What is Dog Food Aggression and How to Stop It

Dog food aggression is a problem that many people do not understand. Dog behavior is still a great mystery to us as humans, but we are trying to understand our pets in the best way possible. The common mistake that many owners make is to think that they do not pose a threat to their dogs or their dogs would never consider them as a threat to them. There are numerous exercises that you can perform to see how your dog copes with it.

Know Your Dog's Thoughts

Dogs are territorial. When they eat, their instinct tells them to guard the food like they would, in the open. If your dog growls or snarls at you and acts like it is defending its food, it is basically showing you the teeth or that it is the alpha male in the household. Food guarding or dog food aggression revolves around the issue with dominance, and it is considered to be a serious problem that can escalate into something bad if not addressed immediately.

What Makes Dogs Display Such Food Guarding Behavior?

This behavior issue could be triggered by many factors such as starvation, poor treatment or could be attributed to the most common causes. For example, dogs are always hungry and desperate for food. Even if they just ate, they'll always ask for more. This could be one of the explanations because a dog does not know when it will get more food, so it protects what it has. Sometimes it can happen that a dog sees you as someone who is taking its food away or it could get confused about the relationship that it has with the owner. Dogs are natural leaders, hence the behavior. Most of the time, dogs do not understand that it is wrong to behave like that and it is up to you to show them otherwise.

Some Tricks How to Fight Dog Food Aggression

If your dog barks or growls or snarls at you, never back off. If you back off, its behavior will be rewarded which will lead it to believe that it is the right way. If you have two or more dogs and they express dog aggression towards each other, it is best to separate them.

Every member of your family should participate in this training. There is no point in teaching your dog not to be food aggressive only towards you; you want all your family to feel safe with it. If you want to improve its behavior and make this dog aggression issue a thing of the past, you will need a family team work.

Establish the Feeding Time

You own its food, so you are the one who is dictating when it is the feeding time. You are also the one in charge of the feeding place as well so, take control, establish the feeding time and let things run their own course.

It is always good to teach and let your dog earn its food. Give your dog treats when it is behaving well. A simple trick like down stay or sit will do the job and repeat this every time before you put down the bowl with its food.

Feed Your Dog after Your Meals

Always feed your dog after you eat, especially if it is expressing dog food aggression. This is a proven training exercise that successfully eliminates dog food aggression for sure. It is also a good mental trick meant to teach your dog one thing, which you are the alpha male so. Therefore, you eat first. It will be of great help to make your puppies get used to eating with people being around them and close to their food. It can permanently prevent them from expressing any aggression.

Training Techniques against Dog Food Aggression

Food aggression in dog pets can become a serious problem if you do not react accordingly in time. You need to be very careful and understanding if you want to take care of this issue so here are a few techniques.

Make sure you hand feed your pet. In time, it will stop expressing any food aggression. Pet and stroke it while it eats to make it get used to your touch at all times. If it growls when you are close to the feeding bowl, drop a treat every time you pass by the bowl. Eventually, it will start welcoming you when you approach the bowl.