Food Aggression

    • Gold Top Dog

    Food Aggression

    So Piper is a food aggressive dog. I've known this since I got her, but it has never been a problem because Jetta doesn't ever mess with other dogs' food. Plus, Jetta still lives with my parents so Piper is usually alone. But the puppy that I recently took in now lives at our apartment, and Piper is showing food aggression again.

    Today she growled and bit him. I immediately yelled at her and told her "No!", but in retrospect I'm not sure if this is the right approach. Should I let her do this, as she is showing the pup that she is dominant? I don't want her to hurt him or hurt another dog that may approach her while she is eating. She does it with chew bones as well.

     How can I stop this?

    • Gold Top Dog

    I don't think yelling is going to do much.  You really do need to tell them what you WANT them to do.  I'm thinking that meals, snacks and chew bones need to be given in the crate and I think I'd be crating the "grouch".

    • Gold Top Dog

    glenmar
    I'm thinking that meals, snacks and chew bones need to be given in the crate and I think I'd be crating the "grouch".

    Precisely.

    Yelling, and yelling "no", will only increase your dog's anxiety around food items, and falls into the won't-help-might-hurt category.  And allowing your dog to scare or hurt your pup (this is not a normal "discipline" by the sounds of it) may make your pup fearful and anxious as well, developing two problem dogs.

    What Glenda said, is how to safely manage it. 

    To fix it, you should really get in touch with a local positive trainer who will show you how to help your dog lessen her anxiety around valued resources. It's not something you should try to fix over the internet, as it can be complicated.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Counter conditionining is your friend. lol Set up several training sessions a day and reward Piper with super good treats the moment the puppy appears.  You can put Piper in a down and toss her treats as you appear and disappear, with the pup on lead.  The moment you see Piper look at the puppy, toss a treat.  If you do this often enough her response to the puppy will change. Slowly work closer to Piper.  Don't let them interact around food or toys unless you're training.   Feed seperately and don't leave toys laying around for them to compete over.  Oversee their play with each other so they understand you're in charge of all the fun. :)

    I don't have a problem with an adult dog correcting a puppy but it's nice to not have to worry about it getting to be a serious issue around food or toys, etc.

    • Gold Top Dog

    In my experience tho, disciplining from an older dog hasn't ever included a real bite.  That concerns me.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I agree with you Glenda but the OP's description made me think the bite was inhibited and no damage was done and therefore not a severe bite but I could be wrong since it wasn't well described.  That's one of the reasons that Kim's advice is wise.  Getting a consultation with a pro is the wisest move if the owner thinks the dog will do real damage or if you're not sure.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Yes, it is absolutely an excellent suggestion.  I often forget to mention how valuable training is.....we go for refreshers now and again so I'm not sure why I don't mention it more often.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I let my dogs sort things out and rarely if ever have had to intervene.  If a younger dog is truly being a pest, I'm totally find with the growling.  The bite I can't really comment on since I wasn't there and don't know the dog.  I might not allow a "bite" that someone else would allow, or vice versa.  I can't really recommend for someone else to let the dogs sort it out b/c again, wasn't there, don't know the dogs.  I know what I can expect from my dogs and I typically feed them altogether (either from bowls all in the same room/area, or I just throw a pail of kibble all over the ground).  "Food aggression" is not really something I see as bad, I feel like a dog should have the right to say "bugger off!" when another dog gets in its face and tries to steal.  That said, things never escalate, and *I* can reach in and touch dogs, take the food, remove the bowls, etc.  What I can do with dogs and what my dogs can do with each other are different levels.  Whether the snarking is fair depends on you and/or the advice of someone who can observe.

    I agree that the yelling won't really help much.  If you're not sure whether it was a fair snark or intolerable food aggression, I would just go with management and separate the dogs during feeding.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Liesje
    I let my dogs sort things out and rarely if ever have had to intervene.  If a younger dog is truly being a pest, I'm totally find with the growling. 

    I'm much the same as you, Liesje,  My dogs are amazing with their food manners, and each respect's the other's food items.  I feed a lot of raw, which doesn't get a lot higher value, and I've never, ever had a problem.  But also, I have also learned that the propensity for severe resource guarding can have a) a genetic basis, and b) based on overall routine and boundaries the dogs experience in the home (ie - more than "just" the feeing ritual).

     I think the difference here is in the level of experience, and being able to predict our dog's behaviour (ie relatively stable dogs) and know what is normal and what is not.  The OP is not comfortable, so either it's escalated or the OP doesn't understand whether or not it's normal, and for that reason alone I would recommend the dogs be separated until someone else can observe.

    Coming from a standpoint where I routinely experience differing levels of resource guarding in my line of work, and get email questions just like this, I have been in situations where the advice of "let the older dog teach the pup a lesson" or "let them sort it out" would have resulted in dire consequences, it's one place I would never try to give advice via email or internet, as it can go very bad, VERY fast. And I've learned why it's important because after I get to the consult and do my consult, it's generally quite different than was first explained.  It's possible that the dog is doing some normal protection of the food, but it's also possible it's much more than that - and if it got to the point of a bite, it's in *most* people's best interests to prevent it from happening again, at least until they get professional help (I know you know all this, Lies, just providing this info for public education purposes!),

    • Gold Top Dog

    Thanks for the advice.

     I called it a bite because the pup squealed, but he wasn't actually hurt, so Piper didn't bite him as hard as she could have.

    I'm going to slowly condition Piper to the puppy being around while she is eating by hand-feeding her treats with him nearby. I guess i'll have to separate the pup or crate when Piper is eating meals while she is still behaving like this.

    Also, she is not food aggressive with humans at all. I make her sit/down before meals and I can take away her food at any time. This just seems to be an issue with other dogs.

    You guys are right about her needing some professional training...I really need to enroll her in class so she can learn to get along with other dogs better. Her previous owners must not have done any sort of training b/c I've had to start from square one with her.