Dog Feeding Aggression
Dog feeding aggression or dog food aggression is a serious problem and it should not be ignored. The bad news is that in most cases, dog aggression often escalates as the dog gets older and oftentimes aggressive behavior leads to euthanasias*. If the problem is really serious, you need to seek professional advice.
This bad habit of food guarding has been found in many dogs that have had to share the food bowl with other dogs when they were puppies. If your dog is showing sings of feeding aggression, he might growl or try to bite you when you approach him while he is feeding.
A few reasons why your dog could show signs of food aggression are:
-Your dog sees himself or herself as a pack leader
-Your dog is the dominant one
-He shared food with other dogs when he was puppy and had to compete with them
In the wild, wolves do not eat until the Alpha dog or pack leader eats. After all, it is all a matter of hierarchy. The lowest dog on the totem poll eats last.
If you have a puppy, you can help the problem by staying near him after you bring him the bowl and touching him lightly so that he gets used to you being around when he eats. Puppies are very moldable and trainable so this may be all you need to do to prevent food aggression.
If you have and older dog and you want your dog to stop guarding his food, you need to take a few steps to start showing signs that you are the pack leader and not him.
Things you can do about food guarding:
1. If you place the food bowl high on a stool or bowl stand rather than on the floor, it might change the dog's perspective and make him forget about food guarding.
2. Prepare the dog's food and let him watch you do so, but don't give it to him so fast. Have your meal first and let him see that you eat first. Then and only then give him his bowl. This will give him a hint as to who is the pack leader.
3. When feeding your dog try the following. Put a collar and a leash on your dog and have a responsible strong adult hold on to the leash (far away enough so that the dog can't attack you)
Bring your dog a bowl of tasteless food such as plain cooked rice or mashed potatoes.
Let him sniff at it.
Now bring a small tasty piece of meat that you know he is going to like. As your dog sees you bring this food to his bowl, let him smell it and stay there until he eats it his meal.
Keep doing this for several days until he associates the tasty part of the food with YOU bringing it to him. Pretty soon he will welcome your presence around meal time.
There is a good source on the Internet on handling aggressive and dominant behaviors, as well as a great deal of detailed information on a many other common dog behavior problems.
It’s a fairly priced guide to owning, rearing, and training dogs, and it deals with all aspects of dog ownership. Testimonials show that applying the information on this system has helped dog owners with dominance problems. SitStayFetch is not a professional manual. Instead it is geared toward the dog owner who needs a little help in bringing up “Fido”. The e-book comes with a 56 day money back guarantee. They must really be sure that the product is that effective, otherwise they would not give that kind of guarantee
You can visit the SitStayFetch site by clicking on the link below:
* the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy
