# How to get rid of Food Aggression :(



## setell (Oct 10, 2009)

I don't know how it just crept up on me but my boy has food aggression. We noticed it when hubby was trying to slow him down when he was eating supper and Charlie decided to bite down on hubby. It wasn't a hard bite that made him bleed or anything but the fact he bite down is a bad bad sign. Since then we've tried a couple of methods to curb or try to calm him down while it's time to eat. We alternate between these two methods:

1) feed him his meal in very small portions and after every portion he finishes we make him sit and wait for us put more in his food bowl. He then has to wait for us to tell him to go eat before he can eat. 

This method kind of worked as at the beginning he was very aggressive and growled at us for even touching him when he was eating. He got better in the past two weeks where we can touch him and he won't growl at us. 

2) we gave him his whole meal into his bowl and let him eat it but touching him while he's eating. 

Somehow when we do this he gets SUPER aggressive and starts growling, snarling at us like a vicious dog  So to force him to learn that it's unacceptable behaviour we held him back from eating his food if he growled at us when we touched him while he was eating. We just made him sit there till he stopped growling before we allowed him to continuing eating. 'sigh' the past couple of days he's gotten so bad with his growling he's litterly shaking when we hold him back. 

I really don't know what else to try. He has never been aggressive with me with biting since I brush his teeth with my fingers few times a week and he is totally fine. He isn't a aggressive boy till recently and he's only aggressive during food time  Help anybody?


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

Charlie is resource guarding. Try the Nothing in Life is Free program. It puts you in charge of the resources, similar to what you are doing in #1.

Nothing in Life is Free

Nothing in Life is Free Gaining control of your dog humanely

Dog Training: Nothing in Life is Free : The Humane Society of the United States


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## setell (Oct 10, 2009)

Thank you ladysmom for the suggestion. I will try it out and see how it goes.


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## Aarianne (Jul 22, 2005)

Good links!

One thing that I did when my girls were pups, that perhaps you could try--but only after getting him well past showing aggression, is that I would do random stuff with their food... hold a finger in it for a bit, hold onto the food dish while they eat, feed them from my hand, put my hand near the dish to drop more food in here or there, or take the dish away temporarily... always followed by a reward ("good girl", a pat, and a treat that they like better than their food--mixed into the food if I had picked the dish up). I kept these things short and was careful not to overdo it too (didn't do it every time they ate). I just made sure that they believed that every time I handled their food it was a great thing!

Mine were pups and not showing any aggression yet, so it was a little different--more of a proactive measure. But maybe it's something to consider eventually to help move him from just accepting hands near food to being happy about hands being near his food!


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

In a way, by reaching for his food while he is eating, and by trying to hold him back from eating it you are actually encouraging his behavior and likely this is why it seems to be getting worse. As Marj said, this is resource guarding and is common in dogs and when you try to take his food from him while he is eating you are reinforcing the idea that he "has" to protect it from you. 

A good way to work on resource guarding is to teach a trade. They give up something the love and want "temporarily" (i.e. they get it back), for an even better reward. For example, give up a bowl of regular kibble for something smelly and yummy like salmon treats. 

Here is a good article spefically explaining resource guarding (and incorporating the ideas from Nothing In Life is Free) Resource Guarding: Preventing It and Stopping It


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

I would recommend the book Mine! by Jean Donaldson.


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