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Food aggression in dogs is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. It occurs when a dog shows aggressive behavior like growling, snarling or biting when approached while eating or when there is food around. Left unchecked, food aggression can progress to more dangerous behavior. The good news is that with proper training, food aggression can be greatly reduced or eliminated.
Identify the Triggers
The first step is observing your dog closely to identify what exactly triggers the food aggressive behavior. Does it happen only around certain types of food or high value treats? Does your dog show aggression when you go near it when eating or even just walk past? Knowing what circumstances usually precede an aggressive outburst will help you develop an effective training strategy.
Start Young
It is ideal to teach dogs from a young age that people approaching them while eating is a positive thing. Set aside time during each meal to approach your pup, give treats and praise, and even briefly take away the food bowl before placing it down again. Puppies that are taught not to associate approach and touch while eating with loss of food are less likely to become food aggressive.
Use Treats and Praise
One common technique is to counter-condition your dog and change its negative mindset around food to a pleasant one by using treats and positive reinforcement. When your dog starts eating, move towards it, drop a few high value treats like small pieces of chicken or cheese in its bowl. As it eats those, praise your dog in a gentle happy voice. Over many mealtimes, your dog will make the association between approach and more tasty food rather than the loss of food.
Trade Up the Food
Teach your dog the “drop it” command using treats and praise. When your dog has something less valuable in its mouth like a toy, give the cue to drop it and reward with a treat when it does. In time, practice this with food items, starting with lower value food followed by more valuable food. Reward with something really tasty like small bits of boiled chicken when your dog drops the food in its mouth on your cue.
Handle the Food Bowl
Occasionally walk past, drop a few treats in or gently take the bowl away while talking praisefully and then immediately give it back. Build this up very slowly over time, especially with more food aggressive dogs. The goal is to eliminate the fear that the food is going to be stolen.
Stay Calm in Training
It can be challenging not to get angry, impatient or confrontational with a food aggressive dog. But those emotions can make situations far more volatile and strain the human-animal bond. You have to be the picture of calm leadership. Control your feelings and body language. Go extremely slowly during the conditioning process to set your dog up for success.
Follow Rules
Set rules and structure around mealtimes will help ease anxiety in dogs prone to resource guarding food. Feed your dog at regular times rather than leaving food out. Eat your meals before feeding your dog to reinforce that the person controls the food. Have your dog work for food with cues like “sit” or “down” before placing the bowl, reinforcing obedience around food.
Consult an Expert
In more severe cases of aggression or if you have very little control over your dog when it’s in an aggressive state, immediately contact a professional certified trainer or veterinary behaviorist. They can evaluate your dog’s behavior in-person. Under their guidance, you can resort to more intensive techniques like desensitization and counter-conditioning specific to your dog’s issues. Using the wrong techniques can make dogs more aggressive, so having an expert is important.
Follow these tips and you will eventually be able to overcome food aggression in your dog. Always keep in mind that the secret to success is being consistent with what you do.
