eating and she snapped.

So as I did with Dixie, I want the pup to be used to me being able to go really close to his food and be able to touch him so he won't get food aggression when he is bigger.
It's just my technique of teaching them while they are really young that its ok to have people near when they are eating, it worked fine with Dix, I can put my hand in her dish while she is eating, no bother.

x

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My youngest is 15 months now - from the moment I brought her home I would put my hand into her bowl whilst she was eating, I have also on occassion removed the bowl and returned it without incident. It is something I always do when socializing them. I have two grand children and they know the rules - you don't go near the dog when they are feeding BUT should they have ever done so I am pretty sure their would have been no need for concern.

DT

by the way

My youngest was one of a large litter and is therefore a greedy dog!

To OP - sounds like you are doing right to me

we have touched zeb while eating from day one really, We were taking his food bowl away but since are just adding more kibble to his food or taking some kibble out and letting him eat it out of our hands. We have also let our 2 children take chews by asking him to drop and leave which he will do once he has dropped and left he gets a massive fuss (which he loves) and the chew back e.t.c we did this with our older dog and he was wonderful with food and would let you take it out of his mouth with even a hint of aggression

Were as my nans dog hasnt ever been touched when eating and now has very very bad food agression no one can go near her when shes eating or if she claimed something i.e a sock no one can touch her or she will very agressively bite you and break the skin.

I thought everyone in the family should be able to take food from a dogs mouth with him/her being at the bottom of the pack as such?

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

I TOTALLY agree with you on this one. It is probably the most important "house rule" you can teach them if you have children.

I feed Oscar in the kitchen now with the gate shut because he has shown some food aggression but what is to stop him finding something tasty in the garden and my 2 year old goes to say hello !!!!!

They MUST be taught that it is ok to be around them eating and you are doing exactly the right thing IMO.

I have accepted that i will ALWAYS need to be careful of Oscar with this sort of thing but it doesn't stop me trying to train it out of him