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.
Hi, I have been reading many of your articles and I was wondering is filling a full kong toy or buster cube with food could replace a meal? Also, inside of the buster cube, or similar interactive toys, do I put treats in, normal food in, or a mixture of both?
Thanks,
Jeff
I’m sorry I forgot to mention, he is a 10 week old male shiba with a fair amount of exercise
Congratulations on your new Shiba pup!
With my Shiba I save the treats and good stuff for getting him to do grooming tasks, follow rules, do commands, etc. I use a bunch of my dog’s daily food rations as rewards for doing various tasks during the day. Whatever is left over I put in interactive food toys – usually normal food.
I have a 7 month old lab. I had to adopt him when he was only a month old since his mother died. I believe that’s the reason for his aggression. He showed signs of food aggression very early. But we’ve had that under control by hand feeding, feeding bit by bit etc. But his toy aggression is worsening day by day. He bit me today really hard but didn’t penetrate. I’m really scared since the neighbours kids are always around. Please help me. There are no trained good at rehab around this place.
Some things that I do with my dog to discourage resource/toy guarding-
1. I play the object exchange game. The key is to start small, so that play-time is positive and fun. I start with very low priority objects, things that my dog is usually not very interested in, and reward my dog very well for exchanging objects with me. I talk more about what I do in the article above.
2. I teach my dog the Drop command. Again, I start small with very low priority objects. I talk more about this in the article above.
3. I set my dog up for success. Management is key with my dog and I make sure to manage my dog’s environment closely. I try my hardest *not* expose him to situations that he cannot handle and will resort to guarding. The more stressful situations he is in and the more he practices guarding, the worse his behavior will become.
The key with my dog is not only to maximize positive experiences with objects and people, but also to minimize bad experiences with objects and people.
– I remove all high priority items from my dog’s environment and only slowly reintroduce them as he improves with training.
– I make sure to always have him on-leash and closely supervised when there are kids around, and I only let my dog greet kids who are calm and can follow my instructions.
– I make sure there is nothing dangerous that he can get to, in this way, I never have to take things away from him by force – this is what caused my dog to start developing object guarding issues in the first place.
Proper management and supervision are the two most important things for my dog when it comes to resource guarding.
However, dog behavior is very context dependent so each dog and each situation are different. This is why in cases of aggression, especially when there are children around, it is best and safest to get help from a good professional trainer who can observe my dog within the context of his regular environment and routine.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
More on why dogs guard resources.
More on my experiences with my Shiba Inu and why he started guarding objects from me.
http://www.peninsulahumanesociety.org/resource/pdf/dog/ResourceGuarding_dog.pdf
We have rescued a 1 1/2 old lab. Super sweet and listens well. She has food aggression . So we feed her and our 1 year old dachshund in the same room just on opposite sides. We stay with them and redirect them back to there own bowl. When they are not eating the bowls go up. My next problem is the water bowls. that is where they fight. What should we do with the water bowl issue?
To help my dog with resource guarding issues, I do two things-
1. I do desensitization exercises so that he learns to associate other dogs and people coming near his stuff with positive, calm, and relaxing experiences.
2. I make sure to manage his environment very carefully so that I do not put him in a situation where he feels like he needs to start guarding his stuff.
Successful, calm, and positive experiences help my dog build confidence and learn to associate people and other dogs with getting more stuff. Similarly, the more stressful experiences my dog has, the more it will undermine his confidence, set back our desensitization training, and worsen his behavior.
Therefore, during retraining, I make sure to remove all items of contention, except when I am doing structured desensitization exercises, in a controlled context. For things that are needed, I make sure to supervise or separate my dogs when I cannot supervise.
Desensitization can be a non-intuitive process, and dog behavior is very context dependent, so with my Shiba Inu, it was helpful to consult with professional trainers.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
https://apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
ASPCA article with more information on food guarding and desensitization training.
More on how I help my dogs get along.
However, each dog and situation are different, so especially in cases of aggression, it is best to consult with a good professional trainer. My Shiba Inu is the only one who started to develop resource guarding behaviors, mainly due to me taking things away from him by force. As soon as I noticed this behavior, I quickly got help, changed my own behavior, and started doing desensitization exercises with him.
Our 5 month old rottweiler female has become very agressive at feeding time. She isn’t simply guarding her bowl – she wants everybody’s food at once! She tries to steal food from our 3 year old female rottweiler by going into attack mode. She scares our 2 year old Australian shepherd away from her food bowl. They are fed outside with separate bowls that are all 15-20 feet apart. Today the younger rott started in on the older rott while she was eating and the little one ended up with a bleeding paw. Any advice? Should I put the pup on a tie out to eat her food away from the other dogs? The older rott and the Aussie have never had any issues until now.
I help my dogs get along by setting up clear dog-to-dog interaction rules. I teach each new dog what those rules are. In this way, every dog knows what to expect from each other, what to expect from me, and what I expect from them in return. This creates certainty and certainty helps to reduce stress and stress behaviors. An important rule that I have is the no-stealing rule.
During meal time, I supervise and make sure that my dogs give each other space. If one gets a bit too close, I redirect her away before things escalate. Then, I can reward her for doing the right thing. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs.
I always try to set my dogs up for success by managing their environment, so that things do not escalate into aggression. The more positive and calm experiences they have with each other, the more they learn to relax around each other. Similarly, the more reactive or aggressive episodes there are, the more likely they are to repeat that behavior in the future.
Therefore, it is important that I not only maximize positive experiences, but also minimize reactive episodes. Supervision is key.
Personally, I would *not* use a tie-down for food aggression, as limiting a dog’s movement when there are other dogs around, could create even more stress, and cause the reactive behavior to worsen. When my dogs work on high priority items, I usually have them in separate rooms, and usually in their crates. They are all crate trained and associate their crate with safety and positive events. In this way, they can work on their food in peace.
More on what I do to help my dogs get along.
However, dog behavior is very context dependent, so each dog and situation is different. For example, I know my dogs’ temperaments and limits very well, so I can prevent stealing behavior, in a safe way.
In addition, during the throes of a reactive episode/fight, dogs may redirect their aggressive energy onto nearby people, especially when we try to physically restrain or stop them (redirected aggression). This is why in cases of aggression, especially with large dogs, it is best and safest to get help from a good professional trainer.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
I have a 10 year old Husky/chow mix that I got a couple months ago. The people I got her from said she was rescued five years before. Also said she was fine all the time with all the little dogs they had. When we got her home, we figured out she is food bowl aggressive. There could be multiple bowls and she will pick a specific one to guard. It is only toward our other animals. She has only attacked 3 times in two months. First was our boxer that walked by her, then our kitten, then a dog we are baby sitting. If I say hey she stops and looks at me for direction so I know she sees me as the pack leader etc but I don’t want to have to find another home for her because she won’t stop because I love her and she is soooo freaking sweet otherwise. How could I get her to stop this?
With my dogs, I set up clear dog-to-dog interaction rules so that they know exactly what to expect from each other, what to expect from me, and what I expect from them in return. During meal-time I make sure that they give each other space and that there is no stealing. If one gets too close to another, I redirect him into doing something positive. In this way, my dogs all know that I will protect them and their stuff, so there is no need for them to do it themselves.
The key with changing my dog’s behavior is not only to maximize successes but also to minimize failures. The more successful eating together events that we have, the more confidence my dog gains, and the more relaxed he is, when eating in the presence of people and other dogs. Similarly, the more reactive or aggressive episodes there are, the more that will undermine his confidence, set back training, and cause him to become more reactive in the future.
Therefore, I make sure to set my dogs up for success through supervision and management of their environment. If I am unable to supervise, then I separate them during meal-time so that there are no problems. I only have them together when I am very sure that there will be no issues.
More on what I do when introducing a new dog.
Hi I have an American akita this is my first one he’s only 6 months old but I have found that when there’s food about and my other little dog is about who is 13 years old walks past he goes for her like he’s telling her that she is not getting any my husband always gives them food from his plate I have said he shouldn’t do this but he still does when I give them a treet I have them sitting side by side and he doesn’t bat an eye he’s happy for them to get treets together it’s just when we have our food that he doesn’t want her to have any from our plate why is this we have now stoped feeding him from our plate thanks Isabel
Hello,
Do you have any advice about aggression with children. We have a 5 year old female shiba inu and a 9 month old son. We’ve had our shiba, Koda, since she was a puppy. Just two days ago, our son Alex was crawling around and found Koda’s food bowl (our mistake). He began playing with the food and Koda began whining. We moved the bowl and and him and he found it again and Koda became more aggressive. She has since begun guarding food, toys, and the living space in the household. She has never acted this way toward us but has toward other dogs. We aren’t sure what to do. Right now Koda is outside until we can figure out something. We really don’t want to have to give Koda up but we don’t want our son to be in danger. Any advice would be SOOO great!
Dog behavior is very dependent on temperament, past experience, and other surrounding context. Therefore, in cases of aggression, especially when there are young children around, it is best and safest to get help from a good professional trainer.
http://aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
http://www.apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
I always supervise closely and have my dog on-leash when there are young children about. When I cannot supervise, I make sure they are separated. I use gates, leashes, and other management equipment as necessary to keep everyone safe.
I set my dog up for success by not exposing him to situations where he feels he needs to guard his stuff. I remove all high priority items, especially when there are children about. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs, so they work for all of their food and learn to associate people as the source of good stuff.
This ASPCA article has more on how to how to desensitize a dog wrt. food guarding-
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/food-guarding
Note however, that the exercise is somewhat complex and needs to be performed in exactly the right way. During the entire desensitization period, it is necessary to keep our dog below threshold and prevent any negative or guarding instances. When I was having issues with my Shiba Inu, it was helpful to consult with professional trainers who could guide me through the exercises, help me with timing and technique, as well as help me develop a management plan that will keep everyone safe.
My 4 month old bull-mastiff pup tends to growl when i pat her while eating. I have tried to put in treats when patting her while eating, as well as taking away the bowl as soon as she growls. I normally pat her back and end which will still make her growl. However, as you touch her neck or stomach it becomes much more intense growling, she will normally go very stiff, and tuck her tail. At this point we normally take the food away and say ‘no’. I only do slow pats, but even placing a hand on her will have the say affect. When there is no food she is lovely and you can pet her any which way, the same when she has a bone she will sit by you and chew, no growling at all. Its only when she is eating out of a food bowl at which the growling becomes a issue when associated with touching.
In terms of food guarding, what has worked well for my Shiba Inu is to help him associate people being nearby with positive events.
1. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs. They “earn” their daily food by following house rules, doing simple commands for me, allowing me to do grooming, and more. In this way, they learn to associate me (and people in general) as the source of food and other valued resources. Whatever is left over I put in safe interactive food toys, so they work for those too. I often help them get food out of their toys, so they like having me around.
2. The key is to make my dog’s food + people + touch experiences positive. I do this by starting small and rewarding my dog well for being and calm and relaxed. I keep my dog below threshold at all times so that the experience is *always* positive and rewarding.
If my dog starts to show tense posture, then I have moved forward too fast. I stop and move back a few steps. I stop way before my dog goes into growling mode.
This ASPCA article has more on how to desensitize a dog to his food bowl-
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/food-guarding
More on how I desensitize my dog to touches.
The more positive experiences my dog has with people and touches, the more relaxed he is around people. Similarly, negative experiences makes him feel more threatened and uncomfortable with people. Taking away his food during a touch session only made Sephy’s behavior become worse, because then he starts to associate people and touching with losing his food.
With Sephy, it is best to prevent guarding behavior *before* it occurs or escalates. I do that by redirecting my dog, managing his environment, and not exposing him to situations that he is not ready for. I also do object exchange exercises with him, teach him the drop command, and more. In this way, I set him up for success, maximize positive experiences, and minimize instances where he feels compelled to guard food or objects.
More on why dogs get aggressive over food.
However, dog behavior is very context dependent so each dog and each situation is different. This is why especially in cases of aggression, it is safest to consult with a good professional trainer.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
my almost 1 year old shiba has recently started showing aggressive behaviors toward myself, but worse my kids. she only shows these aggressive tendencies when she is guarding something she is not supposed to have. her favorite thing to sneak is paper products such as paper towels, tissues, and baby wipes. when we go to take them from her she snarls and will snap at us. this behavior needs to be nixed as soon as possible, cannot have her showing aggression toward my young children. any tips or tricks? my husband says if he catches her lunging at the kids aggressively or actually biting them one more time, she is going to have to leave our family.
In cases of aggression, especially with kids in the house, I would consult with some good professional trainers-
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
https://apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
Dog behavior is very context dependent, so each dog and each situation is different. When kids are involved, it becomes even more important to come up with a safe and effective retraining plan right away.
With my dog, I use management equipment, e.g. gates, leashes, and a basket muzzle as necessary to ensure safety. I also visited with several trainers during Sephy’s difficult period. I talk more about my experiences with Sephy in the article above and here. Sephy started guarding food and toys *precisely because* I was taking things away from him by force.