Resolving Food Aggression

[Rascal21]

Hi Guys,

 

I’m looking for some advice on food aggression.

 

My GAP agency has asked me to work with a 2-year-old boy who has already had 2 other foster family’s and failed his collar assessment three times now, over the same two issues. He is the most beautiful boy who is a big teddy bear and wants to cuddle 24/7, however, has food aggression and small dog issues.

The excitement over small dogs I’ve experienced with other fosters, however, I’ve never had a dog (grey or other breeds) who has demonstrated food aggression / guarding. He demonstrated food aggression at his first foster home but then was placed in a foster kennel where the aggression apparently didn’t show, so GAP wanted me to see if it was a one off or not. A bit of background, he’s never raced but was in a kennel up until he went to his first foster family. He doesn’t like toys yet, is not that interested in my grey but loves people – he’s’ a follower, leaner and cuddler.

 

He has had 4 meals at our house now, the first one i wanted to see if there was any aggression at all so feed him by himself. He inhaled his food in a few mouthfuls but allowed me to pat him whilst eating and using a fake hand, was able to get his bowl however he really panicked and tried to quickly eat the remaining food. The next meal I feed him the same time as I feed my grey, they were 5m apart and I stood in the middle. Same thing, no aggression just food panic. Third meal, I gave him a slow bowl so he’d take his time, this time however he growled and bared his teeth when I tried to take his bowl. At the same time, my neighbour came over and let my grey out of the house and she walked behind him whilst he was eating (she was 2m away) and he turned, snapped and growled at her (I completely understand why). The fourth meal, once again by himself and in the slow bowl and he would let me pat him but became even more upset that the last time and wouldn’t let my ‘fake hand’ even in touching distance of the bowl.

 

I understand this is not real aggression just resource protecting. My GAP agency has given me advice and tips to resolve it, however, I’m interested to see if anyone else has experienced it and how it was resolved as I really want him to pass his test in a few weeks and find his forever home.

 

 

[greysmom]

This is a common issue with newly adopted greyhounds. He may never have raced, but it's important to keep in mind that he also has never ever had to contend with anyone near his food when he was eating before. It was his bowl, his food, and he likely was emptying the bowl long before anyone would need to take it out of his kennel. What you're doing is standard testing techniques for resource guarding food, but it has caused his behavior to escalate along with your attempts to take his food away (from his persepctive).

 

Many resource guarders will eliminate the behavior themselves once they have settled into a consistent home life and schedule. For them, resource guarding is about trust, and trusting the people they are bonded to. The advice we usually give adopters is to feed them seperately and securely, keep all young children away from them when they are eating, and keep all other dogs away during mealtimes until the bowls are picked up. Other advice includes hand feeding to build trust.

 

Using a slow feeder bowl is a good idea if he is gulping and choking on his food. Wetting it with water will also help it go down easier. You may want to discuss having a vet visit with his adoption group to make sure there's no medical reason for his obsession with his food - worms or mal absorbption issues - or if he is on medication like phenobarbitol or prednizone that will make any dog feel like they are starving.

[MaryJane]

A few weeks is not long enough - it may take a few months. I had a food aggressive boy for a few weeks but it was not long enough for him to completely trust me - he would bite the hand. He made progress but, not enough to be adopted by just "anyone" and luckily, he was eventually adopted by a trainer who could deal with the issue.

 

As Greysmom said, he needs to learn to trust and that means just giving him the food and no testing, let him get comfortable and not feel like the food is going to be taken away. Let him eat by himself and keep everyone away. When you do feed, keep a long leash on him (not holding it) just so you can move him away from dish if necessary. I also would NOT do treat training - that might reinforce anxiety over food.

[Fruitycake]

Do not make him feel like he has to guard his food by continuing to test him. His gulping frantically was already showing that he was super worried and the pushing him harder made the increase of his defensiveness inevitable. You now know he has the issue, so now you need to make sure that he feels comfortable and has the space he needs while he eats. Make sure he is separated from your dog around food. Keep him out of the kitchen and food prep areas, too, just in case.

 

You might try trading up, or you may want to make the fact that you are the *giver* of food by breaking his meal into smaller portions and using different bowls to continue his meal after he's finished the first bit. Give a bowl, and walk away to give him space. As he gets more comfortable, you could move less until you can stand motionless next to him.

[krissy]

Some good advice so far. This is how I work puppies to *prevent* resource guarding, but it should also work for a current resource guarder.

 

Place his empty food dish in front of him at dinner time. Place 1 piece of kibble into his bowl and allow him to eat it. When he looks at you like "what the heck?" place another kibble in his bowl and allow him to eat it. Repeat at nauseum until you're bored, then pour the remaining food into his dish and allow him to eat in peace with you standing nearby (at a distance that does not cause anxiety or agitation). Do this as many times as necessary to get him excited about your hand moving into his bowl to place kibble in it.

 

The next step should only be done once he's really happily anticipating your hand near his dish in the step above. You should also use some caution at first with this one. I recommend starting by just dropping the food into the dish from a safe distance until you can gauge his reaction. For this step you place his empty dish in front of him at dinner time. Place a handful of kibble in his dish. As he is eating it place (drop) a piece of something extra tasty into his dish, like a piece of cooked chicken, steak, or hot dog. This teaches the dog to be happy about your hand near his bowl even while he is eating because you just might be giving him something better. Again, drop the food from a safe distance at first! As he gets more comfortable you can move towards actually placing your hand in the bowl to deliver the treat, but with a known resource guarder I would carefully take my time to work up to this. If you have a fake hand that you could balance the treat on to deliver it into the bowl at first, I'd do that. Do not start to move closer to the bowl until he's totally happy about you getting closer... that means no snapping, no growling, no panic gulping of food, no whale eye.

 

 

I also would NOT do treat training - that might reinforce anxiety over food.

 

I would disagree with this. I would not give him chews and bones that he can guard. But I would absolutely train this dog. Training helps to build a trusting relationship between human and hound, and part of the issue in resource guarding is a lack of trust/understanding regarding the resource. Hand feeding (as you typically do when training) can also be helpful for resource guarders. In general training treats are eaten so quickly and are not eaten out of a bowl, so it is hard for the dog to guard them in the first place. I would NOT give this dog treats in the presence of another dog. I would train him separately and any treats that he gets should be given when he is alone... no side by side training.

A few weeks is not long enough - it may take a few months. I had a food aggressive boy for a few weeks but it was not long enough for him to completely trust me - he would bite the hand. He made progress but, not enough to be adopted by just "anyone" and luckily, he was eventually adopted by a trainer who could deal with the issue.

As Greysmom said, he needs to learn to trust and that means just giving him the food and no testing, let him get comfortable and not feel like the food is going to be taken away. Let him eat by himself and keep everyone away. When you do feed, keep a long leash on him (not holding it) just so you can move him away from dish if necessary. I also would NOT do treat training - that might reinforce anxiety over food.

[GeorgeofNE]

Seems to me as if the food aggression will vanish once people stop trying to take his food while he's eating.

 

Is this REALLY something groups consider abnormal? That a dog can "fail" a test like that and therefore be what, unadoptable? As long as someone who understands canines adopts this dog, I don't understand why this is even an issue.

[Roo]

Seems to me as if the food aggression will vanish once people stop trying to take his food while he's eating.

 

Is this REALLY something groups consider abnormal? That a dog can "fail" a test like that and therefore be what, unadoptable? As long as someone who understands canines adopts this dog, I don't understand why this is even an issue.

 

Agreed. While I understand the desire and need to train a dog out of guarding his food bowl, it is, after all, his food bowl. If it was me, I'd work on trading up and "leave it" with other objects so that things (non-food items, food items he's not supposed to have, etc) can safely be removed from his mouth and leave him be while he's eating his meal out of his food bowl. If you're worried he'll bite someone, crate him while he eats, or baby gate him in another room. If you do the latter, you can still work with him by standing in the room and slowly decreasing your distance as he gets more comfortable. If you do the former, the food guarding becomes kind of a non-issue as long as you work on 'leave it' when he's out of the crate.

 

Some of it could be insecurity, as mentioned above. He's new, everything is new to him, and he's never been out of his crate to eat before. He's used to the security of the four walls around him, separating him and his food from neighbors and humans until he's eaten it all. Suddenly, he's in the middle of a room with both a person and a dog right there while he's eating, and he doesn't know if someone is going to try to take his food so when someone comes too close, he feels like he needs to warn you that the tasty stuff in the bowl belongs to him. Give him some time to get used to this new arrangement, then try out what Krissy suggested - great advice.

[krissy]

Seems to me as if the food aggression will vanish once people stop trying to take his food while he's eating.

 

Is this REALLY something groups consider abnormal? That a dog can "fail" a test like that and therefore be what, unadoptable? As long as someone who understands canines adopts this dog, I don't understand why this is even an issue.

 

Because you never know when human error is going to come into play.

 

1. I have a friend over who has a child. I don't have children so I don't really think of the safety issues regarding a dog and child (this is obviously a made up scenario since I'm ridiculously overprotective of my dogs regarding children even though I don't have any) and the child touches the dog's food bowl, or maybe even just walks/crawls by as he's eating.

2. I go to feed the dog, put the bowl down, and just as he's about to start eating I remember "oh wait, he's going to the vet today and he's supposed to be fasted". In the panic of the moment, I forget myself (because I'm human) and reach down to take away the bowl of food.

3. The dogs are being fed apart, but I'm human and today I forget to close the baby gate. The other dog finishes first, walks out of the room where she is because I forgot the gate, and walks by the other dog who is finishing eating.

 

So many possible accidental scenarios. Yes, understand that a dog may always have food guarding tendencies. But I don't think that makes it acceptable to just ignore the issue if it's possible to resolve it. If attempts are made and the dog can't be retrained, then yes, pure management is the way to go. But personally, I wouldn't want to deal with a dog that guards its food. There are lots of "normal dog behaviours" that we don't accept... I don't see why a potentially dangerous behaviour is any different. I don't let my dogs jump up, I don't let them nuisance bark, I don't let them destroy things around the house, I don't let them potty in the house, I don't let them indiscriminately chase prey. We shape dog behaviour in so many ways for far less. Resource guarding isn't something I would just let slide without having a go at it. I don't think it makes the dog unadoptable by any means, and whoever adopts this dog is going to have to remember that he has a resource guarding issue (or tendency if it can be improved/resolved with training), but that doesn't mean that it's an okay behaviour and we should just ignore it.

[greysmom]

Seems to me as if the food aggression will vanish once people stop trying to take his food while he's eating.

 

Is this REALLY something groups consider abnormal? That a dog can "fail" a test like that and therefore be what, unadoptable? As long as someone who understands canines adopts this dog, I don't understand why this is even an issue.

 

I'm pretty sure she's from Australia where dogs have to be tested before they can be out in public without a muzzle. They also have some outdated rules regarding both greyhounds and dog ownership (no offense intended to any Aussies!). It's just different than the US.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Seems to me as if the food aggression will vanish once people stop trying to take his food while he's eating.

 

Is this REALLY something groups consider abnormal? That a dog can "fail" a test like that and therefore be what, unadoptable? As long as someone who understands canines adopts this dog, I don't understand why this is even an issue.

 

How many truly very experienced people who 'understand canines' apply to adopt dogs?

Not very many.

You are in a unique situation...no children, living alone with no visitors dropping in. Your life revolves around your work and your pets and there is nothing wrong with that but I would guess that most adopters are families looking for a nice pet to relax and have fun with.

 

Krissy and Greysmom have given very good advice.

Time and patience.. and more time and patience ...are the key.

 

to the OP