# food aggression



## smason (Dec 23, 2008)

our dog is never aggressive apart from the issue with food. you can lay on her, kids play with her and she has never shown the slightest bit of aggression.

the only aggression she has ever show is while eating. i always make her sit and obey several commands prior to allow her to eat. she will not touch the food, even if i close the door and leave, until i come and give her the signal to eat. 
but while eating if i try to pet her head, often she will snarl or growl a little bit. for me this is an issue. my wife and i are about to have our first child and of course you could say, "always feed your dog alone and away from anyone" but i dont want to take that "what if" chance.

I have tried feeding her out of my hand, and she is fine in that she shows not aggression, but when i hand feed her she doesn't even chew, she just scarfes it down. the times i have petted her while eating and she hasn't growled, I can feel her tense up and she scarfes the food down like i am going to take it away.

any suggestions?


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## AvaLaRue (Apr 4, 2010)

There are much more experienced people on this thread that can answer your question. But, tt sounds to me as if you are doing all the right things to let her know YOU are in charge of where her food comes from. ie...making her sit and wait, etc. 

Sorry if I should know this already but...how old is your dog and have you had her since she was a little pup? 

My GSD is almost 8 weeks old. What I am doing is measuring out her food but then once the food is in her dish, I mix it around with my hands so the sent of me is on her food. Also, while she is eating, I am petting her and putting my fingers in the food dish, etc. 

With my Shih Tzu's, I have one that was VERY food aggressive towards me and the older ShihTzu. I had to keep them completely seperated while they ate. I worked with him the same way I am with my GSD pup but I also had to feed him one piece of kibble at a time for a while. He is now no longer food aggressive and he and my older ShihTzu now eat off the same plate at the same time with no issues. It took a few months to work up to that point.

Like I said, there are MUCH more experience on this forum then myself. I could be doing things completely wrong...however, it seems to be working for me and my crew.

Good luck!


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## Basil2010 (Mar 17, 2010)

My Cosmo (shih-tzu) is always gowling when is food time...Basil (gsd) is not good about sharing it's because she was in a shelter and only got feed once at day...it can be very stressful for me but ...I take my time with each dog...Cosom is 12 years old his dosen't want to play...I tell Basil to leave him alone...but she want to play.......so he snap at her but she has not learned either...but I wish he was happy but he is my old man.


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## milkmoney11 (Feb 11, 2010)

This probably goes against what most people on here would do but an ecollar can correct this in a day in a lot of cases. Quick buzz at the exact moment the dog snarls and make them back away from the food for a minute.


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## smason (Dec 23, 2008)

Lao is about 1yr3mos. we have had her since a pup. 
its weird because out of our hands she is very gentle and careful. i tell her gentle and she opens and closes her mouth for the food with extreme slow motion. 
if she has a bone or something in her mouth though, she doesn't want me to take it. and if her head is in the bowl eating kibble and i pet her head she most often will growl a bit. even ever so slightly still i dont like it.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Rather than use corrections to basically force her to accept touch while eating, I would teach her that the human hand is GOOD. I often reinforce this (even though my dogs have never minded me reaching into the bowl) by intermittently adding MORE food or dropping in a treat while they eat. I want them to understand that my presence is GOOD, not something to be defensive about, or worry about a correction.

To be 100% sure though, once the child is born I would always feed the dog in a crate or in another room.


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

Liesje said:


> Rather than use corrections to basically force her to accept touch while eating, I would teach her that the human hand is GOOD. I often reinforce this (even though my dogs have never minded me reaching into the bowl) by intermittently adding MORE food or dropping in a treat while they eat. I want them to understand that my presence is GOOD, not something to be defensive about, or worry about a correction.
> 
> To be 100% sure though, once the child is born I would always feed the dog in a crate or in another room.


I agree with Lies.  Much easier to make her associate your hands with yummy things, than with corrections.

Similar thing with the treats and removing other high valued items. I know some people don't like it but, the trade is a great way to start getting a dog to give up an item....


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

How does your dog react? Does it tense up? Or growl? Stop eating and watch you? Snap at you if you're too close? Hackles come up? What does he do? And what are you doing that causes the reaction and what are you doing during the reaction and after? You have to give us more info.


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## Mama (Feb 7, 2020)

tc68 said:


> How does your dog react? Does it tense up? Or growl? Stop eating and watch you? Snap at you if you're too close? Hackles come up? What does he do? And what are you doing that causes the reaction and what are you doing during the reaction and after? You have to give us more info.


Sorry, different account. Same girl lol. But literally we just try to pet her and I’ve always worked with her on petting and such and putting my hands in her food since she was a pup. And she always did fine with it and wouldn’t growl or anything. But now, every time we go to pet her she stops eating and won’t continue to eat until we stop petting her. Or If we continue to pet her while she eats she growls at us. She eats gentle from the hand and sits before we give her the food. She doesn’t start to eat until we tell her it is okay for her to eat. Again, she just started doing this within the last week.


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

Mama said:


> Sorry, different account. Same girl lol. But literally we just try to pet her and I’ve always worked with her on petting and such and putting my hands in her food since she was a pup. And she always did fine with it and wouldn’t growl or anything. But now, every time we go to pet her she stops eating and won’t continue to eat until we stop petting her. Or If we continue to pet her while she eats she growls at us. She eats gentle from the hand and sits before we give her the food. She doesn’t start to eat until we tell her it is okay for her to eat. Again, she just started doing this within the last week.


How old is she?

If she wasn't doing it before and now she is, you're "messing" with her too much. Stop petting her while she eats. I think you're making the situation worse. Let her know that you being near her while she's eating is a good thing. You should throw high value treats into her bowl if you're near her while she eats. Eventually, you get closer and closer and you place the treats into her bowl instead of throwing them in from a distance. Actually, you said she just stops eating so she hasn't tensed up or snapped at you yet....that's good. Then you can skip ahead to "placing the treats into her food bowl instead of throwing them in from a distance."


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## BigOzzy2018 (Jan 27, 2018)

Let the dog eat in peace. I never bother my dogs while eating. Teach your kids not to bother the dog as well.


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