Stop Dog Food Aggression Fast With These 4 Easy Steps!

Worried your dog is showing signs of food aggression? Certified Dog Trainer Robert Haussmann explains what causes food guarding, how to recognize the early signs, and what you can do to prevent it from escalating. Learn a simple, step-by-step process to help your dog feel safe around their food and build more trust with you during mealtime.

TRANSCRIPT

Does your dog get aggressive or possessive about their food? I'm Robert and this is Buffy. Let's talk about it. So, food aggression is a type of resource guarding. Your dog is anxious that your approach means they're going to lose a treasured resource. We want to be sure that we're changing your dog's emotional association, not just the behavior. Think of the behavior like a symptom of a bigger issue. Often times, there are more subtle signs. the dog perhaps freezing over their dish or eating faster uh before they even start to growl. So, be aware of that and get out in front of the behavior before it happens. Food aggression can be caused by lack of early socialization, uh negative past experiences. Uh there might even be a genetic component of play where some dogs are just more prone to it than others. If left unchecked, food aggression can lead to more dangerous things like a physical bite. To prevent this from happening in the first place or to work on an issue that's already occurring, here are a few things to try. The first step is to walk past your dog at a distance and toss a few treats to them while they're eating. Don't overdo this. Maybe once or twice per meal would be enough. If your dog starts to look up and check in upon your initial approach, we're probably ready to move on to the next step. The next step is to walk towards your dog while they're eating, toss a treat, and then walk away. It's important here to keep distance. We don't want to get too close too fast. After that, you're getting even closer, reaching towards the bowl, tossing a treat, and then walking away. Don't proceed to this step until the dog seems aware and amanable to the previous step. The final step would be picking the ball up, putting some treats in, and offering it back. The goal through all these steps is to change your dog's association that your approach is an asset and not a liability. They're not afraid of losing anything when you get close. They're predicting and assuming you're going to make the situation better. So, this could take weeks or months for your dog to work through some of these steps. Make sure you're staying at your dog's pace and don't rush through anything. Good luck. See you next time.