Growling to protect a treat

[jeanr]

Hi There,

Something has been bothering me about my pup.
He is just over 5 months old & I am crazy about him....he has settled in very well at home.

I recently started to give him "pigs ears" as a treat. He was happily chewing on one recently & for some reason I had to go over to him as he was sitting against the washing machine (which I needed to get to)......& he snarled at me....hunched over his pigs ear & it was quite scary. I have noticed since then that if I go near him when he is eating a treat, he thinks i'm trying to take it away, he will growl at me & I really don't like it.

Shoudn't I, if I wanted to, be able to take anything away from him? I'm not trying to be cruel, I am mad about him & he is very well looked after but I don't like this behaviour.

I can put my hands in his food bowl no bother, I pick up bits of his food out of his dish when he is eating & he eats them from my hands...it jsut seems to be the treats that cause the problem.

Suggestions welcome

Thank you.

[Sandi]

You need to be able to take anything your dog eats off it. They may pick up some thing toxic or rotten while out for a walk & you have to remove it quickly.
I would suggest using something other than the pigs ears & practice the drop command with praise. If this works ok move onto the pigs ears, be assertive & do it in very short stints so that the dog is not being teased or confused.
Reprimand your dog instantly if it growls, show your displeasure but do not make a meal of it. If all else fails cut the pigs ears.

[jteatom]

I agree with the previous reply. You should be able to take anything away from your dog. You should correct that type of behavior and make it clear to your dog that it is unacceptable. Corrections should be administered with a leash and collar. May I recommend a prong collar. When fitted properly, they are VERY effective. The best part is you don't have to deliver a harsh correction to get your point across. You should also teach your dog a release command like "DROP" or "OUT". Then when they start to learn the command and don't obey it, you can administer a correction. You can read more below, and happy training.

[Fiammata]

...continued)

To teach my dog "Wait," I made her "Sit" while I put food in her bowl, then told her to "Wait," and watched the inevitable of her diving towards the bowl because she didn't yet know what the word meant. So I blocked her from getting the food. You can stand behind and use a leash or hold your dog's collar to prevent him from getting it if you prefer, whatever works. She became antsy (but not aggressive) as she began thinking of ways to get around my block, but as soon as she sat vaguely still for even a FEW SECONDS, I stopped blocking and let her eat. This is one of the very few commands where it works to say the word before the dog knows what it means, then show them. Most tricks, so you know, you show them first, then give it a name once they're pretty consistent with it. The next time I fed her, I had her sit while I put the food in her bowl, then told her to "Wait," then blocked her inevitable dive as she still didn't know what the word meant. And again, as soon as she sat still for a few seconds, I stopped blocking. The time for learning this trick varies greatly between dogs, and some methods are better than others for teaching different sorts of dogs, but eventually she did begin to understand that "Wait" meant I was going to prevent her from taking it, so she might as well not try, and that as soon as she stopped trying, I stopped blocking. Once your dog consistently doesn't try to dive at it and waits for you to stop blocking for only a FEW SECONDS, you may begin slowly increasing the time he has to wait. As soon as the wait can last long enough, introduce the second part of this trick, the "Okay" (or whatever other word you wish to use). Whatever words you choose for tricks, be consistent!

To teach her the end of the "Wait" trick, to teach her the "Okay" that releases her from the wait, I began backing away a little from the food but still being ready to block her as soon as she dove for it. So she quickly learned that diving for it didn't work even if I wasn't currently blocking it! As soon as she'd sit still and wait for at least a few seconds without diving at it, while I was not blocking it, I said "Okay" and gestured towards it. She didn't yet know what "Okay" meant but had lost patience and tried again to dive for the food (my gesturing may have helped with the lost patience), and I didn't try to block her! She probably figured she won the battle or something, but it was the beginning to her learning this second word. The next time I fed her, I again made her sit while I put food in her bowl, then told her to wait, then backed away and watched her sit vaguely still for a few seconds, then told her "Okay" and gestured towards the bowl. She went towards it and I again did not block her from it. From here she quickly learned that "Wait" meant I would block her from it, and "Okay" meant I would not. We progressed to waiting for longer periods of time, with me standing a farther distance away, with tastier and tastier foods (a taste distraction), and with other people moving nearby (visual distractions). She didn't show any aggression during this time as in her mind it was still MY food until she was able to hold her head over it and begin eating it, so therefore she had no valid reason to protect it from me. I did not move towards her once I'd given her the food. I left her alone as she's been "good" by waiting, and letting her eat in peace is actually a great reward for dogs. It's also best to focus on one new task at a time rather than throwing these two hard ones at once. But from here, you may begin the final step!

The command "Wait" in itself is good and serves many purposes aside from food aggression issues. However, it actually does not address food aggression at all and is absolutely useless in teaching dogs to be less aggressive. So why do you bother teaching it, you ask? Because of the end of the trick, the "Okay" command that releases them to go ahead and eat the food. Remember, to them it translates as you giving over your ownership of the food, and this act is absolutely vital to this wonderfully non-punishing, non-bribing method you're about to learn for teaching your dog to stop being so aggressive with his food. Once your dog has a rock solid "Wait" command (with the accompanying "Okay") that's worthy of showing off to your friends and having it work, you're ready to move on.

I will explain this part in some detail, but once you understand it it'll seem so simple you'll feel like kicking yourself for not thinking of it sooner. I know I did! The dog protects his food because he feels it's HIS, and he thinks you might take it from him. Some dogs don't think you'll take it from them and so show no aggression and need none of this type of training. Some dogs are especially submissive by nature and will wait patiently for their turn all on their own, then back away if they think you want to take it away from them, and so also do not need this type of training. But for dogs who are naturally of a medium to high dominance level, who somehow decide you might steal their food, for those dogs, they need this type of training.

Start with a simple food (use the kibble since he's already non-aggressive with it) since you're teaching him something new, then later work up to more and more tasty temptations. But you'll be surprised at how quickly this last step progresses once the others are hardset!

First, have the dog sit and wait while you put food in his bowl. Then put your hand deep in the bowl, deliberately covering some of the food. This is showing him in HIS language that you are "owning" it. When a dog puts his head or his paw (usually a front paw) on top of something, he is telling others that he "owns" it. When dogs are playing gently with one another and one rests his head on the back of the other, he is in fact displaying dominance. The other will either accept or resist, depending on the individual dogs and their temperaments. When your dog lays his head in your lap, believe it or not, he is telling you that he "owns" you. He is telling you in a non-aggressive way that HE is boss, and you belong to him! Then you wonder why he won't listen to you later when you tell him to do something he doesn't want to do. This is why many dogs object to being hugged; to them, it is you showing dominance. So, while he's sitting and waiting, put your hand in the bowl and cover the food, telling him in the most obvious way (his own language) that it is YOUR food. He should have no problem with you doing this if his "Wait" command is well-learned, as by teaching him to wait you've also taught him in YOUR language that you are "owning" it. What's he care if you tell him first in your language, then repeat it in his? He doesn't, and probably will not react at all unless he at first thinks you're gesturing towards it for him to have it, then notices what you've done instead and stops himself. If I were him I'd think it's redundant, but do it anyway. Tell him in both languages.

Next, without removing your hand, tell him "Okay." Huh? He can have the food, but you still have it too? How can this be?? My dog spent several long, anxious moments glancing back and forth between me and the bowl when I did this the first time. She was totally confused! Who owned it, me or her?? It took multiple okay's and gesturings with my other hand (and my head) before she hesitantly came over and started nibbling at it. Then she began eating it so fast I thought she'd choke, likely trying to beat me to finishing it, but she was gentle around my hand as I'd already taught her to have a "soft bite" for treats I hadn't entirely relinquished to her yet (see Step 2 above). I didn't move while she ate; I sat very still and was very calm while she finished, and then let her lick my hand. At that time I became very excited with her, praising her to glory! So, to translate this to her, the food was MINE but I told her she could eat it, then I didn't race her to eat it, and I even praised her for eating it! How confusing... but what a breakthrough! She did not need to guard it because it was never entirely her's. It was MINE all along.

This process does not teach the dog not to guard his food from you. It doesn't fight against his primal instinct which may in fact be stronger than anything you try to teach him. This process teaches him, instead, that it is YOUR food, NOT his, so he has no valid reason to guard it from you. And yet he still gets to eat from it to keep his tummy feeling good and to keep himself alive, that all-important basic survival instinct being fulfilled. Your dog does not WANT to fight with you over food. Fighting is stressful! He just wants to fulfill this instinct, to feel safe in knowing he has enough to be comfortable for the day and that whoever or whatever is next to him won't compete for that.

[Fiammata]

...continued #2)

Continuing this process the next time you feed him, begin gradually trying to pet him with your other hand while he eats, never taking your first hand from the bowl. Just do a little the first time, in places he minds the least, progressing to more and more each time, heading towards places he minds the most (such as the mouth or front paws, as this is close to where they usually feel like you're trying to steal food from them). You'll be surprised at how quickly you can progress during this step! Once you can successfully pet him without any aggression (annoyance is acceptable), begin making the food more tempting (and therefore more worthy of guarding) each time. Once there's the successful petting and the food is sufficiently tempting, begin transfering to the last phase of this step, a test of sorts that will solidify the lesson. Have him sit and wait while you put the food in the bowl, then put your hand in the bowl, and give him the "Okay" to eat. Then begin petting him and remove your bowl-hand slowly while he's eating. Next time, don't even put your hand in the bowl and give him the okay. He should remember the lesson from this step and act as if your hand was there, allowing you to pet him with ease because he understands that the food is yours, yet you let him eat it. He may in fact think you're very silly for letting him eat your food, who knows? But so long as it works I don't care if my dog thinks I'm silly, LoL! There's a large variety of things you can do to lessen his general food aggression, such as eating a piece from the bowl (or pretending to) before letting him eat, or taking the bowl away only to trade it for something better, and you'll find them all over the internet and mentioned numerous times in popular dog self-help books, and all work as great reminders. The "Wait" command you're employing is also considered one of the more extensive (more effort to teach) tactics you can use, so it probably helps in this way. When you can get up and leave the room while he's eating something tasty and then come back in to pet him (you're approaching him now after he had full possession of the food), without him showing aggression, you are ALL DONE! For yourself, anyway. Find someone who's willing to copy the process from telling him to sit and wait, then put a hand inside the bowl and say okay, then begin petting. Also be sure to give him a thorough reminder yourself, following the short process just listed, about once a week or so with the other days not bothering him with petting (so he doesn't get annoyance overload). Find as many volunteers as you can to teach him that this new thought process is transferable to many, many humans, even random little kids who might wander into your yard. They'll be very safe now! Congratulations!!

Dogs live in the moment, yet they do have excellent memories.

When my dog was first adopted, she had no food aggression at all towards humans. Here we were, total strangers, and we could walk up and pet her or touch her food while she was eating. It's not that she was submissive; rather, she simply didn't see us as a threat. She trusted us not to steal food from her. Then one day my brother began teasing her with her rawhide. He'd take it from her and not give it back right away, mocking her. This taught her something horrid. It taught her that humans can steal her food! She quickly became viciously aggressive towards him, towards me, and towards anyone else who attempted to approach her while she was eating (yet she remained friendly so long as food wasn't involved). It took me over a month to teach her not to be so aggressive with me over that basic white (flavlorless) rawhide. I used positive-reinforcement methods that involved such things as slathering peanut butter on it (her favorite!) if she allowed me to touch it without growling at me. Then we moved to basic, boring kibble. After that I included volunteers who'd copy whatever progress I'd made with her on my own, so that she'd associate my being able to come near a certain type of food with anyone else being able to come near that certain type of food. Finally, after over a year of training, perfect strangers could walk up to her and pet her while she's eating a gourmet meal of chicken, rice, peanut butter, and milk (all her favorites!). I hadn't been working with my brother because he's wasn't interested in helping, but still, I figured that if a perfect stranger can walk up and touch her gourmet meal without so much as an angry look, my own brother who she sees every day should be fine, right? Wrong! Just the other day, he walked up to pet her because he didn't know she was chewing on another basic, white (flavorless) rawhide. And she snapped at him! It's been over a year since he started this mess, yet she remembers not to trust him! I suppose I'll wait to teach her to tolerate him until I myself can trust him not to tease her all over again.

[glaiza]

It is common for dogs to be possessive around food, but this should not be. Do some dog obedience training, that will help a lot. It did with my dogs.