Protecting food from other animals or people is a normal behavior of dogs. In nature, animals that can successfully protect their food and food-related resources are more likely to survive than those who cannot. However, protecting food is an undesirable behavior for pet dog owners. This often becomes potentially dangerous, especially if there are little kids in the house who are not taught to leave the dog alone while it eats.
Origins of the Problem
It is easy to see how dogs learn this behavior while they are still very small. Imagine that there are 6 puppies in the litter, and the breeder feeds them all from the same bowl. This situation can easily lead to competition for a vital resource.
In almost every litter there are one or two puppies who want to eat more than their littermates. The result of this is that one or two puppies get less food than others. This situation leads to the fact that competition for food will be exacerbated.
Some breeders understand this and start feeding puppies from an individual bowl and 6 bowls will be provided for 6 puppies. However, this does not exclude the possibility of the emergence of food aggression completely. Greedy puppies can quickly eat food in their bowls and may start trying to push other puppies away from their bowls in order to pick up their food too.
The Correct Behavior Algorithm
- With a weak manifestation, you can try to cope on your own with aggression:
- Teach your pet that he can approach the bowl only on command.
- Do not disturb the dog while eating.
- Seat your pet and command “sit and wait”;
- Put a bowl of food;
- Submit prohibiting command
- After a while, allow the dog to start eating;
- Stop feeding with the command “Sit”;
- Remove the food bowl;
- Praise the dog and give it a treat.
If the pet does not respond and behaves aggressively, pull it away from the bowl and remove it. Order the dog to go to its place. Repeat the exercise until food-related aggressive behavior stops. In order to avoid problems with the behavior of the dog, never let it eat from the table, do not encourage the dog with a treat without a reason. The pet must earn it.