Stopping Your Dogs Possessiveness Over Food 08/08/09
Dog or puppy growling at you when you go near its food? Stop this behaviour through training and modification.
In this article we will guide you through dealing with possessiveness around the food bowl but please note that if your dog is or shows signs of active aggression you must get a professional trainer to visually assess your individual dog.
Prior Knowledge
First things first you need to change how your dog feels about you being around food. You need to teach your dog to leave it. It is good to understand your dogs behaviour by reading their body language. As soon as you are more familiar with your dog’s body language, you can move on to feeding. When dogs freeze this is an indication they are about to nip or bite. You need to be completely ready for this and pre-empt your dog getting to this level. Learning how to feed your dog properly is useful knowledge to have at this stage.
Feeding in small quantities
When feeding your puppy or dog put the food into three different portions and three different bowls. Ask your dog to sit before you give the food. Then put one bowl down, wait for your dog to finish then the next and so on until the dog has eaten all three bowls. This teaches the dog that you control their food intake. Repeat this for a few days.
Adding more food to the bowl
Next you can begin putting a quarter of the dog’s food in the bowl, once the dog has finished it you can then add another quarter and so on until you have fed the dog. Do not touch the dog when you are doing this, it will teach your dog their space will not be invaded yet you will giving them more food, allowing them to make a positive association between you being near them and food being constantly put in the bowl. Feeding the dogs treats whilst praising your dog is good to build up a sense of trust between you both. Once you notice your dog is becoming more relaxed around their food you can teach them to lift their head up whilst eating to give them an extra tasty treat. This will help break the cycle of obsession of the food in their bowl.
Things to avoid when feeding your dog
Try to avoid feeding your dog in noisy busy environments, put aside an area where they will not be pestered. Feeding in a crate can be a good option, especially if you have children running about. Do not take the dogs food away from them whilst they are eating, this can cause the dog to be protective over their food.
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9 Responses to this article
My puppy used to gobble up her dog roll mixed kibbles really quickly, which I taught because she liked the dog roll a LOT!! One day, she suddenly growled and tried biting my hand when I reached for her food, even though I practise adding food in her bowl and talking to her while she eats. After a few days of hand feeding and others, I was able to reduce it to only growling. Now, I can put my finger in her bowl, and she’ll stop eating and look at me to give her food back!!! I think she’s starting to look at me as the pack leader!!!
Good stuff! Glad you are doing well
Love to get the feedback.
Do you have any tips on just aggression in general, my fella is fine with food, I can take it away, give him more and he will not growl etc… But at night and ONLY at night, after his walk and food and poop/pee. We will let him come into the Sitting room and sit on the couch with us. We have a kong for him to play with when on the couch, but he gets bored with it and then starts to try and chew on us, when we correct him, move him away, say no etc.. he starts to growl.. If he keeps it up we put him out into his den and when he stops crying and relaxes we will bring him back in but then the monster comes out again…..
We are going to stop bringing him into the sitting room soon if we cannot clam him down. We can’t rub him or even touch him without him growling..
Any Tips that can be applied in this situation..
You need to make sure you follow through when you tell him off. So when he does begin this behaviour you lead him straight off the couch. If he persists then put him out, like you have been doing. If he is not responding to this think about your tone of voice when you tell him off…is it firm enough? You do not have to be physical, but you do have to have authority. Keep calm but be firm. Use the ‘no’ in a low tone and calmly lead him by the collar off the sofa. If you are not consistent with this and even once allow him to growl and stay it will persist. Watch him for signs when you can tell he is about to growl and tell him ‘no’ before the cycle begins. Through careful monitoring you can learn at which point he is about to go down that road and look out for triggers.
Hi Thanks for the advise, but I think I got to the bottom of it. We have the chewing under control by now, he will still mouth us but in a playful way and not bite, if he does bite and growl a simple low but firm No or Hey (he respond to the hey, mush more so then the No), but both work….. as he knows the next thing that will follow is that he will be put out of the room,
Also after his walk to play time in the garden, we do not bring him in until he has completely relaxed, to the point that he will lie down on the patio step until he is called in, works a treat also…
Rgds
Chris
I am so glad things are going well for you! You will have to send me a link to a pic. I am considering putting some kind of gallery of dogs in training on here when i get an update!
hi i totally agree with not taking your dogs bowl away from it when it is feeding its not yours to take away from them its theirs i add cheese to my puppy rottweilers food bowl as shes eating with out touching her and shes fine with me standing beside her at her bowl and approaching her. in gaurding breeds and most oyther breeds taking the bowl away does encourage food agression in the wild wolves are the same the alpha pair will have their fill first then when they finished the lower ranking pack members are allowed to eat but not once do the aplha pair go back and dominate the kill and take the food away from the lower mrmbers they know they have had the best parts and dont go back for scraps the only time the aplha pair will interfere with a lower rank member at feeding time is if a lower ranking member tries to interfere with them at their fill. the little pats of understanding behaviour in animals goes a long way into their ancestry and works wonders if you do your research well .
Hi. I have two dogs one is a year old the other is just 4 months. The older dog is female and has always been the alpha in her pack. We originally had her and another puppy adopted at the same time, unfortuanately her brother died about 2 months ago and now we have a new puppy that we have introduced to her. She is fine with him in all aspects with the exception of when we give them each their own chew. She is always trying to get his as well as her own and then she does not let him have his back. We tell her no firmly and give it back to the puppy, but she always goes back to get his. Then he stands there and barks at her to give it back. She then becomes aggressive towards him and tries to keep both, even if she doesn’t eat them right away. One final point, when they eat their Kibble there is no food aggression what so ever she plays well with him and even lets him tug on her ears. I would just like to tackle this problem of aggression with the chews before it gets out of hand. Do you think I should contain her in her sleeping area (bathroom) when she misbehaves this way and doesn’t listen to our “firm” no’s? Any suggestions are surely welcome.
I would start working with really low level and treats they can both eat quickly like a large biscuit. Praise her for eating her own treat and as soon as she has finished remove her from the room with the puppy. You can even attach a lead whilst she eats her chew and then engage her in a game whilst your puppy eats his.