Signs of food aggression (Update)

I thought that everything was going fine.. I don't know how he picked it up. I always make him sit calmly before feeding him and sometimes pet him while he eats. The first time I noticed it was when I gave him a chew treat that had a meat filling, so he liked it a lot. But he wasn't supposed to eat the whole thing in one go, so after he chewed it down about 1/4 of the way, I gave him the drop it command. It works fine outside when he's picking things up that I don't want him to eat. But this time he refused. He was growling at me, so I told him we were going outside and he dropped it to run to the door and I got the treat off the floor. I just started cutting the treat into portions so I could let him finish what I give him. Tonight was the second time I noticed the aggression. I had him sit, like usual. Set his food in front of him and he started eating, but the bowl wasn't sitting right in the stand, so I went to adjust it to be level. He snarled at me and started wolfing down his food! I'm sure he would have snapped at me if I kept my hand there. So what steps do I need to take to get him to quit this before he starts thinking it's acceptable? What did I do wrong that made him start acting this way?

I'm out with Dempsey right now, but I'll reply in an hour or so!

Loki had this problem, not with food from his bowl, but with bones and high-value things like that. Even new toys. He's better now; he has a bit of a problem with bones, he won't drop them no matter what, he'll try to eat them as quickly as possible, but he doesn't growl anymore or seem aggressive either. And he's OK with toys now. What I did was walk past him and sprinkle some nice treats while he was eating something he'd get possessive over. I'd do it before he growled, so he got used to me being near him not meaning I'm taking it off him. I'd also trade him the bone for something else. Like I'd give him the bone and then do his bowl of food in time for his meal, and get him to drop the bone, take it away from him, and give him his food. Oh, and working on the drop it command, of course.

Just want to say that I did this based on advice and information, but that I wouldn't solely take my advice, I reckon one of the more experienced dog owners will give you brilliant advice, but just letting you know what I did not sure how Loki's started either really.

If it was me, I'd get him to sit (as you do), put his food down & let him go to it. Then say "Leave" (or whichever word you use) and pick his bowl up. Immediately put it down again & let him have it.

If he won't leave when you tell him, then next time put a collar & lead on him & if he ignores you tell him again & gently pull him away, tell him to sit, pick his bowl up & put it down again. Gentle praise when he gets it right.

Chews are different - I wouldn't give a whole chew & then try to take half away. If you only want him to have half, just give him half!

He's very young still, and I doubt that it's actually food aggression, more like irritability with you doing something to disturb his food! As long as he knows he's going to get it back he should be ok.

Caryll wrote:If it was me, I'd get him to sit (as you do), put his food down & let him go to it. Then say "Leave" (or whichever word you use) and pick his bowl up. Immediately put it down again & let him have it.

If he won't leave when you tell him, then next time put a collar & lead on him & if he ignores you tell him again & gently pull him away, tell him to sit, pick his bowl up & put it down again. Gentle praise when he gets it right.

Chews are different - I wouldn't give a whole chew & then try to take half away. If you only want him to have half, just give him half!

He's very young still, and I doubt that it's actually food aggression, more like irritability with you doing something to disturb his food! As long as he knows he's going to get it back he should be ok.

This is what I would suggest as well. We made certain to take food away from her frequently as a puppy so she would be used to it.

Thanks for the awesome advice! I will try that method out and report back with how he's doing. Any estimate on how long before I should notice some results?

As long as you stay completely calm & act as if it's the most natural thing in the world, always give the food back or replace it with something even better and have patience it shouldn't take long.

I've always made a point of doing this right from the very start (8 weeks old) so that the dog knows he doesn't have to worry! My rescue GSD x collie was about 18 months old when I got him & he didn't like you near his food either. I just made sure he knew what "leave" meant & then did as above. He was ok allowing me to take his food after a week or so, maybe a little longer (it was a long time ago!) but not much. With him, I carried on doing it every so often throughout his life.

Okay. That's encouraging. Thank you!

Have you tried putting his food in a Kong as this will slow down the feeding time, if he appears to be eating too fast.

I was feeding him out of a kong most of the time, but he keeps ending up losing it under the bed. I have a tiny bedroom, so it's really hard to get under there to get it. I'll get it back eventually, but I've just been feeding at his bowl for the time being.

I've been doing what was suggested. I make him sit before putting his food down for him. I let him start eating, then tell him to leave it. I pick up his bowl for a second and tell him to sit again. Then I give him his bowl back and give him praise. He doesn't seem to be showing any aggression again, but he does still try to bolt down his food when I tell him to leave it. He doesn't leave it voluntarily, I have to use the lead and pull him back a bit. But at least he's not snarling like he did before. Once I pull him back, then he just immediately sits because he knows what I'm going to ask him. I'm assuming he'll stop scarfing his food and learn to leave it when I say when he starts to see that I'm not taking his food away from him, just stopping him for a moment. It hasn't clicked yet though.

Another thing I thought of was that I add special things to his food once in a while so he doesn't get bored of the hard food. Sometimes it's yogurt, sometimes it's a scrambled egg, sometimes it's a little steamed cabbage... but I don't add something in every single day. Could the tastier food be why he felt the need to guard it? If so, should the method I'm trying still work for him?

Thanks again for all the advice!

Here's a picture I took of him just this morning <3

Ah, he's so beautiful

If he's guarding his food all the time, I wouldn't think it's the tasty stuff that makes him want to guard it. Loki was possessive over bones, but never his food. Anyway, I had the same thing as you; when I'd first try to take his bowl off him, he'd just try to eat it before I managed to take it away. But after a few goes, he learnt to willingly leave it, so it just takes a while for them to get the hang of it. When I'd take his bowl away, I'd add some chicken or sardines or something extra-nice too, for him to see me taking something awake from him as a good thing.

ANattyRat wrote:Ah, he's so beautiful

If he's guarding his food all the time, I wouldn't think it's the tasty stuff that makes him want to guard it. Loki was possessive over bones, but never his food. Anyway, I had the same thing as you; when I'd first try to take his bowl off him, he'd just try to eat it before I managed to take it away. But after a few goes, he learnt to willingly leave it, so it just takes a while for them to get the hang of it. When I'd take his bowl away, I'd add some chicken or sardines or something extra-nice too, for him to see me taking something awake from him as a good thing.

Thank you! That's a fabulous idea! I bet he'll learn quick that way, he's very food motivated. And he wasn't guarding all the time... just the two occasions. His chew treat and his food bowl the one time. I just want to do something about it before it becomes habit.

Tessa wrote:Here's a picture I took of him just this morning <3

What a lovely pic - brilliant expression!

Caryll wrote:What a lovely pic - brilliant expression!

The birds kept playing in the trees on that side of the yard and grabbing his attention.

Hope is going to work for you,he's lovely. What we did with Debo was. Ask him to sit,put the bowl down with food,ask him to wait and on "ok" command he could have it. We were adding more food by hand so he knows that it was comming from us -that we giving not takeing.

Today was the first time I gave him his food and let him start, then he actually stopped eating and sat when I told him to Leave It! It's so exciting to see progress like this. Definitely continuing this training!

Great news

Brilliant progress, keep at it and hope it continues going so well

That's so good to hear!

we have always treated food aggression in the same way with our dogs, and its always worked, put their normal food down, then (from a distance if the dog is aggressive) drop a tasty treat in/near the bowl, the dog sees hands coming towards them when eating as a teasty treat is going to appear. we did this and said leave as we did it so they learnt lifting their heads when we say leave meant a treat would appear. if the dog growled, we kept the treat back and tried again a few seconds later.

we did also once hand feed a rescue dog we had until he literally couldnt eat any more, he was starved at a previous home we think, and he was food aggressive and would bolt down anything he could. one day he was so bad, i thought id keep adding biscuits a few at a time to his bowl instead of putting it all in in 1 go. he continued to eat and eat and eat, and was happy for my hand to go near the bowl as more food got dropped in. eventually, he left a couple of biscuits in the bottom of the bowl, and just walked off. he never had an issue again, would leave a bit of food if he wasnt overly hungry, and was fine with anyone going near his bowl when he was fed.