My dog attacks other dogs over food, any advice?

Hello,
We have a four year old black lab called Jake. He is great with people, we love him dearly, however if there is any food around he has gone for other dogs. So we no longer take him to other people's houses who own dogs.
I have walked him with friends and their dogs and they came across a sandwich on the ground and he went for the nearest dog. I managed to pull him off but there were children and other, smaller dogs there and it just keeps happening. so now I walk him alone.

He is well exercised ( ball thrown, five - seven mile walk a day, swimming..)

He can go off lead, come across other dogs and be perfectly behaved most of the time.

I can take his food off him, we make him sit and then release him to eat, no problem.

He just went for the cat and I know it was because he wants her food.. I'm coming to the point where I am not sure we are right for him. Or we are doing something wrong.. He really is a great dog.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

I have a food possessive bitch and when she first came to me a year ago, world war 3 would break out at feeding times and she would go nuts at my dog.

I introduced her to eating with him very, very gradually.

Even now I won't put either of them in the situation where there is high value treats involved.

Good luck x

hello there ,iv got 4 dogs who all can eat from the same bowel at the same time,its a big bowl!i started buy give food to the top dog first,letting her eat first,and so on.100% supervision all through puppy hood. the first step was to make food,worked for.get them hungery,and have a spot for each f them,within the same room.correcting the dogs as needed to creat boundries,while feeding.for my house hold it just becomes a way of life,i cant aford nor do i have the time for food issues,iv got 4 extreamly powerfull dogs.some tips.i always claim the food,its mine..!lots of training in other areas,first...the higher the quality of food the bigger the risk of confrintation,mine will fight over meat,if im not there.....in my experience,the higher the prey drive,the higher the risk of confrintation,and finaly ..hunger.heres a couple of softies who will allow pups to eat with them,same bowl..

Thank you for the replies.
It is more that we are out and it happens.. I never feed him with the cat and we have no other pets so it's more about there being food around and he feels it's all his I suppose. He just attacks. It's sporadic and it feels like we have this really well behaved, slightly neurotic, very loving dog who just goes nuts over food and tries to kill anything that gets in the way of that tiny grain of food.

Hi, first of all this is perfectly normal behaviour, it is nothing unusual and you do not have a neurotic dog. Your dog is just displaying resource guarding behaviour.

Before I go any further, how long have you had this dog, and when this behaviour occurs is it only towards animals with 4 legs?

it is normal behaviour for k9 in general,its how we curb it.imo.undestanding your situation,it may be a battle you have to deal with or except as managment of your dog, with mine, i have to choose my battles ,so to speek, i lost the battle of the sofa!but i did win over food issues,i hope all goes well , im sure you will see other help full ideas,as well.

We have had him for three years. Good to know it's not unusual! Yes, never any aggression towards anything but four legged animals. I've had the kids feed him, take the food away etc. Never an issue.

Then you will just have to be careful.

So if you are out and about with other people and their dogs, make it a rule that no titbits are to be thrown around.

You can gradually teach impulse control by getting all dogs to sit and then give treats individually, on lead if necessary.

You can also teach a dog to bring food to you in return for something better.

This is very useful if your dog scavenges whilst out as it could of course save its life.

So you can train a dog to bring you a sausage for example in return for a chicken leg.

This will all take time, it will also not CURE the problem, but it can reduce the level of the reaction and lower the arousal around food.

You may find this link helpful

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3339

Could I also suggest you feed the cat up high so she/he and the food are well out of the way. I feed mine on top of the fridge , its not that my dogs would attack the cats for the food the cats just wouldnt get a look in

What are you feeding and how often?
You might want to have a read of this - hope it helps...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mine-Practic...8402919&sr=8-1