Food Aggressive...1st time tonight
Anyhow, seeing as how he isn't aggressive, tonight blew my mind. We also have two cats. They spend most of their time away from Wilbur to avoid being chased but seem to be more comfortable around him now. Tonight, Judy put her nose near Wilbur when he was eating and he let out a snarl like I have never heard and snapped at her that I heard his teeth clatter and he actually bit her. My other cat came running in to her defence. Again, this time when Toby approached Wilbur, he did the exact same thing very aggressively snarling and snapping. Toby was quick enough to get away. I am very upset and do not want him to be food aggressive. I have never seen this before. Should I be worried? He is about 6 months and we have been taking him to training since about 4 months. I also don't want to come home one night to a dead cat. |
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| Sorry to hear that...
Has he been neutered yet? If not I would suggest doing that asap. Also, until this is resolved I would start with the NILF (Nothing In Life Is Free) approach. Hand feed him, make him sit for everything etc... |
Wilbur's Momma wrote: He is very submissive with other dogs and will roll on his back, whimper and come running back to us if the slightest things scares him (I don't like this behavior but don't know what to do about it).
This actually seems very good to me. He won't get in trouble with other dogs and it shows he really trusts you. As for the cats, I would work on teaching Wilbur that cats are above him in rank. You can do this by letting Wilbur see you prepare his meal and then letting the cats have at it first. Perhaps put something the cats find delicious on top. If Wilbur sees the cats eating first, he should understand they are superior. I did this to Maggie and she groaned and looked so sad. . . You have to reinforce it all the time. I think I learned that techinique in The Dog Listener by Jan Fennel. . . I am a huge fan of the NILIF approach too. Good luck! |
Neutering will help and I also like Vals suggestions too, he needs to learn he isn't the be all and end all.  |
| I am so sorry you're going through this "resource guarding."
Hopefully the cats will quickly learn to not bother him while he's eating. Come to think of it, that's what he's hoping for, too. The problem I see is what if a child were to put his hand near the food dish while he was eating.  Maybe it would be a good thing to teach that resource guarding is a no no. |
| He isn't fixed yet...planning on that probably next month. His vet is away until then.
I just don't know where this behaviour came from. That cats don't eat his food. Never have. He always gets fed plenty so I have no idea why he would be protecting his food-he's never had to share. Think maybe we are not feeding him enough? Could it be that he is alway hungry? He is a healthy size though. I acted like alpha dog last night after the incident and today, he seems to be a very good listener. This morning, when I fed him, I kept taking away his bowl, moving it, and tapping it and there was absolutely no aggression at all. But I was a bit nervous due to the scene last night. I also made sure he saw me feed the cats first this morning! |
| I don't know if there is any correlation between neutering a male dog and food aggression - females are the most food aggressive canines. I neutered Morgan at a year and have sionce learned that yu should wait until they are older because of growth issues. I think neutering a male at 6 months might have health implications and I woul advise researching the matter more fully. |
| Funny-that's why I wrote 'porbably planning that next month'. We are struggling with that issue. Some people say yes, some say no. We still don't know what to do. I will post something regarding that topic soon! |
| I don't think that his food aggression has to do with the amount he's being fed if he's a good size and your vet hasn't been concerned that he's underweight. Some dogs are food agressive, some are not, quite separate of other issues. Sure, upbringing can make an issue come to light or make it better or worse, but your pup isn't competing with a pack for his dinner. Or even the cats.
Of the 4 OES I have and have had, the only one who has ever had any food aggression issues has been the only girl of the bunch. And NILIF is basically how I deal with it. She's pretty good if I'm around for feedings, but unfortunately, my work schedule dictates that usually, my husband is the one who does the feeding. He's pretty much a softie which was fine with all of our boys but isn't a good strategy for Sophie, who really needs to be reminded of her proper place in the world. Although, as her and Sherman's first birthdays approach, both seem to be settling (knock wood). |
| You could work on training Wilbur to be accepting of the cats' presence during mealtime also.
Stand near Wilbur while he is eating dinner and when a cat comes anywhere near, drop a really yummy treat in his bowl below his nose (before he shows any sign of agression or resource guarding). You could even get someone to help set up the situation by bringing the cat over or directing the cat towards Wilbur. Continue to do this and Wilbur will hopefully associate the cat being near his dinner with a treat and he'll think it's a wonderful thing for the cats to be around at dinner time. That's how we read about teaching a puppy to not resource guard with people - by sticking our hands in his dinner but leaving a treat - so the puppy will not feel the need to resource guard when people (or people's hands) approach their dinner. |
Wilbur's Momma wrote: I also made sure he saw me feed the cats first this morning!
According to Jan Fennel, Wilbur should see the cats appearing to eat his own food before he gets it. This has something to do with pack priority where top dog eats first and other dogs get what's left behind. So feed the cats first but feed them on top of his food, in his bowl, in his sight. I only had to do this once and Maggie was instantly aware of the meaning. She visibly crumpled. After that, she kept trying to submissively lick my cat. That's just one strategy, of course. I also heavily treated Maggie whenever the cat would appear and I always practice NILIF with her because she is an opportunist. I think the putting treats in his food bowl while he is eating is a great idea too. |
| One thing I might not have stressed enough is make sure that you drop a treat in his bowl BEFORE he shows any agression/guarding. Don't want to accidently reward the wrong behaviour.
Valerie - your story about creating the pack order is hilarious! I can't imagine a big crazy sheepie girl submitting to a cat!  |
| Loki was showing some signs of food aggression towards my kids a few weeks ago. Growling and actually he snapped at my daughter. That is absolutely not acceptable. I told him NO in a very firm voice and took away his treat or food. then when i gave it back I stood by and told my kiddos to take whatever it was. He would let them tke it everytime I was righ there.. but if I was sitting on the couch or something, he would growl.. it took a few times to get it right. But now, he has no problems with it. Although, I think that it's something you need to keep at. I still make him let them play in his food or poke at him or touch him while he's eating. It's helping a lot.
I think my head kitty, Luna, would scratch his nose off if he snapped at her in a mean way. She already does when he comes too close!  |
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