Food aggression (dog-dog)

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and I hoping that you can give me some advice about my dog. I have a 10 year old Westie (neutered) male and a 10 month old Staffy (quite likely cross, although we were told pure bred at time of getting him).

When the Staffy was 7 months old, we tried raw feeding for around 2 weeks. However, he started showing aggression to the Westie, charging him and pushing him away when he thought the Westie might be getting some food. The Westie developed colitis incidentally, and so we decided to revert to kibble.

In mid-August, we had my sister and her children around. All was going well, staffy was sitting with me on the sofa, and her children had spilled some birthday cake crumbs on the floor. The Westie came in the room, and walked past the crumbs (which hadn't been noticed at that point). The Staffy suddenly leapt off the sofa and grabbed the Westie, getting his ear. A lot of yelping by the Westie ensued, and I was able to separate them.

Then, on the 9th September, I was preparing their kibble. I normally get the kibble into the bowls, call the dogs, the Staffy is given his, and the Westie is then willing to walk to his bowl (he was getting very nervous because of the Staffy's previous aggression). Unfortunately, I stupidly held the bowls in one hand while I called the Westie, and on this occasion he didn't come immediately. When he did appear, the Staffy lunged for him, and grabbed him by the neck. He shook him like a rag continually. I called him, I tried to distract him, nothing worked. Eventually my husband got his collar, and when he lifted him, he had the westie's neck in his jaws, so he came with him. I remembered something I'd read on a forum, and took a wooden spindle, gently placed it between his jaws, and he released the Westie. When I had seperated them, he was panting hard, and looked very shocked. The Westie had no obvious injury (a little graze on his neck, but no bite marks) and the Staffy had 3 small cuts on his head. They mixed after about an hour, and the Westie was cautious but obviously 'in charge'.

The next night, I fed them completely seperately (two different rooms) and all seemed to be fine. When I let the Westie out, the Staffy approached in a friendly manner (wagging tail, relaxed body posture) but then he sniffed the Westie's mouth. It seemed that as soon as he realised he'd eaten kibble, it was too much for him, and he started to do the same thing. This time, I was on my guard, and said in a low tone, 'Don't you DARE.' He chased the Westie up the stairs, pushing him to the wall, but then stopped at the top, and came back downstairs.

For the next 8 days, he's seemed fine with seperate feeding. The Westie has been quite cautious, however, to make sure the Staffy isn't in sight after feeding. However, they've been fine on walks (I've noticed a little bit of jealousy at lead time - nibbling at collar and trying to block the space between the Westie and us if we try and put the lead on the Westie first, but I've just told the Staffy to wait, and continued). The Westie enjoys them, is definitely top dog, etc. The Staffy has been fine with other dogs (although he is generally very nervous of other dogs - cowering, low tail tucked under bottom, backing away). They have been fine left together in the utility area when we go out.

Last night, we had a repeat of the big incident on the 9th. This time, I'd fed the dogs, they'd been out in the garden uneventfully, but when I let them back in, the Westie wandered into the utility room and near the Staffy's empty food bowl. The Staffy immediately attacked him. I managed to call him off, but as the Westie ran through to the hall to escape upstairs, the Staffy chased him and cornered him. He didn't have a collar on, so my husband managed to get the piece of wood and place it between them, so that the Staffy couldn't move forward, which allowed the Westie could run up the stairs. Again, there was a little blood. The Staffy had a scrape on his nose. The Westie has been hurt on the leg. A small cut, but he's limping significantly, so I'm not sure if he got something pulled too. He's understandably nervous of the Staffy, but again, about an hour after the incident, when the Staffy was allowed to see him, he gave a low growl as the Staffy approached, and the Staffy took heed and looked 'sheepish'.

I don't know what to do about it. It seems to be just food. Incidentally, he's fine if I take his food away (I don't do this routinely, but I have done it when, for example, I forgot to add his antibiotic tablet to the food), he's absolutley fine if the children take a stolen toy away from him (again, I don't allow this, but they have done it while my back is turned, and his reaction has been very good), he's fine if we need him to move away from something. He's doing well with training (clicker and treats) and sitting nicely at the roadside, etc., for crossing.

My husband is concerned that if he's like this with the Westie, he'll become like it with the children and us. I thought that dog aggression and people aggression are two different things, though?

I'm not sure what I want you all to say really. But my heart is heavy, because I love my dogs. Both of them.

Hi & welcome.

Firstly, tell your oh that dog-dog aggression is totally different to dog-human aggression.

For the time being I would feed seperately, with the westie being fed first. It does sound as though there's a touch of jealousy & food agro creeping in.

What, exactly is your feeding routine & what food do you give them?

Hi Caryll, and thank you for the welcome

I feed the dogs Purina Beta now. The Westie has the senior version.

I have adapted the routine after the first incident.

I used to do the following:

Take both bowls, weigh the right amount of food into them, call the Westie (the Staffy was already there) feed the Staffy one side of the Dog gate, then put the Westie's food at the other end of the (small) kitchen, which was the other side of the gate.

Then, once the first incident happened, I changed to:

Take both bowls, weigh the right amount of food, put the Staffy's food down to him behind the dog gate, then call the Westie through to the porch (other end of the hallway, so two rooms away) and shut the door behind him.

That was fine, except that the Staffy had a go once the Westie was let out and he could smell the kibble on his breath.

Also, I was worried about the children letting them out if I was distracted (I have 3 under 7 and the eldest has SN). So I decided to tweak it further, by feeding the Staffy in the utility room, rather than allowing him the run of the utility room & entrance, while the Westie remained in the porch.

The trouble with that, is that the Westie got attacked because he came in through the back door and wandered into the (very small) utility room and near the food bowl.

I'm not sure, though, if it was the bowl itself, or whether it was the fact that it's the Staffy's 'feeding place', and I'm not too keen to try and experiment so I can find out!

hi and welcome from us and Suki. Have you tried putting the staff on a lead directly after feeding? I think you are on the right track with feeding them seperately

That was going to be my next sugestion!

Clip the lead on & let it trail. Feed the westie first (that makes him top dog), then feed the staff by taking him to his bowl. Stand with him while he eats & then lead him away. Let the westie in and tell the staff to sit. Wait until both dogs are calm & then let them sniff each other. If the staff reacts, use the lead to turn him away & make him sit again.

Ok, that sounds do-able. How will I know if it's working, how long do I do it for, and how do I work it towards being 'ok' again?

Thank you

To start with, you'll probably still get a reaction from the staff. Hopefully, after a few days that reaction will start to decrease.

I think the only way you'll know for certain will be by experiment. Wait until you feel he's showing no interest in the westie's foody mouth, and then try letting him mix freely. I would still keep the collar & lead on for a while, though. Just let the lead trail.

I would always feed the westie first, though.

Thank you. I must admit that, much as I'm trying not to display it, I am 'on-guard' at the moment. I feel so stressed, and the Westie won't even come downstairs if he thinks the Staffy is around. He was so scared that he defecated

Poor little thing.

That's why it's important that your westie gets fed first - he's still the no. 1!

Excellent advice already already given above, one other thing to add is try not to show that you are stressed by the situation, keep your voice calm and in control. The dogs may well pick up on your stress level.

Thank you all. Well I tried that technique tonight. The Westie wouldn't go down to see the Staffy, so I led the Staffy up to the bathroom to see the Westie.

No aggression whatsoever. Although he did reverse his backside on top of the Westie, but with a waggy tail.

However, the Westie was petrified. He was shaking from head to foot, and as he is still limping on one leg, I decided that he should have a little holiday at my Mum and Dad's house to recover.

Little monkey has recovered quite well in just 2 hours and apparently the limp resolved almost immediately! To his credit, he did limp on arising from his slumber at the hotel

Once he's not so scared, I'll continue.

A friend says the Staffy is a bully who needs to be put in his place (she's in South Africa, so never met him) but I'm right in thinking he's fearful about the food, rather than just bullying, aren't I?

Some of them are simply food aggressive or trying to be the boss. The lead should help get them used to each other. You should also teach your staff to sit and wait before being fed. It doesn't have to be too long maybe just a few seconds and gradually increase to about 30 seconds or so over time

I don't think he's a bully so much, as protecting his resources! He looks on food as very high value (some dogs really don't care, some hate anyone to have food they don't have!), and wants it all to himself. He can't, of course, so he gets jealous.

He just needs to be shown by you that you are in charge of his food & that Mr Westie has every right to his own portion!

By feeding your Staffy boy 1st your giving him mixed signals, so i agree with Caryll feed the Westie 1st.
Plus once dinner times over remove the empty food bowls before you let them back together.
Licking rights of an empty food bowl can spark a fight too.

My youngest Cookie is obsessed with food, and will try and take on any of the others at dinner time, so shes fed in her cage and only allowed out once the others have finished and the empty food bowls have been lifted.

Are both males by any chance ??

Both are males, yes.

The Staffy does sit and wait for his food. He'll sit for as long as I tell him to (with periodic reminders).

So when I'm feeding the Westie first, I'm not meant to be feeding him in sight of the Staffy, am I? Or should I? (Obviously not in reach, because he'd have him )

To start with I'd feed completely seperately to give the westie his confidence back. You can gradually ease them both into the same room again once he seems a bit happier.

Thank you, Caryll. He's having a holiday at Mum and Dad's - I went to see him, and he looked so much more relaxed already. Hopefully, we'll be able to re-introduce him giving him more confidence.