Pidge I think Jackbox and Ramble and others have given great advise.

The only thing I would add is take a deep breathe and a glass of red as you aint in that way yet you now are doing the right thing and it will get better. When we first got the boo he was a bit of a nightmare with food - he'd been living on the streets and Ive never seen a dog get a chicken carcass out of a wheelie bin with the speed and expertise he did it with He was aggressive if you went near him when he was eating from his bowl but now I can pick it up shake it up for him put it back etc with no problems at all. It was really down to him learning to trust that he would be getting another meal and that I really didnt want his minced tripe

So what Im saying is hang in there it will get better and yes we do ALL make mistakes one way or another but you have realised this and are doing something about it so good on ya

Thanks Spot x

Well done Pidge for realising that mistakes have been made. that makes you a good dog owner hun xxxxxxxx
Good luck with your training, it's an ongoing thing isn't it. Reah's still training me..(only kidding)

all good advice, having never had a food aggressive dog ( through luck not skill) then i cant offer any other suggestions, but its good you have a professional in to help.

I am not a bad owner, Tillymint is not a bad owner and nor are you Pidge. Every dog brings something new to teach us. Every dog has it's own challenge and is it's own reward.

I had never had a dog before Selkie. She taught me so much, I did so much 'wrong', but we muddled through and she became the most fabulous dog. I had never had a dog that needed to be bottle fed and woke up screaming with nightmares in the night until Pharaoh (his mum rejected him). I had never had a badly abused rescue dog until Jackjack and that was the steepest learning curve I have ever had.. I was still learning things until the day we put him to sleep.

I'd never had a food agressive dog, till Kismet and have to say it was a bit of a shock. She just came that way... My cute tiny 8 week old puppy became a loopy evil monster at meal times. You can imagine my surprise when this: froze if i approached, growled and even attacked my shoes! I taught 'wait' and 'sit' and tried different bowls and things to slow down her eating, but thought she'd grow out of the aggression. But she didn't so now we work on it, every day

Every day in every way she gets a little bit better...

(Then there are the bad days, the setback days. But then tomorrow is a new day and we start again. Every day in every way)

Congratulations Pidge on your good news !!

I absolutely agree with whoever it was that said that the more you give your dog, the more he has got to be aggressive about ! I personally don't use titbits as a training tool at all for this reason, and others too. You can usually tell a dog who is titbit trained - they are permanently snuffling at their owners' hands and pockets every time they have been given a command. (This is going off thread slightly, but a good example of this is a lovely lady who goes into our local pub. She always has treats in her pocket for her dog, and gave one to Tai the other day. Now whenever he sees her, he is constantly begging when we are standing next to her. I hate this and have asked her not to give him anything, but she'll do it when I'm not looking).

I personally would cut right back on the various extras, and just stick to the one meal a day.

I am unclear how a dog can be food aggressive, unless you are allowing them to be. I have thought long and hard about this one, and in particular one puppy I had who showed signs of this. He would do all the right things - sit and wait for the food bowl to go down - but when I stood up and told him to trust, he would wade in. When I blocked him with my hand and said "no - wait !" he would sometimes give this funny little warbling sound, a mix between a growl and a protest. I didn't pick the bowl up, I don't think you should ever do that, but that little bum had to stay on the ground and he had to stop warbling and become calm before he was allowed to eat. It took quite a time to teach that little beggar, about 15 minutes on the first occasion I would think, but after about 2 weeks of this at each meal time, we cracked it. He was the most food aggressive pup/dog I have ever had, but we cracked it by simply "claiming the food", by blocking him, and not allowing him to eat until we said so.

In a more serious case of aggression, ie with a dog that is actually going to snap at you, then you can use your leg to block him. Not to kick him of course ! Just to claim the space and block him.

Why only feed once a day, most people feed twice a day?? one meal a day is not good for a dogs digestion.


The trouble is if you take an evasive action i.e blocking him.... you are backing the dog into a corner, where he will have only two options, fight or flight..neither will address the problem, all it does it stop the action at that moment.

The fact you are blocking the dog , and not allowing him to eat is only going to enhance his frustration, and backs up his theory that he MUST PROTECT HIS FOOD.

Ask yourself this, if you could not see further than the food in front of you, you did not know IF you where going to get another meal... and someone stood blocking you from the one you are about to eat..

How would you react... with frustration I am sure..so why use that technique on a dog.. specailly one who is already showing signs of anxiety around food/possessions.


Yes, we need to teach our dogs manners, and wait till they are called for food, ..to be able to give things up when we ask for them

But that will come when the other issues is addressed..work on the protect issue first, adding basic manners as and when.

My puppy came to me with food possession probs. He would also bear down over his food. He would growl if I went near him if he was eating ANYTHING. The only way I overcame it was by getting a professional behaviourist in who taught me what to do in his particular situation. I had to feed him his normal food, wait then when he had finished put something real tasty like chicken in whilst sitting next to him and keeping my hand near.

As he was a pup it was quite easy and I wasn't afraid he would bite my hand off... also the transformation was very quick, we don't know what had made him food aggressive we just knew he came with the prob. Now, he will growl at other dogs going near his bowl, which I think is pretty normal for a dog, a respect thing? and I am not worried about that, but any one he knows, i.e. my daughter, me and my neighbour can stroke him while eating, take a bone off him, we did this by showing him something tastier first before swapping...i.e. taking a well gnawed bone off him and giving him a fresh one.. just offering something better. I have never taken the food bowl off him just put nicer things in it when he stopped the growling. In my case he had never actually snapped just growled which is good as at least you get a warning!! It was amazing how fast it worked. NOw he will DROP on command, and he has to wait for his food until I say he can have it. If I had an adult dog with such probs I would get an experienced behaviourist in to help me deal with it just as I did with my pup.

My dog and many I know are trained using rewards they have earnt (is that what you refer to? or do you mean handing out food willy nilly? ) and they are well behaved and don't pester for food....

Wys
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Very well done! If the behaviourist is a Blue Cross one they may have trained under Gwen Bailey so I'd have a lot of faith in their methods. Good on you Pidge

Easy to do. May I ask please, this is for my own interest really, did you "believe" you needed to take food away or was it sort of just done accidentally? PM if you'd rather

Excellent!

Wys
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