Food Aggression!

[MissGambler'sMommy]

I hate to admit it, but, Miss Gambler has food aggression. She's the only dog, so that's not a aproblem, but she will go after a cat when they happen to come near her when eating(and they don't want her food, but we still have to close them up!). She also will not allow my husband or I to put our faces near her food bowl when she's eating. She growls and gives warning, even shows teeth. I realize that this could be a really big issue if we were to get another dog, but is this something to worry about? We don't have any children, nor will we, and we would know to never feed her around any child, so is this something we just accept? You should know, we've scolded, taken her food away, etc... etc... and she still resorts to this behavoir. Go easy on me here, she's a great girl!

[Michael Romanos]

I'd worry about that when and if the time comes.
Anyway it is best to feed dogs (more than one) and dogs and cats separately - separate rooms - so that no fights will ensue.
However, here is one easy and daily exercise you can do. Give Mrss Gambler her food in her food bowl and before she starts on it, remove it. If she objects, tell her off (not too sharply) and when she makes no objection, reward and praise. That way she might learn to be more tolerant of others around her food bowl and messing (ie being curious) with it without actually tampering with the contents. I think it is a adolesence thing - a more mature Corgi will be more trusting, tolerant. I have just written a story which includes a parrot and a dog regularlyracing each other across the floor to the dog's food and water bowls at dinner time.

[corgimom]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

I'd worry about that when and if the time comes.
Anyway it is best to feed dogs (more than one) and dogs and cats separately - separate rooms - so that no fights will ensue.
However, here is one easy and daily exercise you can do. Give Mrss Gambler her food in her food bowl and before she starts on it, remove it. If she objects, tell her off (not too sharply) and when she makes no objection, reward and praise. That way she might learn to be more tolerant of others around her food bowl and messing (ie being curious) with it without actually tampering with the contents. I think it is a adolesence thing - a more mature Corgi will be more trusting, tolerant. I have just written a story which includes a parrot and a dog regularlyracing each other across the floor to the dog's food and water bowls at dinner time.

Michael,

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you saying this "is a adolescence thing - a more mature Corgi will be more trusting, tolerant." I don't agree with that statement at all and I hope Deb(Glencorgi) will chime in about this because I bet she has dealt with some older dogs in rescue that are food aggressive. I think MissGambler is 3 years old? If it is not corrected when they first display that behavior and they are left to continue to do that behavior, then it is not going to go away by itself with age.

Cody did that once with me when he was about 4 months old after I gave him this yummy bone and then tried to remove it and he growled at me and I firmly corrected that behavior on the spot - he never did it again and now we can remove any bone, toy from him and stick our hands in his bowl while he eats. At one year of age, I make him sit right before I give him his food and put the bowl down and have him wait for just a moment and then tell him "okay" and I still continue, at times, to place my hand in his bowl or take it away for a moment and then return it to him.

I think for you Miss Gambler that there is hope in correcting this for her. Would she be willing to eat out of her bowl if you first sat on the floor by her and placed her bowl on your lap and hand fed her some of the food, along with letting her take some out of her bowl? Just a suggestion so that she could get used to you holding her bowl and being in control of it. I wouldn't go so far though, as sticking your face down by it while she is eating, as you mentioned you were doing. Just my two cents.

Even if you can correct this with how she behaves with you, bringing another dog into the picture will be something else, and I have never had two dogs together at the same time, so I can't advise you there.

[tandemgal]

deleted by T-Gal

[Chip's Mom]

MGM

Try feeding her a very small portion at a time in her dish. When she has finished, pick up her bowl and add more food and bring it back to her. Chat happily and tell Miss Gambler what a good dog she is. Once she starts wagging her tail, continue the small portions, but add small amounts directly to her dish. Once this starts going well, start adding bits of cheese or special items to her dish while you are talking to her and telling her what a good dog she is. This may take awhile but should help. This suggestion came from my Good Owners Great Dog book. It also says not to feed her in a corner.

Sorry - I lost my head. I forgot our little corgis don't have tails. LOL

[Cheetah]

Taking the food bowl away will only justify her food aggression, in her point of view. That is what she is afraid of and why she is guarding it in the first place. It wouldn't be a good thing to let it continue. After all, what if a child did happen to be around she went after them or something for approaching her bowl? The unexpected can happen at times.

Here is how I curbed Shippo's undevelopd food aggression and prevented it from developing further:

I started by putting really yummy things in his bowl while he was eating (meat, dog cookies, a tiny bit of cottage cheese, yogurt, or canned food. Just anything randomly that he likes a lot), followed by verbal praise when he was calm and non-threatening. You might start at a slight distance from the bowl if she's too aggressive with hands and just work slowly closer to the bowl until you are putting your hands in it to give him the treats.

After that, I slowly started picking the bowl up while he was eating it. I'd just barely pick it up, slip something yummy in, and let go of it until the next meal. This was only after he was totally comfortable with me putting my hands near and in his bowl. If she growls or show signs of aggression when you try this, she's not ready for this step and you should go back to step one and work on that for longer.

No aggression on my part (scruffing, scolding, etc.) was required to successfully curb his guardiness and prevent food aggression. Although I did use some growling in the process (a low, gutteral "AH!" sound) when he messed up, I did not punish him or try the same thing again but instead went back to the previous step. It is a long process and can take weeks, but I found it to be much more effective than using punishment. >^^;<

[milosmom]

Thanks to Miss Gambler for posting this question...Milo has some food aggression too. I got him at 14 weeks and at that time he had food aggression and I worked with him and he seemed to be over it. Lately he is doing it again. The suggestions are helpful and i'm going to utilize them. (I did the hand in the bowl while he is eating and he's okay with it). What I hate most is that if i'm eating something and the cat walks into the room, he growls or barks and chases her away. I know he does it because he wants to make sure HE gets all of the tidbits, so I never give him anything while i'm eating but he still does this. Can't seem to stop him from doing that.
His food aggression behavior is not consistant though, sometimes he does it and other times he does not, even if it is the same food. I'd love to know what is going through that little Corgi brain.

[MissGambler'sMommy]

Milosmom: MissGambler does the exact same thing with the cats, she charges them, and they don't even want her food, and they don't eat people food, no threat whatsovever. We have really tried working on this problem, and have had no success with any technique, and they have mostly been covered in this thread. I'm at a loss as to how to solve it, but with no kids, and no other dog, do I need to even be concerned about it???

[milosmom]

Milo charges at the cat too!!! Oh I hate that. His kitty sister, Tiramisu is totally non-food oriented, she could care less about getting treats and almost never eats people food. He just insists on growling and charging at her. I use my stern mommy voice and tell him to stop it, but it's not working. I can only think because she runs away, it reinforces his behavior to keep doing it. Sometimes when she refuses to be run off, he'll still do it but with less gusto. I think if she consistently stood her ground, he'd eventually stop it but that isn't going to happen...she's a cat! It's a pickle.
If anyone has ideas on how to stop this, let us know!!
(I thought of putting him in his crate while i'm eating but that is using the crate in a negative punishing way, but maybe to stop this I should do it).

What do you think?

[Dillydoodle]

MGM- I would still be concerned and try to correct the behavior for a few reasons. It may start with that and move on to agression towards her toys or to other things she may feel are HERS.. That is one thing i have learned with this smart corgi, if you give an inch, he will take a mile if you aren't careful! I think that firstly when you feed her do you put the food bowl down and she is diving in instantly? Becuase what i do at every single meal is i prepare the food, then i put the bowl down, if he charges at it, i lift the bowl and put it on the counter again. He must sit nicely and wait for the bowl to be down. Then he waits to hear the release word ( OK) and then and only then is he allowed to go eat. This puts you in control of when he is allowed to eat the food. I am not giving further advice becuase i dont have experience with it ( Dillon is not food aggressive) but i think the advice given so far is all good advice. My feeling is that when you start with something you must be 100% consistant. If you give in one time becuase you are tired and dont want to correct a behavior - much of your progress will be undone. so whatever you decide to do , be consistant. I would do something though to prevent it from progressing to possessiveness over other items.

Emilie

[ZdogZ]

I'm glad that this thread was started. Zia does not have food aggression, but Zip does. I am going to follow the advice in this thread if Zia does start showing food aggression. I wish I would have done something to stop Zip from having food aggression. He growls if someone walks by while he's eating. He used to chase our cats away if they came near him. With Zia, he growls (even with a mouthful of food), while Zia just lays there and barks at him.

[MissGambler'sMommy]

ZDOGZ: I wish that I had this forum to go to several years ago, because I have created a monster, one heck of a spoiled brat! We're a young couple so there could have been kids, then I would have had a major problem, but since there aren't going to be any kids, and sometimes I wonder if it was all meant to be this way, and since we never got around to getting Miss Gambler a companion, we have let this slide, and are lucky that we don't have to take drastic measures, BUT I WOULD LIKE FOR IT TO STOP! We have tried a lot of the methods listed here, and nothing works. I have this fear that when she growls and shows teeth, and we continue to let her eat, that we are rewarding the behavior, but what are we supposed to do, not feed her? As I said, at least there aren't any kids or another dog because the problem would be so much worse. As for possessive in other areas, she's fine with the cats and with us with her toys, she just protects her food with aggression.

[ZdogZ]

MGM: Zip is the same way. He doesn't show aggression with his toys. When my nieces were small and they played with his toys, he would gently take the toys away from them. He never growled or bit at them, just took the toys. We just always said he didn't like to share. The food is the only thing that he will growl about. I, too, wish I would have stopped the behavior earlier, I have created a monster, too. I am glad, though, that he hasn't gotten ugly with Zia about the food. Zia is not afraid of anything and I imagine she would get ugly right back at him!

[Dillydoodle]

MGM,
I also noticed you mentioned being attacked as a youngster by a larger dog, and that can also play a role. You are to some degree intimidated by the growling and the showing of teeth. You may not outwardly show it,but remember dogs can sense fear. Miss Gambler growls at you back off, she wins and now she has become alpha. Can your husband remove her dish if she is eating? no one says you dont put it right back down, afterall, she has to eat, but she needs to follow your rules to do so. At least you found this place now and can learn new things. That is how i feel about it, a learning experience, and if you decide that you want to make some changes, you have a good support system here to talk about it.
Emilie

[MissGambler'sMommy]

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Dillydoodle, you may be onto something, I am terrified of big dogs. My husband told me once that he thinks Miss Gambler can sense that I don't want her to be around any dog, especially a larger one, and that's why she acts so defensive around dogs, because I do. The food thing is something that just bothers me, I can't handle the growling, scares me, even though I know it's her and she's never hurt me. She has brought me to tears when she's done this. Maybe she's figured out that she has this power over me.