Food aggression occurs, because some dogs associate people or other dogs coming near their food, as being a bad thing.
- Maybe we have a rescue dog, that had to fight for his food in an earlier life.
- Maybe we have been inadvertently taking food, or other objects away from our dog by force.
Now, he thinks he needs to guard his belongings.
Certain dog breeds, for example protection dogs, may also have a higher tendency to guard.
To reduce food aggression, we want to make sure our dog associates people approaching him, with something positive.
Never try to take food, or other items away from an unknown dog. Even seemingly easy-going dogs, may sometimes try to guard their food and toys.
Note – The exercises below, help to prevent food aggression. Do not perform these exercises on dogs that are already food aggressive, and/or causing bite wounds. Instead, contact a professional trainer.
1. Add something really good to our dog’s food bowl
A good way to solve food aggression issues, is to show our dog that people and other dogs coming near him, during dog feeding time, is a positive thing.
When my dog is eating, I throw some good treats into his food bowl, for example little pieces of cheese or bacon. I keep repeating this, until he is looking forward to my visits.
Note – Do not reach down to pet or stroke, food aggressive dogs.
Once my dog is comfortable with my presence, I sometimes take the food bowl away, show him that I am adding yummy treats into it, then give it back to him. I also take other objects (e.g. paper, sticks) away from my Shiba Inu, add food to it, and return the enhanced object. Sometimes, I add food into his food toys, or help him get the food out.
This teaches our dog that having people around during feeding time, means more food. It also shows him that when we take something away, it usually comes back with an added bonus. If we do all this often enough, our dog will be looking forward to us coming over, during his meals.
My Shiba Inu sometimes brings a toy over to me, in the hopes that I will add some food to it!
2. Hand-feed our dog
Only do this if our dog is not aggressive, and does not have a bite history.
Hand-feeding occurs naturally when we use reward obedience training. I also hand-feed my dog during dog grooming and handling exercises.
Hand-feeding teaches our dog that the human hand is a really good thing, and yummy food comes from it. It can also strengthen our bond with him, because he sees that food comes directly from us.
Feeding with our hands, helps us establish pack leadership because –
- We can set the speed of feeding.
- We can demand good eating manners. For example no grabbing, and only take food from us gently.
- We can ask our dog to work for us. For example doing a Sit or Down, before getting any food.
It is generally a good idea to keep up with some hand-feeding, throughout our dog’s lifetime. This helps him maintain good bite inhibition.
3. Teach our dog the Drop command
- First, give our dog a fairly low priority and safe toy.
- When he takes it in his mouth, bring a high priority treat to his nose, and say Drop. Chances are, he will drop the toy, and try to get at the treat.
- As soon as he drops the toy, mark the behavior (i.e. say Yes), give him the treat, and give him back the toy.
- Let him play with the toy for a bit, before repeating the exercise.
Once he understands the command, we can use higher priority toys, and ultimately, food toys.
If my dog is refusing to drop objects, then I try using a higher priority treat. If he bites on me, then I usually do a time-out. I try not to overtax my dog, and keep sessions short and positive. In this way, he will be motivated to play this game again.
I also practice Drop sessions during walks, with sticks and other safe objects. This helps a dog to generalize the Drop command for outside the house, and for outside objects.
When we are out on walks, I try my best to keep my dog away from questionable objects. If he manages to pick up an undesirable item, I no-mark him (say Ack-ack), then hold a good treat by his nose. As soon as he drops the item, I praise him, and treat him.
If I really want an item back, I will hold firmly onto it (close to my dog’s muzzle), and give the Drop command. It is important that we do not pull back, and make it into a tug game. I just hold it still, and try to be as uninteresting as possible. My dog will usually lose interest, and drop the item. If he does this, I praise him, and treat him.
Do not try this technique if our dog is aggressive, and is likely to bite.
If an object is dangerous and is too small to hold, we may have to forcibly go into our dog’s mouth. He will probably hate it, but if we must do it, then we must do it. Make sure to do some simple commands afterward, so that we can treat him for his positive actions.
If we frequently remove items by force, our dog will likely get aggressive, and start guarding food and belongings from us.
This is why we want to set our dogs up for success, and prevent him from picking up dangerous objects in the first place. In this case, prevention is much better than cure.
4. Play the “object exchange” game
An alternative to simply teaching the Drop command, is to play the object exchange game.
- First, bring out several toys of about equal priority.
- Give one of the toys to our dog, and let him play with it for a short duration.
- Issue the Drop command, and exchange the old toy with a new one.
- Initially, it may be necessary to sweeten the pot with some additional treats. Sometimes, I stuff the new toy with some food. Therefore, not only does my dog get back a new toy, he also gets one with food in it. He is usually very happy to make that exchange.
Once we notice that things are going well, we may slowly phase out the treats, and just do the object exchange. If our dog is unwilling to give up his current toy, then we can try to lengthen the time that he gets to play with it, or add food into the equation again.
If our dog misbehaves in any way, for example bites on our hand, then the game stops, and all toys and food are removed.
5. Get strangers to toss food to our dog
When we have guests, give them some good treats to toss to our dog. This will help him associate new people with his favorite food, and lessen his food aggression when strangers are around.
If our dog has a bite history, make sure we have him on a leash, so that our guests are always safe. We may also place him behind a secure dog gate. Then, our guests may feed him by extending a chopstick or wooden spoon with food, through the gate.
6. Ensure there are no high priority food items lying around
To reduce food aggression, it is important that we do not let our dog practice that behavior, especially with people. Remove all food items, as well as food toys and high-priority toys, when we have friends and family over.
It is important to remove all food and all toys, when our dog is meeting with new dogs, or dogs that he does not know well.
7. Supervise our dog and prevent food aggressive behavior
Make sure we are always there to supervise and intervene, when our dog starts to show any food aggression. When I am not around to supervise, I remove all high priority items, so that my dogs do not guard food or resources, from each other.
I have a simple house-rule –
“All resources are mine, and I decide which of my dogs get what.”
Whenever I give them food toys, I keep them away from each other, to prevent stealing. In this way, they do not practice any resource guarding or food aggressive behavior.
If they start any guarding behavior, I remove the resource, and nobody gets it. If they show any aggressive behavior with me, they get a time-out, and the play and food session stops.
8. Do not give our dog constant access to food
If we leave food or food toys around, our dog may feel that he has to guard it, and become food aggressive. This can be very stressful for him, and may also lead to obesity issues.
Leaving food around may also weaken our leadership position, because our dog can get food by himself. He may decide not to follow our commands or house rules, because he does not need us for anything.
To be a good pack leader to our dog, we want to follow the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program. Only give him something, if he does something for us first. Stuff left-over food into his food toys, and make him work for all of the things that he wants. Remove the food toy once it is empty, or after a fixed period of time.
A busy dog is a good dog.
Hello,
I have purchased and watched the Leerburg Establishing Pack Structure for a Family Pet and Basic Dog Obedience. I am married and have 2 children, girls aged 3 and 7. I have a German Shepherd male intact who is now 1 year, 3 months old.
I have a 50 foot by 25 foot section of yard that is sectioned off which is used as his outdoor dog kennel which leads in through a dog door to an indoor crate. Since he has been a pup (we purchased when he was 8 weeks old) I have crate trained him and controlled his daily routine as taught in the Establishing Pack Structure DVD. He did not have free access to the outdoor kennel in the beginning until about 4 months of age. My wife and I work full time so I would come home at lunch time and let him out to pee/poop every day.
I have been his handler the whole time and have established myself as pack leader. I am naturally calm and confident. My wife rarely handles him, she is more passive and is petite in stature. She is always home and we are always together, however she doesn’t walk him or handle him.
Around 5 months of age, he started developing food aggression, he would growl while eating when anyone would get close. My kids know very well not to go near him when he eats, I taught them this before any growling occurred. It has escalated to the point where if my wife enters the room, he will snarl, growl and saliva will literally run out of his mouth. He gives a terrifying look like he wants to kill anyone who wants to come near. He has lunged at my wife before over food.
I feed him 2 scoops – twice a day of Orijen kibble. He will always be food aggressive if I set the food bowl down, release him to eat, leave and come back to enter the room and he is still eating. If he is done eating he is back to normal. If anyone makes any sudden movements and stay in the room, he will slow down and look out of the corner of his eye and growl.
Other than food aggression, he shows no aggression towards my children. It seems that he just “goes red” when he eats and goes into a different mode and once he’s done, he is the happy dog we know again.
With all that said, I can alleviate all aggression by putting a tiny bit of food in his bowl, putting it down, releasing him and then immediately start dropping more food in his bowl (I keep the rest of his 2 scoops in my training pouch). Then throughout the feeding, I will alternate between making him do commands and hand feeding and dropping more in his bowl and releasing. I can even have my hand in the bowl because he realizes that my hand their means more food.
My question is, is this a good technique? I don’t trust him at all with my wife. I have had trainers tell me to put a open ended mesh muzzle on while feeding and correct him or “hang him” if he showed signs of aggression. I tried this one time and although he can’t bite, I had my wife take the leash while feeding and the second I handed over the leash to my wife when food was near he tried to attack her and she had to “hang him” until he stopped.
This seems to only make the situation worse. These trainers tell me that I need to “show my dog who’s boss”, however he is already obedient and well mannered in the house, it is the food aggression which I need to find a solution. It seems that making his feedings a stressful situation will only worsen the problem. I have control when hand feeding and dropping more in his bowl as he eats and it seems that if I do this long enough and have my wife slowly join in, he will start realizing that we are there to give, not take away and bully.
Should I automatically assume that because my dog has food aggression that he considers himself above me and others in the family in ranking? Or does the food aggression always tie in with pack ranking?
I would appreciate any suggestions/help you can give as I don’t give up easily and I want the best for my family and the dog.
Thanks,
Tyson
Hello Tyson,
I also started with aversive training techniques with my Shiba Inu Sephy. I mostly used collar corrections and alpha rolls. We sought help from a traditional trainer who instructed us on the right way to do leash corrections, and other aversive methods. We did this for about 5 months.
At the end of that time, I realized that it just was not working out for us. Sephy’s behavior did improve initially, but after a time, it degraded and then got worse. He became habituated to my collar corrections, and would start fighting with the leash during our walks. Sometimes, he would redirect that aggression onto me and others. Then he started using aggression in a greater variety of contexts, including at home.
Sephy used aggression because it “worked” for him. He had learned to associate me and others with collar corrections and alpha rolls. Aggression often causes people to back off, leave him alone, and he can go back to doing whatever he was doing – in peace. Sometimes, dogs may also associate other elements in the environment, e.g. another dog or food with the aversive stimulus, and use aggression to get people or other dogs to stay away.
This was not what I wanted for Sephy, so I did a lot of reading and research and decided to stop using pain based aversive methods. Instead, I found that I could more effectively maintain leadership by controlling his resources, and using the things that he wants most to get him to follow rules and listen. I also got everybody in the family involved in his training (in a consistent way), so that he views everyone as being part of the family. I did a lot of work in terms of socializing him with a variety of people, so that he started to associate people with positive outcomes.
In terms of feeding, I do a fair amount of hand feeding with my dogs together with various training exercises, e.g. simple commands, bite inhibition training, touch exercises, grooming, etc. In this way, they are working for their supper rather than getting everything at once for free. Whatever food is left over, I put in interactive toys and they have to work for that as well. This also prevents them from swallowing their food at top speed, which can cause bloat and other issues.
However, safety should always be the top priority, so only do hand feeding if it is absolutely safe for everyone involved. For dogs with a bite history, there are a variety of precautions that can be taken to manage things and keep things safe. Hiring a professional trainer can also be very helpful for safety and reconditioning. After I switched training strategies, I worked with several resource based trainers to recondition Sephy in a safe and controlled way.
In terms of pack ranking, here is more on my views on dog dominance.
I have a 4 1/2 month old blue heeler/ Australian cattle dog. When I first brought him home he showed signs of agression towards people, and other animals around his food. I knuckled down on it and he’s normally very good even around other dogs whilst eating. but as of recent I have moved in with someone else, who has two dogs: makes four dogs in total. He now guards his food, only with the other dogs though. I’m not sure how to get him out of this, and it’s becoming habit now. The people I live with feed their dogs together – as in out of the same bowl. So I’ve tried teaching him to share and that there is plenty of food, but he just keeps slipping backwards. He also guards his kennel area, only from other dogs. Not humans, but I fear if I can’t stop him from doing this with other dogs, there is a chance he will end up doing it to me as well, and I will lose control. Feel free to voice some suggestions, I want to nip this in the bud >.<
Hello Kiara,
With Sephy it was not so much about the amount of food or toys available, but rather about uncertainty. Sephy really likes consistency and a fixed routine. When there are large changes happening in his environment, e.g. having new dogs in the family, he gets stressed and may use aggression to deal with that new uncertainty. What helps with Sephy is to establish a new routine as soon as possible, including new rules of interaction with the other dogs. For example, with my dogs, I have rules during play-time, rules during eating time, etc. I am around to supervise and make sure that everyone follows the house rules.
Each of my dogs has their own food toy. During meal times, I make sure that each of them works on their toy and there is no stealing. I do not allow them to invade each other’s space. In this way, it is fair, and everyone knows that if there are conflicts, I will resolve them.
With Sephy, it was really important to carefully manage him and keep him from repeating his guarding behavior. The more he repeats it, the more likely it will become a habit. Therefore, I supervise and prevent stealing, so that he does not feel the need to have to protect his food through aggression. I also do not allow my other dogs to bother him when he needs to rest and does not want to be disturbed (and vice versa).
Here is more on what I do to keep the peace at home-
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
Some things that helped with my dogs-
1. Set the dog up for success and carefully manage him so that he does not feel the need to guard his food. Feed separately if necessary.
2. Slowly desensitize the dog toward his aggression triggers by helping him associate other dogs with positive events. I do group obedience training sessions with my dogs so that they learn that they get rewarded most by working together.
3. I teach them that I will prevent stealing, supervise and protect them, so that they do not need to do these things themselves. I will keep them safe.
4. I follow the NILIF program. In this way, my dogs learn to associate people, commands, and being calm, with food, toys, and other valuable resources.
5. Hiring a professional trainer for a visit can also be very helpful. Qualified trainers know how to read a dog’s body language and can identify where the problem areas are.
I have an 8 1/2 yr old springer spaniel that has been getting very people aggressive. He lunged @ me 2x’s today and the 2nd time he actually grabbed my shirt and pulled at it. He shows his teeth, growls horrible and his mouth quivers. Scary look, like a wild animal. The 1st time he did this I tried to get him away from the door when Comcast tech was @ the door. I couldn’t control him at all. I tried to get his harness on to walk him, he lunged at me and near bit my hand. The 2nd time in the afternoon, he wasn’t even around and I leaned down to close his crate door to put it back in another room and that’s when he lunged, growled and grabbed my shirt, I was so afraid, I grabbed the snack tray stand next to me because he was coming @ me again! I am sick over this behavior. he had done the same thing to my husband about a month ago. I had problems with toy & food guarding but he overcame that. This is bad now cause I don’t trust him at all. I have grandchildren that come over and I will have to put him away for fear he may turn on them. I don’t know what to do with him, he went to 2 different training classes and can’t stop,he is horrible to walk if other dogs come around too. Do you have any advise.
Elaine
When did he start getting people aggressive? Did it only start 1 month ago? Did it just happen suddenly? Was there anything that occurred around the time that the behavior started?
How was his behavior like before the aggression started? Was he friendly to people previously? Is he aggressive around all people now? How would he have greeted a visitor previously?
Is he command trained? Does he still do them for you?
Is this something that you commonly do? What was his reaction like previously?
Does he not guard food and toys anymore? What type of training did you use to stop the guarding behavior? How did he respond?
Given what you describe, I would get help from a professional trainer. Get the trainer to come visit him the in house and observe him in his normal environment and routine. In cases of aggression, it is important to observe the surrounding context of each incident to identify what is actually triggering the behavior.
In the meantime, it may help to carefully manage him and not expose him to situations where he will continue to practice his aggression. What is his everyday routine like?
HI
I have a year old German Shepheard who is showing food agression. Not a problem with treat, unwanted thing picked up just over his bowl. He will growl even if put on his own in a seperate room. The biggest issue is growling & bearing teeth if anybody try to touch him. I have been hand feeding him for 2 weeks with no problem, marking it & he touches my hand. No agression shown, only if I was to try & touch/stroke him. Any help would be appreciated.
Hello Rachel,
Has the food aggression always been present or did it only develop recently? Does the aggression only occur around his bowl and nowhere else? Does he show any aggression when touched away from his bowl, outside the house, etc?
How is he when meeting new people? Does he run/pull to meet them? Would he prefer not to greet them? What is his body language like?
What type of training have you been using with him so far?
I think it may have always been present, now doing some research realise I may have missed the subtle early sings when he was younger. It is getting worse.
He shows agression – growling/grumbling for 10/15 minutes after eating as wandering around the house. We tend to just ignore it & leave him alone.
He is dog agressive on a lead, off he shows no signs he’s happy to play with everybody human & dog. I put this down to him being attacked on a lead when about 5 months old.
He is unsure at times when greeting people especially if they show signs of being unsure of him, those thet just walk up to him he seems to have no problem with. He wants to sniff people as they walk past.
He can be unsure of new situations, he ears become alert & I can feel the lead begin to tighten if I don’t or am not quick enough to distract him he will bark. This does not happen in all new situations.
I am using marker/clicker training (we go to classes twice a week) with all the above but not the food agression, as I have had no guidence on what to do & don’t want to do it wrong.
Alfie can be very focused & is both treat & toy motivated.
I hope this is enough information for you.
rachel
He sounds a bit like my Shiba Inu Sephy. Sephy also did not like too much touching, especially when we first got him. Some things that helped with Sephy –
1. Touch exercises.
I did a lot of touch exercises with him. In the beginning, I started with only very small touches, in areas of his body that were less sensitive. Sephy was sensitive over people touching his tail and butt area. He was also more sensitive over paws, ears, and muzzle. I started with very brief touches on his chest. I would just touch and treat. I kept sessions short and rewarding and he is free to leave whenever he wants.
The key is to start small and go very slowly so that Sephy doesn’t feel the need to use any aggression. Ultimately, he started to associate touches with rewards and positive events. Here is more-
http://shibashake.com/dog/hug-dog-teach-your-dog-to-enjoy-hugging
2. Bite inhibition training.
I trained Sephy to control the force of his bites. This was very helpful later on when he started with his leash biting phase.
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
3. NILIF and working for his supper.
I followed the NILIF program very strictly with Sephy. He also had very strict rules in the house and a very fixed routine. I put a drag lead on him (only with a flat collar and *not* an aversive collar) when he was young. This allowed me to easily control him without laying hands on him or grabbing his collar.
Even today, all of my dogs work for all of their food. They get food for grooming, doing commands, doing touch exercises, following rules during walks, play, etc. Whatever is left over, I put in interactive food toys so they work for that as well.
4. Controlling my own energy.
Another thing that helped a lot with Sephy is in controlling my own energy. I was somewhat fearful of him when he started to show aggression towards me. Often, I would get stressed when we see other dogs, or when he started to get into his mischievous moods. The more fearful or frustrated I became, the worse Sephy behaved.
After I was able to control my own energy and remain more calm, Sephy’s behavior improved significantly.
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
5. Private training sessions.
Each situation is different though, so it is important to read the dog’s body language, understand his motivations, and his temperament. This is an area where getting some private training lessons can be helpful.
We did both group classes with Sephy as well as many private training sessions with several different trainers. The group classes were mostly useful for socialization purposes, but for fixing particular issues, the private sessions were a lot more helpful. We would first bring Sephy over for an evaluation session, and then we had a series of sessions after that focusing on one particular issue.
I also did a lot of my own research so that I could properly evaluate the trainers.
Here is a bit more on my early experiences with Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/my-shiba-inu-story
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.
Hi (: I think that your site is great. It has some wonderful tips!!
I have a 6 year old Golden Retriever/Australian Shepard mix, and in the past year or so he’s been acting quite aggressive (and I’m assuming it’s food aggressive because it’s mostly around food; although sometimes it’s not). We got him from a shelter in Texas when he was a puppy, and had to fly out from Colorado to pick him up. He’s always been a very sweet dog. The first few years he wasn’t really all that crazy about his own food, but now it seems that he just gobbles it down. He’s never attacked any humans, but he has been fighting a lot with other dogs. Sometimes it’s because of table scraps, but other times he just gets really aggressive over nothing. He hasn’t been the healthiest dog in the world either, and I’m wondering if that might have something to do with him being aggressive. When he was a puppy we found that he had Luxating Patella, so we had to replace his knee caps. A few years later he was attacked by a deer that stomped on him, and he got a side full of stitches. And, in the last couple year he has developed an allergy and is being treated with a steroid Prednisone. I’m really not sure what it is. He’s never aggressive towards us, and he’s never been aggressive around his food bowl. He has bitten some smaller dogs, and he gets into fights with bigger dogs. People are scared now to let him around their dogs, because he’s pretty mean. I really don’t know what to do, I know that he is a total sweetheart and I’d like him to go back to way that he was!
Hello Erika,
In such cases it is best to get help from a good professional trainer. There are usually triggers for a dog’s aggression and a trainer will be able to observe the dog, read his body language and identify his aggression triggers.
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer
As you say, a dog that is under pain because of some physical issue may also be less tolerant and may feel more vulnerable to external threats. A vet checkup will be able to rule out/in this possibility.
What other dogs does he get into fights with? Family dogs, dogs he plays with regularly, or new dogs? How did he act with other dogs before the aggression started a year ago? What is his daily routine like? Does he eat together with other dogs?
In the meantime, it may help to carefully manage mealtimes and separate the dogs so that there are no conflicts, and so that he does not keep practicing the behavior.
Thanks a lot for replying!!
Blu (that’s his name) has had some health issues, but I don’t think that he is under any physical pain. Could it be possible that the Prednisone he is taking is causing him to act this way? I heard that in addition to causing excessive thirst and hunger, Prednisone also causes behavioral changes.
He gets into fights with all kinds of dogs. But what I can’t understand is that he gets into fights with dogs he’s known all his life. My Aunt has 4 King Charles Cavaliers and he has gotten aggressive with them. The other day he bit one of them, and I’m not even sure why (it didn’t seem to be over food, because no one was feeding them). Before he used to want to play with every dog he met. It always took a little while for him to get used to them. When they would start sniffing him, he would freeze up a little and then sniff them back. Then he’d want to play; he’d do the little “play bow”.
We don’t have any other dogs, so he doesn’t eat with any other dogs. Would it help if he had a companion? He eats only in the morning. Do you think that we should space his feedings throughout the day?
I haven’t seen Blu, am not familiar with his routine, and do not know the context surrounding his aggression, therefore, I can only speculate on the most general of terms.
It is possible that medication or physical discomfort can be a contributing factor to the aggression, but it could also be something else. When Sephy comes home from the vet he is usually out of sorts from the anesthesia and soreness of teeth cleaning. In those times he does not want to be bothered by my other dogs, so I keep them away from him. He also does not want to go into his crate at night either, preferring to hang out downstairs instead. Once the effects wear off the next day, he is back to his normal routine.
Did Blu start showing aggression at the same time as the Prednisone treatment? If so, I would have a chat with your vet to see if that is a common symptom and to look for alternatives.
Not in my experience. Sephy also showed some dog reactivity issues when he was young, in addition to a whole host of other things, and I made sure to deal with all of his behavioral issues first, before getting a second dog. Even then, it was a lot of work because I had to supervise and teach them how to interact well together.
In fact, in the beginning, I would limit Sephy’s interaction with other dogs and carefully supervise him during *all* dog interactions so that at worst, we have a neutral experience. The more he practiced his aggression, the more he repeated it, so I try to make sure that he does not repeat undesirable behaviors. Dog to dog desensitization exercises also helped with Sephy.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
I feed my dogs in the mornings and evenings. I also treat them during the day for doing work for me. Whatever treats I give, I take it out of their daily food intake so that they do not overeat. They get the rest of their food through interactive food toys so they must work for all of their food. The interactive toys also prevent them from eating too fast.
I am not sure that feeding schedule is the issue here though, since you say that Blu’s aggression is not necessarily food related. This is where a good trainer can be helpful because he/she can observe Blu and more accurately pinpoint the source of the aggression.
What changed during the start of the aggressive behavior? Were there any changes in the family routine? Any changes to Blu’s routine? Feeding routine? Any changes to his play routine? The dogs that came to visit? It seems that his allergy (and Prednisone treatment) developed 1 year before the aggression – is that right? Was there any other event that occurred closer to the time of his change in behavior?
Hi,
We have a six year old male Chesapeake Bay Retriever who has always shown food aggression and resource guarding. After reading many articles from your wonderful sight, I can’t pinpoint why he does it.
When we began training as a puppy, he did great with “drop it” and “leave it” and still does. We never had issues with needing to take things away from him. We had our first child (four children now) when he was about six months old. It was important to me to train him to leave baby toys alone and human food. He has never touched a baby toy and I’m proud to say our children can walk around with plates of food at eye level, leave plates on the floor and walk away, drop something in front of him or holding it in their hand and he won’t touch it unless he’s given the ok!
Until reading your article, we have mostly always left his food bowl out. We were in the habit of setting it up if he decided to show aggression/guarding. In our previous home it was left in our kitchen and when we moved we decided to keep it in the laundry room downstairs, away from everyone, because of the problem. Not always, but quite frequently, he jumps up to guard his food if we’re walking around. It seems to be more when we first put food in the bowl. Sometimes he’ll growl pretty fiercely the closer we get. Everyone in our family can put food in his bowl, touch his food and hand feed him with no problems. We only take food out of the bowl to hand feed him. He also typically only eats if we’re in the same room or just outside the room and he’ll carry a mouthful to wherever we are to eat it.
Any suggestions? Thank you so much!
Hmmmm, I am not sure I fully understand. You say at the end that everyone can put food in the bowl with no problems. Does he only guard when you are walking around and not carrying food?
What has worked well with my dogs is to make them work for all of their food. They get some of their food during their walks, grooming, obedience sessions, and play time. Whatever is left over, I put in interactive food toys. They get a food toy session in the morning and another one in the evening. They must be calm and be in a down position while I am preparing their food toys. Otherwise, I stop working.
In this way, there is no food bowl to guard. Also, this teaches them the following
– I am the source of food (rather than their magical food bowl),
– Being calm and following commands gets them their food faster, and
– It prevents them from eating too quickly. Otherwise they will just inhale their food in 1 second. 😀
I make sure to prevent stealing. They are not allowed to steal each others toys. I do this by body blocking them away when they get too close to a food toy that is not theirs. This allows them each to work on their own food without fear that it may be taken away a second later. It also teaches them that I protect them, and enforce the resource rules so that they do not need to do it themselves.
Similarly, I do not take their food toy away from them, except to add more food. If we keep taking food away from our dog (for whatever reason), he may learn to associate us coming near his bowl, with losing his bowl. As a result, he may decide to escalate his aggression to keep people away. Instead, if my dogs show any aggression toward me, I calmly no-mark, and lead them to a brief timeout using their drag-lead.
In this way, they learn that aggression = lose house privileges and access to people. However, nobody is stealing their food toy. They can still work on it when they come out of timeout.
Hi There! Loving your site. I know you deal mostly with Shiba’s, but I thought I would ask anyhow.
I just (3 days ago) adopted a 5 month old yorkie havanese x from a young girl who had her as a “boob broach.” Never been on leash, not dog socialized (other dog in the house was an agressive poodle) or socialized with children.
In the three days she has been around my three year old non stop and my four year old medium sized rescue special dog (who is pretty dis interested in her.) On day one while wiping her eyes (runny) she growled and snapped. I held her mouth closed and said “no” as she growled. Within the day I was able to wipe whenever I wanted. So real progress.
She has spent hours at the farm, dog parks, and at home in three days. My problem is possible kennal agression. She is curious, out going, submissive, and affectionate all day, but when she is cranky and tired at the end, she will growl or bite if you touch her where she is trying to nap. My son reached in her kennal today when I wasn’t looking (three days of lots of new things) and, without warning, she snapped at him hard enough to give him a small puncture wound. I read that a dog awoken by touch may snap out of instinct, so I let it slide. When he cried she was beside herself trying to lick him better.
However, same evening, she was playing under a blanket on the couch when I heard her munching on something edible. I reached my hand in to grab it and again, without a growl or any warning she bite me hard enough to draw blood. I grabbed her muzzle and said no.
So in one day two bites. She is tired and having full days of new things, but she growled from the very beginning when it came to her bed. Wondering if you have any advice on dealing with kennal agression. I know I may have surprised her, but I can’t have her biting. Period.
Any advice?
So two hard bites not in play in one day.
Hello Julia,
Congratulations on your new adopted puppy!
Yeah, some dogs do that, especially when they are touched during a deep sleep. I have experienced that with my Shiba Inu. He was sleeping by my feet, and I accidentally woke him up. He air snapped because he thought he was under threat. I imagine that is where the saying “Let sleeping dogs lie” comes from.
Now, I usually get him to go to sleep in his own bed. He also has his own crate where he can go to when he does not want to be disturbed. In addition, I make sure he is aware of me before handling him, so that he is not startled awake. Handling desensitization exercises are also helpful with him.
http://shibashake.com/dog/hug-dog-teach-your-dog-to-enjoy-hugging
That sounds like resource guarding. As described above, most dogs guard resources from people because they have learned to associate people coming or grabbing with the loss of their stuff. When they use aggression, people tend to back away, which reinforces the aggressive behavior.
http://shibashake.com/dog/resource-guarding-shiba-inu
For a dog that is causing puncture wounds, it is best to contact a professional trainer. A good trainer can observe the dog in real time and read his body language accurately. In this way, he/she can identify what are the triggers that are causing the aggression, and how to best retrain the behavior.
With my own dogs, I try to teach them the following-
People coming near them and taking their stuff away = They get more stuff in return
– I teach them the Drop and Leave-It commands which helps me to communicate with them, and teaches them to give me objects willingly.
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding#drop
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-stop-dog-eating-poop#leave-it
– I play the object-exchange game with them so they learn that giving up an object, does not mean it is gone forever. In fact, they usually get it back with more stuff. I describe the object exchange game in the article above.
– I try to show them that they get the most resources by working and cooperating with me (Nothing in Life is Free program). I have rules, but I make sure I am consistent and fair with those rules.
– Most of all, I try to set them up for success and try not to place them in situations where they feel compelled to use aggression, to protect themselves or to protect their resources.
Hi, i need help!
i have two shibas! a female and a male.. my female shiba, Tsuki, shows possession towards food against Diesel, the male one. But Diesel not just shows possession towards Tsuki, he also acts with aggression towards me with food or whatever he thinks is important. We had decided to use shock collar, because its getting out of hand, he even bit me over a milk container he got from the recycling bin. But after reading your article here, i have to say that i’m very afraid and i have no clue what to do. Please i really need help.
ps. we did try rewatds, but he attacks Tsuki over the rewards.
Hello Mari,
How old are your Shibas?
Here are a couple of articles on my experiences with food aggression-
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding
http://shibashake.com/dog/resource-guarding-shiba-inu
In terms of keeping the peace between my dogs, I do group obedience training sessions and teach them that when they are calm and working for me, they get rewarded most. There is also no stealing. However, this assumes that there is no food aggression toward people.
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
If a dog is showing food aggression toward people, it is probably best to get help from a professional trainer. I would focus on that issue first. In the meantime, I would separate the dogs during food time and not give them anything that would trigger resource guarding issues at other times. This will at least keep them from practicing the behavior while we get the people aggression under control.
Hmmm, I am not sure what you mean. Can you elaborate?
I usually cut up food into little pieces when rewarding my dogs. This allows me to reward them more and prevents any kind of competition over rewards.
Also, reward training is not just about food. It is more about controlling a dog’s resources including food, toys, his freedom, access to people, access to other dogs, access to space, etc. Here is a bit more on reward training and some of the things that I do to communicate with, and train my dogs.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
Hi
We live in the south of france and already have a womderful 9 year old chocolate lab. At the weekend we picked up a 4 year old male lab cross from the refuge and he has settled in very well. Godd with the kids, no fighting and very affectionate and full of energy! Just one problem apparent – he has displayed possession aggression with food. Nothing noticeable with his food from the bowl, but the other day he ran over to my compost heap and started diggin out some rotting potatoes. My son, who is 13, tried to pull him away by his collar and the dog made to bite (no real contact). I came over and took hold of him by the collar and dragged him away (and he was definitely trying to bite me plus whining, but he stopped after a few seconds. I have researched this and realise I didn’t do the right thing as he undoubtedly saw me as using aggression against him.
What do you think is the best way of tackling this problem. Can I adapt your technique of luring him away with treats the next time he is scavenging outside, as I gues the behaviour will happen whenever he finds any food outside and tries to protect it.
Thanks and great info in the website BTW!
Hmmm, it could be redirected aggression.
When my Shiba Inu was young, he used to get really excited over playing with other dogs. When play got too rigorous, we would stop play so that things do not get out of control. If he is too excited, however, he will sometimes redirect that energy onto us, when we try to pull him away by his collar.
I imagine it is not too different from restraining a really excited child or even adult. We may get hit as they struggle to get free.
One thing that helped with Sephy is to put a short drag lead on him (but only with a flat collar and *not* an aversive collar). In this way, I do not have to pull him by the collar, but can just use the lead to control him. I make sure to cut away the loop on the lead so that it doesn’t catch on anything, and I only put it on when I am around to supervise.
Also, it would depend on what the rule is. For example, are we trying to prevent our dog from digging in the compost? stop all types on digging in the backyard? Or something else?
When I want to stop my dog from a certain behavior, I usually no-mark her as soon as she starts the behavior. My Sibe puppy Lara loves to dig, so I had to train her to not dig in the grass area in the backyard. She can dig in the back areas where there is no grass. As soon as she starts to dig on good grass, I no-mark her (Ack-Ack). Then I get her to do something else, e.g. chew on a toy or play Find-It.
If she ignores me and continues, then I go over and body block her away from the area. If she keeps going back to dig, then she loses her backyard privileges (I take her inside using her lead). If she tries to jump on me or bite me while I am leading her inside, she gets a verbal warning (Ack-ack). If she ignores this, she goes to timeout.
I try to start small and give her many chances to do something else. Then I slowly elevate the “punishment”, but only if she elevates her bad behavior.
I also do bite inhibition training with all of my dogs. It is a very useful skill and helps to keep everyone safe.
hi i have a 14 week old alaskan malamute his name is thor, when feeding time comes he jumps at the back of my legs whilest i am putting his food in his bowl and also howls .Is there any tips you can give me i always tell him sit then lie down and treat him for good behaviour but as soon as i turn my back he jumps again. My concern is that when he gets bigger which will be soon is that he will knock be over during feeding.He is not aggressive towards me i can take his food away and put my hands in his bowl i have also been hand feeding him bits aswel everyday any tips would be very grateful thanx lisa 🙂
Hello Lisa,
Congratulations on your new puppy!
Both my Sibes are very food focused as well, so they always get excited during meal times. I always make sure that all my dogs are calm and in a down position before I do any food preparation. If they get up, then I no-mark (Ack-ack) and stop preparing the food. Once puppy is calm, I ask for a Down. If puppy does a Down, then I go back to preparing her food.
In this way puppy learns that –
calm and Down position = food preparation continues and food comes soon
jumping = food preparation stops and no food
I also make all my dogs work for their food either through handling exercises, bite inhibition exercises, or obedience training during the day. Whatever is left over, I put in interactive food toys so they must work for that as well. Interactive food toys also help control the speed of eating.
Hugs to Thor! Would love to see pictures if you have some up.