If you’ve never seen a dog with serious food-guarding problems, it’s tough to appreciate the potential severity of the problem. Food-guarding issues don’t seem to be necessarily a reflection on the personality or training level of the dog: it’s an instinctive issue, and although dogs with a general aggression problem are naturally a lot of susceptible to demonstrating the condition, it’s also exhibited by otherwise-sweet, well-behaved, well-adjusted family dogs.
Like an evil djinn, the problem can rear its ugly head only when food (or the food bowl) is present: a true case of Jekyll and Hyde. A dog with serious food-guarding issues will be a true danger to anyone who ought to approach her during a meal: it’s not a scenario in which you’ll expect to coach your dog to “play nice”. Instinct is what’s compelling her to act during this undesirable, and even dangerous, means – you wish to take steps to turn the behavior around before your relationship together with your dog suffers or somebody gets hurt.
There are totally different degrees of food guarding. In the mildest case, a dog can simply tense up a little or freeze if someone approaches her whereas she’s attempting to eat. She could even continue eating, but her posture will be rigid and stiff: she’ll clearly be uncomfortable. Signs that the problem is more severe would come with a marked increase in eating speed, a direct, arduous stare right at you (usually in the middle of a still, tense, “watching” posture), a lifted lip, a snarl, a snap, and eventually a real bite.
NOTE: A dog exhibiting any of those last 3 symptoms includes a pretty severe case of food-guarding aggression, and may be prepared to inflict actual harm.
If this can be the case along with your dog, hiring a hands-on trainer might be the best answer for you: it’ll guarantee your safety, and they’ll be able to look at your overall relationship along with your dog and see if there are more areas contributing to the problem.
A food-guarding dog could be a pretty confused one. In her mind, she’s got your role mixed up. She fails to recognize that you’re the dispenser of food (which should accord you automatic alpha-dog standing, guaranteeing your immunity from any reasonably aggression or dominance), and instead is viewing you as a threat: a blackguard who may be going to take away her precious food. Hence, the possessiveness. The degree of aggression that a food-guarding dog is capable of may be laborious to understand, till you concentrate on the fact that food is one in all the greatest pleasures of your dog’s life.
Dogs are scavengers by nature: they’re programmed to eat just regarding something they’ll get their jaws around. Similarly as the instinctiveness of this gluttony, most dogs conjointly simply relish the tactile and gustatory sensations that include a smart meal (or an indifferent one .. and typically even a unhealthy one). They simply … like to eat. And it’s this overwhelming importance that’s placed on food that gets some dogs a bit demanded: their grasp of true gets a touch thrown off, and they start to marvel, miser-like, who might happen upon them and take away their cherished food.
The obvious conclusion: you. Or anyone else who comes along at meal-time. To cure her of this frustrating and antisocial habit, you would like to remind her that you’re actually the purveyor of that which she holds therefore dear: to make it clear to her that you just’re the one in command of the kitchen, and of all the delightful morsels contained therein.
Dogs can develop food-guarding instincts at any point in their lives: some can have had the problem since puppyhood, but for others the tendency lies dormant till it’s awakened by an item of explicit juiciness.
For many dogs, the deciding issue is meat, in some form or kind – whether it’s a marrowbone, a mutton hock, or cast-off scraps from the dinner table. Meat to dogs is like cash to humans: it will change them, build them do things they otherwise wouldn’t do. Therefore it’s not entirely surprising that the intrinsic worth of meat-connected foodstuffs can provide our dogs a replacement, unpleasantly skewed perspective on the sanctity of the food-bowl. Because of the chance of food-guarding turning into a problem in your dog’s behavior at any purpose in her life, prevention is obviously the best path to take: whether you get your dog from puppyhood or adopt her as an adult from a shelter, you ought to build a purpose of approaching her during mealtime.
Have you ever heard an acquaintance with dogs ask you to “leave her alone when she’s eating”? This is a short-term resolution at most: it’ll forestall anything untoward from happening, provided that each one the humans play by the rules and ensure that they don’t disturb the dog – but the dog continues to be the one calling all the shots. And what will happen if the surprising occurs? What if a toddler charges full-tilt towards the dog and makes a playful grab for her bowl?
In a very wolf-pack, the alpha dog is never disturbed when he or she is eating. Not solely does she get to eat initial, and eat the lion’s share of everything; but she also eats undisturbed. This is why a dog that’s permitted to eat in solitary splendor can truly become more food-aggressive, not less; while not anyone to take her down a notch, she begins to assume a lot of authority than she actually has. To stop your dog from getting an overinflated sense of her own importance, create sure you disturb her plenty whereas she’s eating. Don’t create a purpose of tiptoeing around whenever the food bowl’s out; it’ll just accustom her to solitude and silence when she eats (which are things that solely the alpha wolf or dog is entitled to).
At the opposite finish of the spectrum, don’t create these disturbances a negative experience for her either, or else you’ll really produce a downside where none previously existed. All you have got to try and do is approach her infrequently while she eats – starting from the very day you bring her into your home – and add one thing tasty (and small!) to her dish while she’s eating, to form the affiliation in her head that ‘humans approaching food bowl = sensible news‘. A spoonful of scrambled egg, a chunk of liver treat, a few chunks of cheese – something that she’ll get pleasure from, and that features a greater “food value” than the kibble she’s eating, will work perfectly.
After all, if it’s too late for preventatives and your dog already incorporates a problem, you’ll need to adopt a terribly different approach. Here’s what to try to to: – The dog bowl goes to be put away for the subsequent seven to 10 days. Over this time, you’re visiting be feeding your dog by hand – one tiny handful at a time. Yes, I know this is going to be time-consuming, but the alternative is even worse: a dangerous dog that can’t be trusted around food. So feed her by hand for the subsequent week or so. Be certain not to encourage any greedy snapping or grabbing for the food: solely allow her to require the food from your hand when she does therefore gently. Remind her that bite inhibition is necessary to get what she needs!
Once a minimum of every week has passed and she or he’s eating politely from your hand, you’ll reintroduce the food bowl, with one slight modification: it’s to be empty. And it stays empty until you pass by and drop a little few kibble into it for her to eat. When that’s been polished off, wait a minimum of a full minute before adding another, small, few kibble.
Keep doing this until the complete meal’s been consumed – this is a very effective method of teaching your dog to actively long for your presence near her food bowl!
When she’s graduated to a higher stage, you can begin setting down a [*fr1]-empty food bowl for her. Don’t let her lunge at the bowl and start gobbling: holding the bowl out of reach (or putting it on a handy counter), create her sit and wait before you permit her to eat. Don’t put the bowl down till she complies. Sit or crouch beside the bowl and continue to add little handfuls of kibble, just as you probably did in step two, until a full meal’s been eaten.
The fourth, and final, step is to allow her access to a full food bowl. Once more, it’s terribly important that you are doing not permit her to decision the shots: she should sit and wait until you release her with an “OK!” before she’s permitted to eat. To keep the message clear in your head that you are in control of the food during this house, observe calling her off from her food a few times per week and rewarding her with a super-tasty treat for her exemplary obedience while she’s attempting to eat.
If at any time your dog’s behavior gets shaky on any of these four steps, backslide till you’ve reached the stage at which she is one hundred% reliable. Wait at this stage for at least 2 or three a lot of days before trying to progress once more. As with any training, it’s essential that a solid foundation is built before moving on to a higher level – she should be utterly comfy with each step before trying a replacement one.
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