The Truth About Dog Food Aggression
December 22nd, 2009
Is dog food aggression a problem with your canine companion? If your dog growls or snaps at anyone who gets too close while he’s eating, you need to stop this serious dog behavior problem before your dog attacks you or someone in your family.
Dog Food Aggression Is Instinctive Behavior For Canines
A wild dog protects his food, his mate, and his territory. Aggression is necessary for their survival. The most aggressive dog is the pack leader, or alpha male, and he enforces his position by being the dominant dog in the pack.
However, in your home, your dog shouldn’t be the pack leader. If he is, you’re in for trouble, because he thinks he’s the alpha male, and, like he would in the wild, he’ll use canine aggression to enforce his position. This is a dominance issue that won’t go away on its own. You must take steps to deal with his aggressive behavior before it reaches a dangerous level.
Causes of Food Aggression In Dogs
Puppy aggression, even around food, is thought to be “cute” by many people. Encouraging this behavior is a serious training mistake many dog owners make. Instead of being amused by canine food aggression, you need to nip this problem in the bud.
Your dog doesn’t clearly understand who the pack leader is.To your dog’s way of thinking, if you don’t take the role of the alpha male (even if you’re female), there’s a leadership vacuum. If you don’t step into the role, he will. And he won’t be nice about enforcing his position in your household.
Since he considers himself the top dog, he thinks he can take whatever he wants from whoever is lower in rank than he is. The reality is that the family dog should be at the bottom of the heap, not the top. Anyone in the household should be able to take anything away from him, even his food. Of course, you’re not really going to do this, but he needs to know where he stands in your household pack.
Dog Food Aggression Training
With a puppy, you’ll make it clear that having people or other animals around when he’s eating is OK. Do this right from the beginning, and you’ll probably never have a problem with this type of canine aggression. Anyone in the family should be able to safely stand right next to him at any time while he’s eating.You need to take control of his food if this isn’t true.
It’s always a good idea to feed your dog after you and your family have finished eating. Your dog will instinctively understand that the alpha dog always eats first. This reinforces your position and your family members’ positions in the pack in relationship to him.
Require that your dog sit and stay quietly while you’re fixing his food. If your dog growls, and demands food, don’t give in. He needs to earn his food by behaving in a non-aggressive manner.
Never let your dog “win” his food by growling at you. This only rewards his bad dog behavior and reinforces the very behavior you want to stop.
If dog food aggression is already a serious problem in your household, a dog behavior course should be your next step. You can find a course that includes a consultation with an experienced dog trainer by clicking on any link in this article.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related posts:
 |  |