Food guarding/aggression with dogs
She is fine with me around her food. I can take it away or add to it or hand feed it to her...whatever. She just freaks out with Parker. It's only food at this point. Treats and toys are just fine. Today I was attempting to redirct her away and she slipped around the other side of the island and literally layed over his food and snarled at him. I put her in her crate with her own bowl of food. I don't want to make her crate a bad place but I didn't know what to do at that point. She never did eat her food by the way. Oh-- we have typically left Parker's food out for him all day and he would eat a little at a time. We obviously are not doing that now but neither one of them appear to be very good at eating at a particular time. They take a few bites and disappear. Especially Lucy who is too concerned with Parker to eat her food. Lucy is also thin which I'm sure has something to do with why the behavior started. She needs to gain about 15 pounds. Any advice?? How can I appropriately handle the situation and work on ending the behavior? |
|
|
| My advice would be to feed Lucy in her crate or in a gated area. Leave her with her food for 15 minutes, and add a little something to make it more appetizing for her. Even if she doesn't eat the first few days eventually she'll be hungry enough to realize that you set the feeding times.
Good luck- food aggression can be a pain, but there are a lot of ways to address it! |
| The food issue can be tricky. Especially if both dogs are used to being "grazers" - eating bits here and there all day.
We have 5 dogs in the house, and they all eat in seperate areas. Several are rescues, and all are different ages and breeds.They stay that way until all the dishes are empty. This is the lineup - Simon the basset rescue eats in the kitchen. He eats slow and never steals others food - his would be more likely eaten by someone else. Riley is a rat terrier. He eats in his crate. He stays in until everyone is done - he would claim everyone's food if he could. Maggie is a coonhound rescue and she is a slow eater. She either eats outside alone in the dog yard or in her crate. Chewie the sheepdog eats on the entry porch near his crate - closed from the house with a gate. Chewie rarely eats all his food, so he usually gets the rest later in the morning. Tazz is a breeder returned Min Pin with CHF. He eats his food all day. He loves his crate and eats there, The food dish stays in his crate (with the door shut) and he eats when he wants to - He stands by it and we open the door! The 2 labs also eat supervised - Tator would eat all Macy's food if we didn't. This is our solution. I do this on purpose to eliminate the possibility of food guarding and fights. Also, this way I know they each are getting the right amt of food. They actually all know the routine and run to "their" spot. It is kind of fun! |
| I always feed mine in separate areas right from the word go, that way no food issues arise.
The slowest eater gets the bowl of food first the piggiest last and when ready to collect the bowls, the piggy one first as she is finished and by that time the slowest one has finished. Having 3 at one time, worked great and no food issues, one in the puppy pen, one fed in the laundry near the kitchen and one in the kitchen. Never had any problems develope then when food is around. All eat in peace and at there own pace then.  |
| I know that this knucklehead behavior is frustrating... hopefully the trainer can give you some good advice. Until then, here are a few things to consider... note that I am NOT a professional trainer... it's just I've got a few knuckleheads of my own
We feed twice a day and feedings are always supervised. You may want to put a stop to their grazing if it's causing issues. Some people do fine with leaving food out all day... people with rescue dogs often find this is no longer possible. Most dogs love routines and will learn to look forward to feeding time. Panda arrived with food aggression at the age of 10 months and we had some scuffles because of it. We assigned feeding areas to each dog... Panda's was in one of the 4 corners of the kitchen. Two other girlss are in different rooms just off the kitchen... one with the door open, one with it closed. It took a while for things to settle down and I had to teach the other dogs to "leave" it" when Panda was eating. If I saw one of them heading in her direction I put myself in their path and gave the "leave it" command before it could become an issue. If you find that she simply will not relax, put her in a room with the door closed so she can eat in peace. Actually, feeding her in her crate helps to make a crate a GOOD place so this too is an option (you might try covering it with a dark blanket so it's more private or den-like). As things improve, you may be able to gradually bring them closer together. A lot of this is about building trust and them learning to respect these new limits. I also worked one-on-one with Panda. I'd drop a piece of food on the floor and tell her to "leave it", then "look at me". If she tried to get the food on the floor, I'd cover it with my foot and again say "look at me". When she did look at me, she would get a much tastier treat. Every night before we went to bed we went through this exercise. She quickly learned that when food hits the floor and another dog goes for it, to look to me for another treat because one is ALWAYS available. As always, probably too much info but maybe something here will help. I think it's about teaching both dogs to respect each others feeding areas. One more thing... IF you go to scheduled feedings, pick up their bowls as soon as they're empty. It just eliminates a cause for possible confrontation. It will take some time for her to settle in and for your other dog to learn some new rules. Good luck to you. |
| I have good news and not so good news.
First the good news......She does not appear to guard food from people...Yaaaahhhh!!! ....To keep this up you should make a practice of dropping a tiny bit of cheese or chicken in her food dish, while she is eating. That will translate to "good things happen when people come to my dish when I am eating". Also, you can do some trading up with her. Go to the "training" area of the forum and there are instructions on how to teach "Off". This will help if she is eating something, and another dog is approaching. If you can get her to relinguish or back off "before " she can react to the dog it will elliminate any potential arguments. Now the not-so-good news. Food guarding from dogs is normal behavior and very difficult to undo. Don't be fooled by trying to get her to stop growling around food and other dogs. If she is not allowed to growl, she will just attack. Listen to her signals and let her be. For me, and the other posters it is a management issue. Feed the dogs at certain times of the day, and pick it up if not eaten. Feed them separate and make it into a "postive" experience. If you are stressed, and have a negative reaction to her when this happens she will think "geez...the combination of food and the other dogs always gets my mommy upset, so best I make him go away"... Personally, I don't really want to put the time and effort into handling Bosley's guarding tendencies. This is what I have done, and still do. I started by having the dogs eat separately, far enough away so Bosley did not notice Dixie eating, but his dish is aways in the same place. Then greadually, every day, I moved Dixie closer, with me standing in the middle. If Bosley was interested in Dixie's dish then they were too close, so i moved her back a bit. Now they eat about 3 feet apart, with me in the same room, but not supervising them. If I see him lift his head to look at Dixie, then his dish is removed, and I put him in a down/stay until she is done. He can catch up at the next meal. This is not fixing the problem, but it keeps his attention on his food. Once he is done he saunters over to her dish and helps her finish it, if there is any left.  I let him do this because she doesn't mind, so why should I? And it developes a normal activity of him and her eating together with no problems.
But his problem is not fixed, because heaven forbid if a slice of bread falls on the ground in the kitchen, and she even LOOKS interested in it 
Good luck. Hopefully you can figure out the best way to handle this situation in your household. |
I also have spearate areas for the fur kids to eat. It started when one was on adult food and one was on puppy food - why do they always want what the other is eating? 
I also agree that this is going to be a lifelong issue, so the answer is to train yourself to control it or minimize it as much as possible. To help with the dropped food issue, I started working with the treats. To get a treat, the dog must be seated. I then annonunce a dog's name and say first (Ben first), then a second name (Bailey second) and finally (Riley third). I change the order, based on who sits first. When one of them recovers a piece of dropped food, I will announce their name (Bailey first) and get the others a better treat, using the second-third wording. They've learned that dropped food isn't a big deal. (Though Bailey stands next to my husband in the kitchen, looking at the floor for the stuff he will surely drop  ) |
| I do the same with treats. They are in a semi-circle around me, and I say a name. That dog takes the treat -gently- from my hand. We go around, me saying names randomly, and that dog taking it. They quickly learn the routine. They actually seem to enjoy it . They all wait until they hear their name, and take the treat. Anybody who tries to get the treat out of turn goes to the end of the name list for that round. It is fun to do, and a good mental exercise for them, and teaches self control! |
| I seriously love this place! Thank you everyone for your suggestions!
I have been feeding Lucy and Parker in seperate rooms where they can't see each other and have put a baby gate up to keep apart. I think it is something we will be able to work through as Lucy isn't at all concerned with treats or people food. It's just her dish of dog food that she protects. Parker has never even made any attempt to smell her food let alone eat it! She just doesn't like him in the room. I tested them this evening a little bit. Parker was in the kitchen when I put food in Lucy's bowl. She didn't seem to notice. Later he walked passed her to get to the door and she didn't even look up. That is major progress!! I'm not going to push it. I'll continue to feed them in seperate rooms and make gradual changes. I think once she realizes that food is always going to be around she'll ease up. Especially considering Parker couldn't care less!! Again, thank you so much for your help!! |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|