Food Aggression Problem, Please Help!

[mmnjean]

Hello, I was wondering if someone could offer some suggestions to help me with my problem. I have a 2 year old rottie (actually his b'day is today ) and he has a bad food aggression. He gets fed twice a day by me and after I put his food down he automatically gives me his paw. But if i do not leave the kitchen soon enough he starts to growl. When I yell at him to knock it off he growls even louder and gets real low to the floor. He will not eat until I leave the room. When he was a puppy I put my hand in his bowl while he ate and he had no problem. He is only like this with food and bones...He gives up his toys when I ask and has no other behavior problems. He has been trained by myself and a private trainer. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to curtail this behavior. It is hard for me to go away on a trip and leave him in someone else's care as I worry he might bite them. Thank you. Rommel's Mommy

[rutylr]

Try feeding by hand as a starter.
Little bits at a time.
Donna

[RottiMomCT]

No more bones for him - he will not die without bones.

Food aggression - hand feed him from his bowl for several weeks. Then feed him from the bowl while you hold it (do this for a few weeks). Then, begin to places the bowl on the ground while he eats. Have something truly yummy to drop in his bowl at this stage of the game - roast beef from the deli often works well,.

With our boy Baron, I used his kibble and roast beef, and spoke to him in a soft voice to let him know I was near him. He looked up at me, tensed a bit and investigated what I was putting in his bowl. I did that for about 2 weeks. I occassionally still do it. Baron has learned that nobody is ging to take his bowl, and sometimes yummy treats get put into it, so he welcomes us approaching his bowl.

If at any time he regresses and growls, go back a step. If you speak to him in a loud voice, he'll think you're a crazy person and why should he respect a crazy person?! Speak to him in a calm but authoratative tone of voice.

Has he been to formal classes outside the home??

How long has he been doing this??

[Judi W]

I would suggest that whatever training you have done, didn't take or the dog would not be ordering you out of the room. There is more going on here than just the food business. It is very likely that you need to go back and start over with the training to establish what place the dog holds in the household and work up to the food issue after you have worked out who is in charge in the rest of things. It isn't just that he might bite someone who you want to take care of him, he sounds very much as if he might bite you if you don't follow his instructions. If you need him to be cared for please take him to a proper boarding kennel where they are equipped to deal with him and give them proper warnings that he can be dangerous so they manage him with regard to that.

[RWMURMANN]

I couldnt agree with Judi more you have a much larger problem that the feeding.

[mmnjean]

Thank you all for your suggestions and responses. To answer your question Rottimom, he has had training with a personal trainer where the trainer came to my home. And he has been doing this i'd say for about a year now. Other than that problem he listens to every command I give him and he is always right near me, wherever i go in the house he is right behind me. I cannot remember if this started as soon as I began feeding him outside of his cage. I also have two cats who might have been the cause of this. Maybe he fears they will take his food. I had another rottie for 9 years before I got this one. She was a female and she didn't really like anyone near her food either but she was calmer about it and didn't growl. I would never leave Rommel in the care of anyone until I can fix this problem. Thank you again for all your suggestions and I will be persistant in trying them.

[Judi W]

Get in touch with your trainer because you have not been taking his food and he is still ordering you to leave the room that is a room you should own. If that is indeed the only issue then the trainer should be able to give you some good advice about working with it by being able to actually see what is going on. The main thing is that no one get injured which I know is why you posted in the first place, but you don't want to be threatened with injury in your own home either.

[frontierrots]

IF this is his only problem and IF he is not possessive of treats or food scraps found on the floor then why not simply crate the dog for the less than 5 min it will take him to eat in peace.

In My personal opinion IF a dog is ONLY food BOWL aggressive and NOT aggressive about treats or "found" food scraps, then "I" have lots better things to spend my time, energy and $ on then training a dog to let me near his bowl. I simply crate the dog for the few seconds it takes my dogs to eat

Most of my dogs would never tolerate another dog loose near them to eat, nor cats. But I could care less because they are always fed in crates (except Bea and Angelica)

Bea was very growly about her bowl when young and I decided to do an experiment with her since most of the world is neurotic about food bowl issues and most people refuse to crate their dogs to eat. So what we did was feed in the kitchen on one side of the room. The kids were not allowed in while she ate and we adults ignored her totally while she was eating. We did not mess with her food or hand feed her. We ignored her no matter what she did and pretended that her corner of the kitchen did not exist.

Now at 20 months old the kids can go into the kitchen for whatever reason while she eats and we adults canstep over her, knock into her bowl, whatever normal people do and not a single growl because she has learned her food is safe from people, cats and dogs

As I said in a previous food aggression thread, my friend's dog got much worse when they tried to work him through his bowl issues, he is VERY insecure about his food and tucks tail, growls, snarls etc.. here and at the kennel he is a different dog and never worries at all. They are learnng to just leave him be and he is gettng better but the poor do would have been much better off for them to crate him to eat then try to "train" him out of it

NOW dogs with treat and dropped food aggression are DIFFERENT and I would certainly NOT ignore those dogs and yes would work on that issue

[mmnjean]

Thank you Frontierrots for your reply, my husband says the same thing and for me to leave the dog be while he eats. He has no other food aggression other than the food bowl. Both my kids know to stay clear of the kitchen while he is eating which takes less than 5 min. He is a really sweet dog and never once showed any kind aggression other than the food issue. Thanks again!