Food Aggression

[Woodstock25]

Our rescue Toby has been with us a month or so now, and with the help of a fantastic behaviourist, we now have a plan to address most of the issues we had. Most are working, well - he's on boot camp for up to 6 months, and he is, in my opinion, settling down well - while at the same time recognising that at 7 months old, he is still a youngster and a bundle of energy.

The one aspect that we are not making any real progress on, is with his food aggression. He growls considerably at feeding time; as soon as he smells his food, even before he gets his food he starts.  Once his food bowl is down, his tail wags and he growls as he eats for the first 10-15 seconds, which is almost comical to listen to and then settles down, albeit his food doesn't last long! After his bowl is empty, he's absolutely fine.

Through discussion with our behaviourist, we belive the root cause is probably that he was puppy farmed, and fed from a trough, along with the other puppy's, and therefore growls as a mechanism to ward off others from his food.  I get that.

The behaviourist suggested that we try to introduce treats as he is feeding, or try to prolong his feeding over a long period if time. I've tried both, but thus far to no avail. If I tip some kibble into my hand and hand feed him, he is mostly fine with the odd grumble, but as soon as you put any into his bowl, his head goes down and the growling starts.

If I do throw treats in to his bowl, he doesn't notice them as he is so intent on woofing his food down!  He eats at a stupidly fast rate, which again is indicative of his early feeding habits, but I'm a bit stuck on what to do next? 

I am going to try to vary his meal times, so as to ensure that it doesn't become routine, but I would appreciate any other tips you may have that we could try!

Thanks in advance!



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[Londongirl]

Ah, what a lovely boy.

This may seem like a silly question, but why does the growling concern you? Is it because it indicates he's still anxious? Or that guarding his food might escalate into other forms of guarding? Or is it just habit at this point?

[Woodstock25]

Thanks for the quick reply. His growling is quite bad, bordering on snarling and of course we don't know if he will escalate this if we get something wrong/get too close. He bit me in the first few days when we had him, when he was offered high value treats, so he is clearly quite possessive over food.   

We've progressed with treats, so no real issues with this, but the growling at feeding time is quite bad, and very intimidating; my wife and son are very nervous about feeding him, and although I'm probably closest to him, and use deception to get his bowl down before he starts feeding, I wouldn't want to get my hand too close to his bowl!

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[lescef]

I know there are others on here who have had more experience with this problem and they will probably help you. Bramble is a guarder alot of the time  and will do exactly the same thing when she starts to eat. I've never worked out if it's just excitement with guarding thrown in!
Maybe Toby would be better just left in peace if this is the only time he does it.
Bramble eats too quickly so she has a slow feeding bowl. They come in different shapes, the green hedgehog type really slows them down. Google 'slow dog feeding bowl' if you're interested.

[lescef]

I can understand them being nervous,  I would be too, but that it possibly passing onto Toby.
Can you put the food down, then let him into the room? Or use the crate if he has one?

[Woodstock25]

I live the idea of a slow feeding bowl - I shall do some research on that.

I'm sure some of their nervousness is passing onto Toby, which is why I mostly feed him, as I think I understand best, but that's not always possible - especially in the evening.

He started growling this morning almost as soon as I took his lead off after his morning walk, as he seemed hungry and knew that his meal was coming next. He ended up going back into his crate forcibly, until he settled down. After about 15 minutes I let him out, which was bit like letting out a coiled spring as he sprinted to the kitchen for his food.  I will vary when I feed him in the morning, to relive his expectation; it's also slightly more complicated as we have two cats that we also need to feed, and that requires more than an element of coreography to get them fed as well. If their food is down, when Toby is around - that's gone in seconds as well!

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[Londongirl]

While not food aggressive or guarding, Henry will eat ALL the cat's food if given a chance. The cat now has her feeding station upstairs, behind the stair gate. This suits her well as like many cats she is a grazer so likes food down most of the time. The other advantage is if the stair gate is accidentally left open, Henry never gets further than the cat's food and is easy to catch!

Does any cocker pup ever come out of their crate at anything less that rocket speed??

Some good suggestions here and I'm sure you'll get more. Good luck.

[its.sme]

Sounds like you are making great progress with Toby,

I would ask your behaviourist for other ideas to help with this problem, they are all so individual and your boy has clearly gone through a lot in such a short period of time.

Sometimes by trying to help or solve a problem we create a bigger or worse issue.

My first thought was to put a slow feeder bowl into a room that is quiet where he can be alone, hopefully he will soon realise that he is competing with no one, but as I say I would get a profesional opinion first.

Good luck, he is such a lucky boy to have you as you clearly want the best for him.

Sharon.

[BonnieScot]

Is it safe to hand feed him? So all his food comes from your hands?

[hoover]

We've got a dog tornado food bowl for Ollie - it slows him down eating as it's a game where he has to lift up plastic bones and rotate the toy to eat all the kibble.

I think if he was growling even before putting the bowl down I would be tempted to not put it down at all at that time as I would be concerned he would believe that growling was a successful strategy in achieving food for himself.  Now that's a tricky one as obviously he has to be fed and if he does it all the time it's not really workable! 

You could try teaching him 1. to speak (bark) and then 2. to be quiet and rehearse this out of context so that it can maybe be applied later on when he is growling around food. Ollie has learned when we say shh or put a finger to our lips that we expect him to try to cease whatever vocalisations he is practising at the time.

The other completely impractical option that I can think of but which might theoretically have some soundness is to completely overwhelm him with the presence of food to the extent that he can not physically consume any more and learns that there is such an abundance of what he desires that there is no necessity to guard.   Like I say, completely unworkable as you would probably kill your dog, but I have heard people trying it with some success when it comes to thing like guarding tennis balls - giving them dozens of the things!

It is so hard, because like others have said, you don't want to make things worse..and I guess the first couple of options I posited could work in some situations but could also aggravate a dog and escalate tension and that is really not what you want to do.

Best of luck with it, Ollie is a guarder too but it only starts when he already has the high value item, and it doesn't occur with regular food. Like you we get mixed messages which I find particularly worrying - the wagging tail and simultaneous growling, because other people might only pay attention to the wagging tail but I worry Ollie might act on the growling.

[Pearly]

Wagging tail can also be a warning sign if it's low - a positive, happy dog, wags it's tail high up 

From what you've written the idea of Toby coming from a puppy farm, or at the very least somewhere with a lot of dogs, does make sense.  As others have suggested, it's worth asking your behaviourist for advice on how to deal with his anxiety at mealtimes.  My first thought was to split his meal into 5/6 portions and feed every ten minutes, this may help him be a bit more secure around food if there appears to be a constant supply, although I appreciate it may not always be practical!

Over feeding him for a period of time may also help, if he's a little less hungry at mealtimes he may not be quite so anxious - he can always diet once he's settled a bit more with you  that or feed 3-4 times a day......we have a cocker who gets herself completely worked up at mealtimes, there is no reason other than she was an only dog for four years and now finds herself with three others! Feeding her a larger meal has helped - she hasn't put on weight but that might be because her excercise level has increased by trying to keep up with 3 workers 

Toby really has landed on four paws with you 

Jayne