Food Aggression

The following article was composed by Rachel Peeples.

Food aggression is very common among many dogs.  In many dogs, this may be the only aggression that the dog shows and the dog otherwise may be a very submissive and non-aggressive dog.  More often, however, food aggression is merely  symptom or precursor to other aggression problems. 

In the dog mind, food is a resource that must be protected.  They do not understand the grocery store or the dog food bag.   All they know is the food in their bowl is what they have to eat.  And with many dogs, they do not get much in their bowl in an effort to reduce their weight.   Thus, it is instinctive for a dog to protect their food from threats. 

The problem is that the dog is perceiving you as a threat.  Your dog should see you as its protector and trust you to do whatever you need to since it knows you would never hurt it.  In situations where the dog is actually the dominant partner in the relationship, the dog is letting you know that this is his food and you are not allowed to touch it.  Incidentally, these dogs are dealt with much differently than the rescue dog that has been starved most of its life and has yet to realize that food is not something in short
supply and that you can be trusted.

For a dog that you have raised, aggression over food should not be acceptable.    It is not up to the dog to determine when, what, and for how long it gets fed.  If allowed to dictate these terms, most dogs will then assume it is in control and will begin to dictate other parts of the relationship.  Is your dog showing aggression at other time, such as when you ask it to move, when you touch its toys, when you refuse to pet it, etc?  If the answer to all these questions is yes then you have a dog that is the dominant partner in the relationship.  You need to seek a professional trainer or animal behaviorist to help you restore your dominance without harm to you or the dog.  If the answer to some of these question is yes, then you have a dog that is beginning to show signs of dominance.  Again, professional help is adviseable.  These dogs need to learn that you are in charge.  One effective way to acheive this is to enforce the policy that nothing is for free.  Before they get fed, petted, etc they must do something.  Sits are usually started with.  The dog must sit before it gets anything.  Then progress to downs. This forces the dog to accept the fact that you, not it,
determine the when, why, etc of events.  Again, this is best done under
the guidance of a trainer, animal behaviorist, or veterinarian doing
behavioral counseling.  

For the dog that only growls over food, then you may or may not have a dominance problem.  Some dogs seem to just have a propensity to growl over food but are otherwise submissive to their owners.  The growling is unacceptable and should be punished.  Simply don't give the dog food when it growls.  If any other dominance problems arise, then take appropriate action.

Again let me reiterate that growling over food is not normal NOR acceptable.  Many people feel that dogs normally get aggressive when food is involved.  This may be true, that dogs growl at threats over food, but it is NOT true that dogs should be allowed to growl at their family over food.  Nor should they be allowed to take food from the children.  Food aggression often signals other dominance problems or signals impending dominance problems.  Please, please do not tolerate food aggression.   Take steps to nip the problem in the bud before it escalates to a dangerous level.    

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