Thread: Puppy Food Aggression

Originally Posted by Chris Loverseed

Was just wondering if anybody on this forum has had much experience with this issue??

A bit of background, ever since the pup was around 10 weeks old he was really intense around his food bowl or chicken necks, lamb bones etc, had no problems nailing you at all!! So slowly worked on it by desensitizing and counter conditioning and by around 12 weeks you can put your hand in his bowl etc but didn't get over the whole bone thing till about 16 weeks.
So recently he was hadn't any problems at all, he is now 23 weeks old and when i walked past him while he was eating the other day he started growling again n went to lunge out a bit..

Not sure how others feel about this or handle this? I've dealt with mild food aggression before but never this serious. I know alot of people have different views on this like just leave the dog alone when there eating in another room, or just hang them up the second they show an aggressive sign or just slowly get them use to it eating out of your hand etc and moving closer which is the path I've been going down,

So any ideas?

One of my old Retrievers was aggressive with a bone if you got hear him, he would growl but he was ok with his dinner in a bowl, with his bone I would leave him in peace to chew on it, but a pup aggressive lunging off his bowl is not going in a nice direction as he gets bigger. Might be one to ask Mark Singer's opinion on, he comes in here quite often. I would tend to whack him for that, a piece of car heater hose across the snout and take his dinner off him, but that method is not favourable these days lol!!!

Lol Trust me I've been tempted to do just that!!! takes a lot to hold back, but i know a lot of people will say correcting the pup in that situation makes it worse

I tend to leave dogs alone when they are eating, it is fairly easy to create problems by playing around with the dogs food at meal times. if you choose to be around at meal times and want to handle the dog or its food you can try this: Instead of having the dog eat food from your hand just place a small amount of food in its bowl, when it is finished eating the small amount of food get the dog to sit down and put more food in its bowl when it is sitting and calm, this way the dog will learn when you are around at meal times it will get more food and be rewarded for being calm.

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for that, i have used that method as well which he has been fine with, you can tell him to stop eating and he will just sit patiently/look at you..

I agree with you on leaving dogs alone when they eat, i know me personally would be pretty aggressive if somebody starting messing around with my food too, only thing i had an issue with was that he got over his aggression and it has resurfaced just by walking past him...

Im no expert in any way but I would try be patient with him ehich is very hard sometimes... (i prob would have rammed his head into bowl and taken food huffing and puffing)I would never back down and let him control the situation with aggression.. He may learn he can control everything and you with it. Try and Stand still when he goes you voice him off then just edge your way closer to him Step by step.. He will eventually back down and let u take food.. No flogging needed.. I think you should be able to touch them when feeding they may not like it but stiff shit that's the way it is!!!!

Mayb try something similar to the TOT i had a mallie like that and it rally help with that ! just my 2c

Originally Posted by Billy Feron

Im no expert in any way but I would try be patient with him ehich is very hard sometimes... (i prob would have rammed his head into bowl and taken food huffing and puffing)I would never back down and let him control the situation with aggression.. He may learn he can control everything and you with it. Try and Stand still when he goes you voice him off then just edge your way closer to him Step by step.. He will eventually back down and let u take food.. No flogging needed.. I think you should be able to touch them when feeding they may not like it but stiff shit that's the way it is!!!!

Lol i like your way of thinking Billy I've really held myself back with not flogging him lol... But yeh if he shows any signs i don't move though..

Hey Andrew,

Yeh I have done TOT with him since day one no problems, you can have him 30metres away and he won't break until released, but I think that might of escalated it a little bit as well by making his food drive even higher and increasing the value of his bowl.

what kind of conditioning have you actually done with the pup to get where you got? It happened for a reason. You should not be putting your hands in the dogs bowl they do deserve peace while they eat and I think it's a rediculous thing when people do that. Yes they should be tolerant but jesus you would snap too if someone kept mucking around in your favourite food!

If your pup is to have fresh stuff then give smaller bits and have some in each hand. Only on remaining calm does the pup get them and when he's really good send him to his crate with a chewy bone that only lasts a few seconds. He doesnt have time to aggress and he's been given his high value food in a controlled manner. It's normal with pups considering many breeders put one big bowl down for them and the pups learn to get rough to get more. If you want to get your pup off a bone offer some raw meat to it. You want the dog to learn that you taking the bone is a swap NOT a loss on command. You will find your dog relaxes more around items and you walking past as there is always an opportunity for reward, not that you're coming past to randomly take it for a reason your dog doesnt understand. Yes if my dogs lunge out then thats a different story with me. But just a growl and acting like a pup, well who's meant to be the smarter of the two? I dont any problems with any of mine stealing or holding onto high value items if I tell them to drop it.