Food Aggression – or just touchy?

Kingdom of Pets replied:

It is very important to teach your new puppy or dog that while he is loved, he is actually on the bottom rung of your family pecking order. Making this order clear to him will make your new dog much more happy and relaxed and will help prevent a whole variety of problems later on.

Reinforce your position as the ‘pack leader’ or ‘alpha dog’:

Food bowl aggression is a form of territorial and possessive aggression. In the wild, the Alpha dog will be able to take any object from a lower ranked dog. Therefore food aggression along with a variety of other aggressive behaviors indicates your dog does not yet see you as his leader and provider.

Keep up alpha-dog training. Reread your Secrets to Dog Training manual and if you need more details download the specific alpha-dog training download from the premium members area. Remember the key idea is to show your dog that you (and all other people in the household) are alpha and control all resources by eating first, walking through doorways first and controlling access to your attention, toys and favorite sleeping areas such as beds and couches.

Rectifying food aggression:

• For the first week or two, put your dog’s bowl away and start feeding him directly from your hands. Do this for both his morning and evening meals.
• Next, for another 1-2 weeks, put his bowl on the floor - empty. Add food from your hands at two minute intervals.
• Then, for 1-2 weeks, begin with a half-full bowl and continue topping it up with food from your hand.
• The final step, which should continue for every meal, is to fill his bowl and ask him to sit before eating. Praise him for obedience, and once in a while when he is still eating, call him over to you for a treat.

If at any point your dog shows aggression immediately ignore it and put the food away. After two or three minutes of ignoring bring the food back out and start again. This sends a clear message to your dog that you control food resources and attention and you will remove both if your dog challenges you or misbehaves.

Once your dog is reliably letting you touch his food and food bowl check that he will also let you handle bones and other highly prized items such as chews. If not continue to work with your dog and also teach the “drop it” command.

Desensitizing dogs to being touched and handled:

If your dog growls when you touch his head or front paws, first have him checked over by your vet to see if there is any physical reason for this reaction. Pain is practically guaranteed to turn a mellow dog into an aggressive one.

If the vet can find nothing wrong, continue touching him to get him used to you doing it. Start slowly and gently groom him all over, pick up his paws, rub his ears, praise and treat him for allowing you to do this without growling. If your dog growls or becomes aggressive remove your attention immediately and ignore the dog for two or three minutes. Alternatively you can put the dog in a three minute time-out outside or in another room. Either way, you are saying in a non aggressive way that you will not tolerate this behavior by isolating your dog from the pack.

Also remember this: as with humans, sensitivity to touch can vary from dog to dog. Some pets will love being stroked and tickled, others won’t. Contrary to popular belief, most dogs actually don’t like being patted on the head, preferring to be scratched gently on the chest - between the front legs - or on their back, just above the root of the tail. If you want to touch your dog’s head, start off under the chin or on the shoulder where he can see your hand (and therefore won’t feel as threatened by it), and work up to his head.

Dogs’ instincts tell them that they need their paws to hunt and dig in order to survive in the wild, which is why your dog may pull his paw away quite quickly when you touch it. The beds of the nails are also sensitive so be gentle as you get them used to having their paws handled.

Alpha-dog training should also reduce aggression from touching as lower pack members submit to being nudged and touched by the alpha dog. It is very important that your dog is comfortable with all this handling. Not only will it make your life easier but it will mean that should he become unwell or injured a vet can examine him thoroughly without stressing him further.

All the best,

Daniel Stevens and the Secrets to Dog Training Team
"Secrets to Dog Training - STOP Dog Behavior Problems!"
http://www.kingdomofpets.com/dogobediencetraining/

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