How can I help my dog with food aggression? Simple and Effective Tips

How to Stop Your Dog’s Food Aggression

If your dog is displaying some of these signs, you can feel assured that this defensive behavior can be managed or even prevented.

First things first, consider spaying or neutering your dog. Hormones can be the cause of aggression, and spaying or neutering may help reduce these tendencies.

Another treatment option is training: many dogs that have food aggression can be put through a training sequence, laid out in seven stages, focusing on desensitization and counterconditioning to put your dog more at ease with eating near people. Try these seven steps to help put a stop to your dog’s food aggression:

Causes

There isn’t one simple cause for food aggression in dogs. However, here are a few common reasons:

It can be learned in puppyhood – either by accidental training practices or by needing to compete over limited resources in a shelter environment.

Dogs can also develop food aggression later in life as well. Trauma can be a massive trigger – something like losing a caretaker, physical abuse or neglect, natural disasters or fighting with another dog can bring on symptoms of food aggression. They become more protective over their resources… most importantly, their food.

Some breeds are genetically predisposed to dominant or aggressive tendencies, and may guard food due to a pack-like mentality. Dogs like English Springer Spaniels, German Shepherds or Rottweilers are well-known for having hereditary guarding instincts – though these instincts typically apply to livestock or property.

While there can be a number of causes for food aggression in dogs, those that spent time in a shelter may be at higher risk to experience this resource guarding tendency due to competition for the available resources like beds, treats, potential mates or food.

Managing Your Dog’s Behavior Apart from your treatment sessions, you need to manage your dog’s behavior carefully to avoid aggressive encounters. Do not allow others to go near your dog while he’s eating. If he guards food from children in the family, DO NOT attempt these exercises with any child under 18 years of age. Instead, seek help from a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB or ACAAB), a board-certified veterinary behaviorist (Dip ACVB), or a Certified Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT) with education and experience treating aggression. Please see our article, Finding Professional Behavior Help, to locate one of these experts in your area.

The exercises described below are done in stages. After doing the exercises in one stage, you can progress to the next stage if your dog is relaxed and shows no signs of aggression. Dog body language can be complex, so it’s sometimes difficult to tell how a dog feels at any given moment. To determine what your dog looks like when he’s relaxed, take note of what his body, ears, eyes and tail do when you know he’s in a situation he finds pleasant. For example, notice what your dog looks like when you and he are relaxing together on the couch or taking a leisurely walk. Signs that a dog feels calm and content include a relaxed posture (muscles relaxed, not tensed), normal breathing or slight panting, eating at a normal pace, wagging and wiggling. Signs of aggression to watch for while you’re doing exercises include standing stiffly over the bowl, gulping the food, tensing or freezing, growling, staring, snapping, snarling, biting or chasing people away. If you see any of these signs, stop immediately and contact a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist, or a qualified Certified Professional Dog Trainer. Please see our article, Finding Professional Behavior Help, to locate one of these experts in your area.

Guarding possessions from humans or other animals is normal behavior for dogs. Wild animals who successfully protect their valuable resources—such as food, mates and living areas—are more likely to survive in the wild than those who don’t. However, we find the tendency to guard valued items undesirable in our domestic pets, especially when the behavior is directed toward people.

Young puppies are prone to guarding behavior because they often have to compete with their littermates for limited amounts of food. Breeders often feed puppies from one large communal pan, and the puppy who manages to eat the most will grow the quickest and become the strongest. If a breeder is not observant, this situation can deteriorate into one or two puppies monopolizing most of the food. A history of being rewarded for aggressive behavior can become firmly established in these puppies.

With some dogs, treatment for food guarding can be tricky. If you attempt the exercises below and your dog appears stressed and refuses to eat—but he still guards his bowl—discontinue the exercises immediately and seek help from a behaviorist or qualified trainer. You’ll also want to seek help from one of these professionals if you’re able to do the exercises below for a while but hit a point at which your dog does not progress further.

How to STOP “Food Aggression”/ Resource Guarding in Dogs- WITHOUT FORCE

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Does your dog get possessive whenever it’s dinnertime, or when given a treat? They may be displaying food aggression. In this article, we’ll cover what food aggression is, situations it may arise in, how to prevent it, and how to train a dog with food aggression.

Food aggression is a type of resource guarding. Resource guarding is when a dog “guards” a valuable resource, such as a toy or a bowl of food, through behaviors like running away with the item, growling, or biting. Food aggression is a type of resource guarding that is specific to food.

Food aggression is quite common in dogs. It is a natural behavior inherited from their wild ancestors. Wild dogs (and other animals) are competing with other dogs for food and other resources. In the wild, a dog who has more food has a better chance of survival. Although your domestic dog does not need to guard their food in this way, the instinct to do so may still be there.

Food aggression, as the name implies, is specific to food. If your dog is displaying “aggressive” behaviors, like growling, lunging or biting, in non-food situations, then something else is going on (and you’ll want to call your vet and most likely a qualified trainer).