Foster is becoming more and more possessive!!

[tara]

Lately, since the passing of our other dog a few weeks ago, Foster has become very possessive about his food, and toys that involve food. He tried to bite me a few days ago when I walked passed him playing with his treat ball! I'm scared now, because I don't want it to get worse. If I walk into the kitchen while his food bowl is on the ground, (He takes his sweet time eating) he BOLTS over, puts his head over his bowl and licks his lips while watching me out of the corner of his eye! It's so scary. How do I stop this possessiveness? People have told me that when he growls take the item away, but won't that contribute more to it because I AM taking it away from him? I have troubles with Foster eating his food. When he was on Performatrin he took literally ALL DAY to eat one portion of his food, and I tried doing that whole "15 minutes then it's gone" thing, but that's mainly when he started growling. Since switching to Solid Gold he eats it quicker. A while ago he would eat it right away but now he doesn't, and the growling has gotten worse. I even hand feed him sometimes because he will eat then, I just don't have that much time in the morning to devote 10 minutes to hand feeding him (again, he takes his sweet time). How can I stop this possessive behaviour? We are considering rescuing/adopting a dog from the humane society but that won't happen until we get control over this behaviour.

 

[smkie]

That is so odd he would begin the behavior after lossing the other dog. I am not sure what i would do except possibly feeding by hand so he could see i was giving not taking. Just a guess tho.

 

[bubbatd]

Nip it in the bud !!! Keep us posted !!

 

[tara]

He had some possessive behaviours like this before when he was about 6 months old, but we got past that. And now that it's started again, and WORSE, I don't know what to do! I've been hand feeding him most of his food when I can, and playing with him/petting him while he's playing with his treat ball or chewing on a bone. He growls a little bit at first, but then he realizes that I'm not going to take it away from him, and just watches me carefully while playing/chewing. I'm sure I can get him to stop this with humans, but if we get another dog, that's what I'm worried about? How will I know if Foster will try to protect his food from him/her? I don't want to take any chances because he can get real evil over food. (He literally viciously attacked our other dog about 8 months ago for walking into the kitchen while he was eating. Dakota had just finished eating and came looking for me to pet him. Foster went NUTS. I was so scared!) How can I teach Foster not to do this without having any other dogs around???
Any suggestions at all will be helpful I'm sure!! I'm so lost and don't know what to do!

 

[tara]

ok, so this morning there was a bit of a fiasco, which included the cat and the dog. Now, before, Foster would let our cat, T.C. , come eat out of his bowl while he was eating. Well this morning, that DID NOT happen. She came over to his bowl while I was handfeeding him, but being the stealth cat she is I didn't notice her until it was too late. Apparantly Foster is no longer willing to share his food with her. All of a sudden Foster stops eating, puts his head down, and moves it slightly to the left and licks his lips. I'm thinking oh crap what's he doing. Then I see the cat's tail from behind Foster and he turns around faster than lightning and starts barking and tried to bite her. I thought at first that she was okay, he had only barked at her, but she went hiding and I couldn't find her to inspect. Just now she came over to me at the computer and meows at me because she wants to jump in my lap, so up she comes, and I pet her head and notice blood on my hand. Apparantly he DID bite her delicate little ear! My poor kitty doesn't seem phased by this at all! So I cleaned up her ear, it's okay now, but now I am REALLY worried! I am thinking it's time to seek professional help from our trainer. I'm really scared that if we don't get this corrected now that he'll attack me! I'll talk to my mom about it and call her as soon as I can! In the mean time...is there anything I can do?

 

[ToscasMom]

This does not sound good at all. If this is unusual for him, maybe he needs to see a vet. That and a professional trainer who specializes in correcting behaviors. I don't think it's a very good idea to wait and see what happens next though, sounds like being proactive is necessary.

I'm not a trainer, but if this were my dog, those are the things I would so ASAP.

 

[tara]

he is going to the vet this thursday at 4:30! Man, they were booked four weeks in advance! But I'm glad I made that appointment when it wasn't this bad, because I could not have waited any longer! Our trainer is also a behaviorist so I'll be contacting her ASAP