Food Guarding with other Dogs

[Tami'n'Charly]

Charly is a 1.5 year old female English Springer Spaniel. She's a sweet dog and totally non-aggressive (never bitten or even snarled at anyone). Since I had several friends/family members with dogs with severe food guarding issues- I was diligent with training Charly around food as a pup. It's great- I can put my hand right in her food dish at anytime or take away a very delicious treat without any signs of food guarding. She'll even drop any food from her mouth on command.

HOWEVER, we recently got a cat and are currently pet-sitting a friend's dog. To my shock, Charly is EXTREMELY protective over her food around other animals. She full on attacked my friend's dog twice now when she was eating from her bowl (the dog was visibly shaken but uninjured). Charly has even snarled and snapped at the cat for just walking by while she was chewing on a treat (she and the cat are best of friends ordinarily).

Call me crazy, but I didn't even think of food guarding with other animals when I was training her as a puppy. Is there anyway to curb this behavior now? Or is this something we're just going to have to be super careful about? That, and never be able to adopt another dog into the family . I'm really very upset about this-- she's never exhibited ANY kind of aggressive behavior in the past.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
-Tami

 

[Doberluv]

My dogs are all conditioned to think it's just honky dory if people are around their food. But around other animals....that's just so natural and instinctive that I don't see any reason to try to train them. I seperate all my dogs into their own rooms or crates when they eat. Only one out of four has shown food guarding toward the others, but I do not mess with it. Jose` eats in the bathroom, Toker in the den, Lyric in the kitchen, Chuli in her crate. That way they can eat in peace and I think that's how it should be. Why set them up to feel the need to fight to protect their stuff? I don't want them thinking they have to take the law into their own paws anyhow. So, I just avoid the whole thing. There are more interesting things to spend my time training. That's just my feelings on the subject.

 

[squirtsmom]

Good post Doberluv. Baby is fine so far, but anything can change.

 

[Tami'n'Charly]

Yeah- I guess you are right. I suppose we're just used to her being so "good" that it really surprised us when she lunged like that. But, when push comes to shove... she is still a dog

And I suppose treats should be given in the crate too if there are other animals around too. That's too bad-- I love seeing her dance around with them

 

[oc_spirit]

I agree with Dober, food guarding is so instinctual im satisfied so long as my dogs accept people taking their food away, intolerance of other dogs/animals is understandable. That being said, OC and Ronan are very good about eating with eachother. I can put one raw bone in the kennel and they will not fight over it. A big help in this is that Ronan is not motivated by food and OC acts very submissive when wanting to take something away and displays puppy behaviour. All other dogs that have stayed here (mainly for training) I do not even attempt to see how they are with eating near/around other dogs. When its time to feed one dog is in the kennel, one dog is in the yard and one dog is on the deck all seperated with physical barriers. If we are inside then one dog gets fed upstairs and one dog gets fed downstairs or in their crates.

Even if two dogs are good about eating together it still reduces stress to keep them seperated. I feed the boys either in their own doghouse, on opposited side of the divider in our kitchen, or on opposite sides of the basement so they don't have to see the other dog at all. Works great!

 

[Doberluv]

And I suppose treats should be given in the crate too if there are other animals around too. That's too bad-- I love seeing her dance around with them

For me, that's different. I'm involved. I'm handing out the treats. I'm in charge of the treats. They're quick to eat and it's not like the dog is in possession of them for more than one second.....different than their food bowls. So, I do give treats when they're all around. I had a problem for a while with my son's dog who lives with me. She would snap at the air and sometimes at another dog when they were all sitting next to each other waiting for a treat. I gave her the treat last and had her sit just a little further away from the other dogs. I don't reward pushiness. I held one hand out over by her to get her focus on that and not on the other dogs while I fed them each a treat. My dogs have learned that when I say one of their names, that means that dog is getting the treat and the others whose names were not said, need to wait and look straight ahead, not sniff around near the dog who's getting the treat. LOL. (I run a tight ship) Eventually, my son's dog learned too. And now there's no more aggressive, pushy nonsense when I hand out treats. She has learned that if she controls herself nicely, she will get a treat. So, they all come, sit in a semi circle or line in front of me and they each get a treat, one at a time and when their name is called out, that means that one is getting the treat and otherwise, they're to ignore the dog who is getting the treat. I'm involved. I'm standing close to them...my hands are in the middle of a whole bunch of teeth and they have learned that they must have good "human" manners when that's happening.

I use treats too often to reward good behavior. And I certainly can not be putting one dog in a crate to toss a treat to him/her every time. So, I feel that this is different than regular feeding time.

If your dogs have a problem with receiving treats in the presence of another dog or cat, teach them that they will not get one if they get snarky. Sit/wait is a prerequisit. You can put distance between them at first, hold the attention of the one whose turn it is not by holding out your hand with a treat lure and saying, "wait"....having his head turned away from the other dog. Then give the other one a treat. Then it's the other one's turn while the other one sits and waits politely. Other one, other one, other one. Clear as mud, right?

 

[Tami'n'Charly]

Doberlov- yes, that is great advice and actually, it is exactly what I do. Charly is fine receiving small treats (treats that can be eaten in one bite) with other dogs. She knows the wait command VERY well

However, I was talking about treats that last a long time such as, raw meaty knuckle bones, bully sticks or a treat puzzle (that periodically releases treats from inside). These, I'm guessing, would create a stressful food guarding situation with multiple dogs (especially since they are such highly coveted foods).

 

[Doberluv]

Yes, seperate them for those high value, long lasting things. LOL. It's good that they're doing well with the quick tid bit type treats.