For those of you who have a dog that displays aggression over his food bowl, you will want to stop this kind of aggressive behavior. Any type of aggression like this could morph into more serious aggression problems and even lead to someone getting bit.

It is easy to notice your dog’s aggression over food, and it is not that unusual a form of dog aggression. The aggression only shows up at mealtimes when the dog feels the urge to protect his food. Some dogs will display aggression over food towards people, while others will vent on a nearby dog.

The aggression over food in the presence of another dog during feeding time means your dog feels the need to protect his food from the other dog. sometimes dogs get too worked up by nearby dogs to eat-they end up just trying to intimidate the other dog so much, they can’t concentrate on enjoying their meal. Some dogs even want to stop other dogs from eating their own meals-they want total control of the dining room.

Usually this problem can be solved with a little common sense. A good idea is to feed the dogs in completely separate areas, so that the need the aggressive dog feels to safeguard his bowl is now removed. During the meal make sure the aggressive dog does not leave his area to bother the other dog, and vice versa. You need to make sure he eats his meal without distractions. If your dog leaves part of his meal uneaten, do not leave the bowl out-put it away until the following meal. Leaving either of the 2 dog’s uneaten food out is going to create a source of contention that you want to avoid. It is also a good idea in general for your dogs to learn to finish all their food at the set meal times.

A second frequent type of dog aggression over food is when the dog is aggressive towards humans. Of course, this is something you cannot ignore, because it could lead to someone in your household getting bit. This problem can be solved by teaching the dog that you are the Alpha dog-the one in charge-of your relationship.

Correct your dog’s food aggression by first teaching him you are the one in complete control of the food source. Show him by taking away his food as soon as he growls or displays any aggression at meal time. Demonstrate that you are the boss of the food by moving his bowl while he is eating-as soon as he growls at you, remove the food bowl and put it away to show who has control of the food. His growl has cost him his food privileges for the time being. This is a very direct way to demonstrate your point about who controls the food around your house. He will soon understand that if he behaves himself, he gets to eat, and if not, he doesn’t.

Another form of dog food aggression is when a dog snaps at someone’s fingers to get at the treat being offered. Deny your dog any treats until he learns to stop snapping. Do not give your dog a treat unless he has stopped trying to snap for it. Snapping aggressively for a treat could easily cause a finger to get bitten. A better way to offer the treat is to hold it out on the palm of your hand. By offering the food on your palm your dog will learn to accept offered treats more gently, because food on the palm isn’t reachable with a quick snap.

You need to be the Alpha dog in your relationship, as it will lead to the bond of trust and confidence and respect that your dog will feel for you. Unless your dog understands that you are in charge, you will have a lot of trouble obedience training or solving behavior problems with your dog. Don’t neglect any types of aggression problems you notice with your dog-you never want to take the chance of the aggression becoming worse.

I have many more articles on solving dog aggression issues and other types of problem solving at: http://BehaveDoggy.com.

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Related posts:

1. Ways to Stop Dog Aggression
2. Stop Dog Aggression Towards People
3. Stopping Dog Aggression to Other Dogs
4. How to Stop Fear Aggression in Dogs
5. Dealing With German Shepherd Aggression

Tags: dog food aggression, stop dog food aggression, stopping dog food aggression problems

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Dog Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.