How to Avoid Food Aggression in Dogs

When a dog is very protective over his food and shows aggression whenever you or another pet comes near him eating, it can become a serious issue. While you might just learn to keep a distance from your furry companion during meal times, one day this behaviour might result in a fight with another dog or an injury of a person, that didn’t know any better. We spoke with Bechara Hitti, the renowned Lebanese dog trainer and advocate of modern positive dog training about how you can prevent, recognise and treat food aggressive behaviour in your dog. Why are dogs food aggressive? Food aggressions’ evolutionary advantage lies in helping animals to defend resources. If and how the food aggression manifests itself depends on genetical predisposition as well as experiences that the dog goes through. How can I avoid that my dog becomes food aggressive? Make sure that the resources are not scarce (meaning the dog should be provided with enough food and preventively fed twice instead of once a day). Also the dog should be taught from an early age, that it’s actually something good, when we take his food from him, so he gets used to it and doesn’t develop food aggression later on. An exercise to prevent food aggression in your dog could be to take the dog’s food away, give a treat, and give the food back. What are the signs of food aggression? Early signs of food aggression include gulping down the food, running away with it, growling and finally biting. What can I do if my dog is food aggressive? Traditional trainers will often times explain food aggression through dominance and require dog guardians to “punish” the dog for growling. Such an approach can backfire because it teaches the dog not to give warning signals instead of addressing the real cause of the behaviour. If you suspect your dog to be food aggressive, seek knowledgeable help. Avoid confrontations (you could get hurt) and never ever yell at your dog or hit him, it will make things worse. An appropriate approach would work on fixing the cause (dog not liking humans near the food) rather than just the symptoms.