food bowl Archives - Smart Dog University

How to Prevent Your Dog From Guarding Food

March 27, 2014

Teaching your dog to love people around his food bowl is the quickest way to prevent your dog from becoming a food bowl guarder.

It’s so much easier to prevent a problem than to fix one. Which is where this article and video come in. You won’t believe just how easy it is to get your dog to look forward to your approach when he’s eating.

Here’s the how to:

Have some chicken or steak handy, cut into tiny pieces.
Put your dog’s food in his bowl, then set the bowl on the floor.
When your dog is eating his food, walk by and drop some chicken into the bowl. Keep walking.
Come back through and drop a few more pieces of food into his bowl.
Continue randomly raining chicken into his food bowl while he eats.

Before you know it, your dog will be looking forward to your approach. You’ll probably notice his tail wagging, his expectant expression, waiting for those morsels to drop into his bowl. Not only will you teach your dog to look forward to your approach, but you’re preventing a a huge problem of resource guarding.

The old-fashioned (and dangerous) advice of: take the food bowl away from your dog to show him you can [seriously, who thinks this stuff up?!] may be well intentioned, but it’s likely to (1) get you bitten and (2) make the dog begin to guard his food from you.

This is pretty obvious, but let me be clear: do this with your dog to prevent resource guarding, not if your dog is already guarding his food (or anything else). If you have a resource guarding dog, call a veterinary behaviorist in your area. Do not attempt this exercise with your dog.

What Does Food Aggression Look Like?

August 27, 2013

Do you know what food aggression looks like in dogs?

Schooner eats his food, spilling little kibbles out onto the floor. His maw, expansive as it is, has quite droopy sides and a few of those little kibbles find their way to the floor.

The cat notices and takes a few steps toward the bowl and the smattering of slobber-softened kibbles. She tentatively tastes one, deems it delicious, and continues to move forward kibble by mushy kibble.

Schoooner’s keeping an eye on her, head buried in his bowl. He isn’t moving his head, but his eyes follow the kitty’s every move. As she gets almost up to the bowl, he freezes, lowers his head just a bit more, and gives her the deepest growl he can muster.

“Stay AWAY from my bowl,” the growl tries to communicate.

Undeterred, the kitty remains directly under Schooner’s head, lazily eating the treats that have slipped out of Schooner’s mouth.

Finally, Schooner can’t take it any longer and lunges toward the kitty with a bark that rattles the windows. Kitty scampers off to the back room, back to where her own food bowl sits (with food in it, I might add).

This scene would repeat itself until Schooner finished his dinner if I allowed it. It seems comical if you don’t know that you’re watching a dog practice — and get better at — food-bowl aggression.

Food aggression, aka Resource Guarding

Technically, it’s called resource guarding. Schooner is guarding a highly prized resource, his food, from cat thievery. The cat will actually steal his food. She’s on a diet and she’ll take food any way she can get it, even if she has to risk the wrath of a dog 30x her size.

It’s perfectly normal for any animal (or human) to guard a valuable resource. (Have you seen people fight over a parking spot around holiday time? This is a version of resource guarding in humans.) It’s not necessarily appropriate, though.

I mean, I don’t want Schooner to develop the habit of growling to move the cat (or other dogs, or people) away from his food bowl. Now that I’ve noticed this habit, I’ve got a plan for how to deal with food guarding.

How to Deal with Food Aggression

First, I’ve got to contain the kitty so she can’t come in and steal Schooner’s food. If I can eliminate the thief, I’ve eliminated the threat. No threat = no guarding.

Next, I’ve got to change Schooner’s thought process about the kitty coming near his food. Schooner and the other dogs get snacks throughout the day and there are lots of opportunities for the cat to investigate the latest snack, even when the dogs aren’t eating their meals. So, whenever the cat comes around when I’m handling food (whether it’s dog food, people food, etc.), I’m going to give Schooner a little something extra.

By giving him something extra because the cat came near will help turn around Schooner’s feelings toward the kitty. Kitty will soon = treats! The quicker I can get this message across, the sooner Schooner will enjoy the cat coming closer.

Notice that nowhere have I recommended correcting or punishing the dog (or cat) for guarding (or stealing) the food. Often, paying attention to the problem (even to correct the dog) only lets the dog know that that behavior really works.

Paying attention to the dog and telling him what you do want him to do will work wonders and will help solve your problem!

Your turn: Does your dog have a favorite toy or chew that he guards from you? From other dogs? From cats? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

MINE! How to Deal With A Selfish Dog

May 5, 2010

It happened in a flash. Tango was trying to go from the kitchen into the dining room. I didn’t know it, but Talos was hiding a rawhide in there and he bit Tango before I knew what happened. All I heard was a big growl, a surprised yipe, and then I yelled “Hey!” (That’s my standard interrupter for disagreements.)

I could tell there was damage, I just didn’t know how much or how severe. A quick check revealed a big hole in Tango’s ear. And lots of blood. All’s well now, Tango’s ear will have a notch missing, but he’ll be fine. This month’s newsletter will look at resource guarding (RG): what it is, how to recognize it, and things you can do to help reduce it.

Talos’ behavior is classic example of RG. Talos guards things he classifies as “high value:” a rawhide or a meaty bone. RG is a normal behavior, but it’s rarely appropriate behavior. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, it’s normal because it’s what dogs had to do throughout the course of time to survive. If a dog came across a deer carcass, he had to guard it from other predators or else he’d go hungry. That’s normal and appropriate. If the dog didn’t guard the carcass, he’d lose it. RG is inappropriate when there’s no real threat of losing something or when the resource isn’t valuable to the other party (be it person or dog).

A guarder usually hunkers down over his object, gives a hard stare to anyone who looks at or comes toward the object, he’ll growl, he might bare his teeth, and he may lunge and/or bite. If the dog is guarding a location, say the couch or the bed, he may lower his head, stiffen, growl, and then, if those other warning signals are ignored, bite.

Most people do the wrong things when they notice a RG problem. While it may make sense to tell the dog “No!” when he growls, that’s the worst thing to do. By telling the dog not to growl, you’re merely eliminating a warning sign without addressing the real problem.

If you notice your dog developing a RG problem, the first thing to do is manage the problem. This means feeding the guarder separately if he’s guarding his food bowl. Or giving him a rawhide in his crate or in a different room (and blocking access to that room). Or by just eliminating rawhides or other high value items from your RG dog. You’re preventing the guarder from practicing his inappropriate guarding, and that keeps the behavior from becoming a habit.

If the dog guards space, don’t allow the dog into that space. If he guards the couch, then he’s no longer allowed on the couch. For safety, let the dog drag a leash when you’re home so you can remove the dog from the couch without putting your hands on the dog.

Avoid physical confrontation at all costs. Physical force or intimidation is never a good strategy when working with resource guarding (or any problem!) and this can make the problem worse.

Management is often the optimal tool for food, rawhide, and toy guarders – it’s usually much easier to simply separate the dogs when eating or enjoying a rawhide. If the dog is also aggressive toward people in the presence of food or rawhides, then feeding in the crate is the only safe way for the dog to eat or enjoy rawhides. A qualified positive reinforcement trainer or veterinary behaviorist is necessary in cases of aggressive RG.

If the dog guards space, simply teaching the dog a “touch” or targeting behavior can be enough to diffuse the situation. Teaching the dog to touch his nose to your hand is called targeting and comes in handy for space guarders: If the dog is on the couch, it’s very simple to give the “touch” cue and the dog will then jump off the sofa to touch your hand. A click and a treat is all that’s necessary, the dog is now safely on the floor, and you can enjoy the sofa.

Puppy owners can do a few things to ensure their dog doesn’t become a RG. First: don’t take the dog’s bowl away “just to show him you can.” That’s a great way for the pup to learn that when you approach, his food disappears – you can actually create a guarding dog this way. Instead, sit with the pup while he’s eating and drop a pea-sized piece of chicken into his bowl every few seconds. Make sure everyone in the house participates, even children. Be sure to supervise closely the interactions between the child and the dog during this training. They shouldn’t play in the food bowl or pet the dog. Simply drop the chicken in and wait a few seconds before dropping another piece in.

As the pup learns that good things happen when hands approach his food bowl, begin to walk up to the food bowl to drop the chicken in. After you drop the chicken in, take a few steps past the bowl, turn around, approach again and drop another piece of chicken in. When the pup is wagging his tail expectantly every time you approach is food bowl, you can then pick up the food bowl, put the chicken in, and give the food bowl immediately back to the pup. Never tease the pup with the food bowl.

It’s important to teach your dog to nicely give up items he has in his mouth. Too often, resource guarding is created when owners only approach the dog to take away something the dog has. The dog learns very quickly to dread the owner’s approach, particularly if he has something in his mouth.

The same protocol can be used for this as was used for the food bowl. When your dog has a toy, approach him with happy voice and offer him a pea-sized piece of chicken. He’ll probably drop his toy to take the treat. Pick up the toy while he’s eating the chicken and offer it to him immediately. Continue to exchange chicken for toy randomly throughout the day. You can start to put a name on it like “thank you,” or “give.”

It’s much easier to prevent RG than it is to treat it, so even if your dog hasn’t shown any signs of trouble, it’s easy to teach your dog that your approach is a good thing. Have fun training!

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