How do I stop my dog from being protective of her food?

Question

My dog has become very protective of her food. Its becoming a real problem because she makes sure our cats don't go near her food area and when i try to go by her food, she growls and shows her teeth. I really need to learn how to correct this problem. She's the sweetest dog there is until i tcomes to her food. Please help.

Answer 1

This is hard to answer without knowing the breed, size or age of the dog in question. I rescue german shepherds and see this problem often. First thing is to establish your role as leader of the house but do NOT attempt to alpha roll your dog or pin her down or anything like this if you don't know how. A great way to teach your dog to allow at least her people to take her food or be near her dish is to put her food bowl down and hold her food in your hand. Only give her a kibble or two at a time in her dish. She has to depend on YOU to get her food. Do this for several days/weeks if need be until she realizes and learns you are in control of her food dish; not her. I have done this with rescue dogs with great success. Good luck and in the meantime, please warn people to stay away from her food dish to prevent injuries. Seek professional training if this does not work.

Answer 2

What kind of dog is this, how old is she and how long has this been going on?

What you need to do is, first of all, exercise this dog before you feed her. Then before you put her bowl on the floor, put her in a sit stay. This dog has to learn that you control the food and if she doesn't do as you, her pack leader says, there is no food. Put the bowl down, then tell her ok. The dog must get it through her head that you are the pack leader and she only eats when you say she can.

If the growling persists, you're going to have to get professional help, but if she's a sweet dog otherwise, I'm sure you can re-train her. Good luck.

Answer 3

To some degree, this is just a normal part of your dog's personality. However, when it comes to growling at her owner, you've got to put your foot down. You can't allow your dog to be people agressive.

Scold her rather severely when she growls. If you feel safe in doing so, take her food when she does it and scold her again. She's got to understand you're head of the pack in your house!

Answer 4

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/nycqQ

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Answer 5

Getting a professional trainer to help would probably be best for this sort of problem. Be sure no small children who may stick their hands in or near th ebowl are around when your dog eats.

Answer 6

This is unexceptable behaivor from any pet. One way is to hand feed her her food, keep the bowel in your hand and take some food out and offer it to her (this lets her know you regulate the food, and if she shows aggression to you, your in charge of the food not her), when she takes it, praise her. She will come to realize you bring her the food and she's has nothing to fear about you taking it. You have to establish you are the dominate one in the pack family. Once she startes eating out of your hand you sit with her at her bowl (make sure you are there first - and your not approaching her yet). Sit down and hand feed her, any aggression you scold her with a firm no, and take the food away. Start again in about 5 to 10 minutes. It takes them a while to grasp this concept. She will soon realize, when she denies you her food, you take it away, because you are the alfa leader, not her. Once she is passive about eating out of your hand, and eating our of your hand while seated, you slowly start to feed her out of you hand and with the other, you pet her with encouraging praise, now if she shows any aggression you scold her and take the food away and start again in 5 to 10 minutes. Some people find it helpful to give a command like sit, or down when they start showing a little aggression to help reconfirm that you are the top dog, not them. Once you can pet her while she eats out of you hand you slowly work to petting her while she eats out of the bowl in your hand. ( never pet their face, behind her shoulders on) Then it will progress to the bowl on the ground you sitting next to it, and petting her. Physical punishment will only confirm her aggression to you with food, so be sure not to physically punish your dog (unless she bites you then thats when you let her know you will not tolerate that, and she will know the difference from guarding her food and bitting you). This usually takes about a month to two months to accomplish. So be patient, its well worth it in the end. Now if she shows aggression when you try the first step, feeding her out of your hand, you have a real problem and will need to see a veterinarian for any medical condition that might be causing this and a dog behaivorist/trainer. Good luck

Answer 7

Seek professional help. This can lead to many problems and someone can get hurt. Until then, do not let anyone approach the dog if it has anything ediable!!!

Answer 8

Learning how to train your dog will improve your life and hers, enhance the bond between you, and ensure her safety and it can be a lot of fun. Dogs are usually eager to learn, and the key to success is good communication. Your dog needs to understand how you’d like her to behave and why it’s in her best interest to comply with your wishes. Check here to learn how to train your dog properly https://tr.im/62892

Answer 9

Your problem brings to mind a little dog we had named Sammy.
I've had many dogs over the years who were food aggressive.But Sammy was an adorable mutt who was going to be shot by his owner because he was so aggressive with food.
The guy adopted Sammy was a stray who he'd caught in his trash several times.He was a tiny little thing,nothing but skin and bones and bigger dogs would hurt him to get to the trash he'd dug thru for a little tidbit.So his aggression was understandable.But Sammy never got over it and would actually stop eating and charge our friend while he was sitting in the same room and bite his ankles before running back to the food bowl.This behavior was cute until he started getting bigger.Then he started growling and snapping at the poor guy whenever he'd grab the bag of food to fill the bowl.Luckily for Sammy I happened to be there the day he bit and clawed his owners legs when he tried to put food out.
I had 2 dogs already but grabbed Sammy up and home we went.I put Sammy on the back porch with food and water and kept an eye on him all day.He was introduced to our kids and other animals and did well with everyone until he saw food.We allowed him to eat the other dogs food and put him on the porch to eat his own.The dog ate himself sick several times that day and we just kept filling the bowl.The second day he was allowed the run of the house and food and water dishes were placed by the other dogs food.
My dogs always had food in their dishes cos they liked to pick thruout the day and Sammy quickly ate everything in sight and shortly after threw it all up.I filled all 3 bowls again and stood over Sammy who was again eating and when it was gone I put more food in his bowl and told him NO when he looked at the other food dishes.He got sick again.But this time he did'nt go back to his bowl or to the others to eat either.The following day all 3 bowls were filled and no one stood over Sammy.there was one small skermish over food that the dogs worked out on their own and alerted one of the kids that Sammy's bowl was empty.So it was filled.
After a week Sammy could care less about food.He realized that it was always in plentiful supply and picked at it thruout the day like the other dogs did and his previous owner begged for him back after he saw the change in him.I gave him back after he'd been with us for 3 weeks.sammy lived a long happy life without further problem evan when this guy adopted another pup he'd found picking thru his trash.He always kept food in the bowls and was happy that within the first week the new pup got over it's food aggression too.
but all these years later he still talks about how amazed he was that after 2 weeks with us he saw my 4yr.old sitting next to Sammy's food bowl while he was eating hand feeding Sammy,playing in his food and sticking his little fingers in the dogs mouth with no threat of being bitten.
I've had many dogs over the years who were food aggressive.Sammy by far was the worst.But keep the bowl full and after that it takes little effort.Don't worry about the dog overeating or getting fat.He'll throw up a few times and learn his lesson.

Answer 10

so easy, dont give her a food.