Food aggression out of NOWHERE....

Dreeza · #1 07-04-2009, 10:02 AM

**oops...im dumb, this should not be in the dog food section, haha**

My roomie's dog, Camden, seriously developed this HORRIBLE aggression out of nowhere...we can not think of a single incident that could have possibly started this.

Camden & Leo used to be fed side by side, never an issue at all....

All of a sudden, yesterday, when Leo went to get his food, Camden FREAKED out at him...barking/snarling....really bad.

Today, my roomie tried again, thinking maybe it was just a bad day...put down both their bowls at the same time, and invited them to come eat...he FREAKS out again (and Leo was just going for his own bowl...hes not a ravenous food eater/stealer at all...he is really chill).

Anyways, while my roomie was separating them, Oakley was standing around the corner from Camden's food, not doing anything...Camden comes trottin around the corner and starts FREAKING out at Oakley & the 2 almost go at it...cuz unlike Leo, Oakley fights back...

This sucks...what on EARTH could have started this? Should she feed him by hand?

lizzybeth727 · #2 07-04-2009, 01:58 PM

How old is Camden?

IMO it's always risky to feed dogs side by side. My dog is not a big resource guarder, but I'll even take the cat out of the room when she eats just to make sure nothing's going to happen. I'd suggest feeding them in separate rooms or in a way that they don't have access to each others' bowls.

Dreeza · #3 07-05-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizzybeth727

How old is Camden?

IMO it's always risky to feed dogs side by side. My dog is not a big resource guarder, but I'll even take the cat out of the room when she eats just to make sure nothing's going to happen. I'd suggest feeding them in separate rooms or in a way that they don't have access to each others' bowls.

He is about 7 months.

And I dont really see how that is addressing the problem at all??

Anyways, she fed him by hand today & it worked wonders. Oakley came up 1/2 through his feeding & he had zero reaction, so my roomie started feeding oakley too...so she had both dogs sitting, side by side, and she was alternating btwn the two, and they did AMAZING...perfect little angels. She didnt progress to giving him the food bowl or anything yet, so we'll see how that goes when she does.

we also didnt bring Leo in the mix & that could change things, since Camden is more likely to pick a fight with Leo than with Oakley

lizzybeth727 · #4 07-05-2009, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreeza

He is about 7 months.

And I dont really see how that is addressing the problem at all??

Well, sorry, but I was answering your questions:

Quote:

This sucks...what on EARTH could have started this? Should she feed him by hand?

7 months old is one of those annoying developmental periods where the sweet little puppies become adolescents....there are hormonal changes and mental changes that cause them to do things they wouldn't've done before. THAT'S what could've started this.

As for feeding by hand, I don't really see how that will help the problem in the long run, but by all means, do what you want to do.

Dreeza · #5 07-05-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizzybeth727

Well, sorry, but I was answering your questions:

7 months old is one of those annoying developmental periods where the sweet little puppies become adolescents....there are hormonal changes and mental changes that cause them to do things they wouldn't've done before. THAT'S what could've started this.

As for feeding by hand, I don't really see how that will help the problem in the long run, but by all means, do what you want to do.

Well do you think that its something he is just gonna grow out of then? Cause I find that hard to believe, and a pretty risk chance to take.

Separating them doesn't help the problem at all. He has now also become aggressive to HER...she can't even take away his water bowl. Today it started spreading to toys as well. He has suddenly decided he needs to protect every thing around him. I just thought feeding by hand was a way of showing him that SHE is control of Camden's food, he is not.

any other takes?

corgipower · #6 07-05-2009, 07:10 PM

Hand feeding should be helpful. I would put him on a strict NILIF plan - don't just hand feed, but make him perform for the food.

Also, be careful with feeding him ~ even by hand ~ next to the other dog. He may decide to guard the food source. I would keep the other dog outside his threshold point and feed him. Then gradually work on lessening the distance. If you don't have a second person who can manage the other dog to keep him from getting too close, then the other dog can be tethered or penned.

lizzybeth727 · #7 07-05-2009, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreeza

Well do you think that its something he is just gonna grow out of then? Cause I find that hard to believe, and a pretty risk chance to take.

No, I don't think it's something he's going to grow out of.

Your question was "what could have started this," which I answered - he's hitting that age where behavior problems like this can pop up.

As for solving the problem, check out this website about resource guarding. It gives some tips and some more resources for you to check out.

Doberluv · #8 07-06-2009, 07:08 PM

Most of my dogs have never had much of a resource guarding issue. Some, mildly. My son's dog who lives with me does a little bit in some contexts. With all my dogs, even past ones that had no issues at all, I separated them. I always separate dogs when they eat. Jose eats in the bathroom, Tokie in the den, Chuli on the window sill behind the couch and when I had Lyric, he ate in the kitchen. I like them to eat in peace without the worry of someone getting their food. And I want to make sure Jose` doesn't get someone else's food and gets too fat or Chuli doesn't get all her food if she walks away for a minute, which she sometimes does.

Will your dog "grow" out of it? Doubtful. It's a survival instinct to protect their food and with dogs, it can be very strong against other dogs. With humans, it's easy to condition them to tolerate or even like us around their food because we're the ones who give them the food, not take it away. They wouldn't have survived and evolved over this many thousands of years if they weren't darn careful about keeping their food and fighting off other maurading scavengers. To me, that is not a "problem." It's just the way they are. Sure, you can condition a dog to tolerating other dogs around his food. You can practice NILIF and other little exercises to show the dog that the presence of the other dog equals food etc. But why do you want them to eat near each other?

My advice is to forget trying to "train" them. There are far more interesting things to train a dog. Just separate them, let them eat in peace and be done with it.

Note: If there is any resource guarding toward humans, that's a different story.