How To Train A Dog

Question: How to train a dog with an extreme food aggression towards people and other dogs?

(Posted by: Erdnusslöckchen on 2010-03-13 18:03:02)

One of our foster dogs (Corgi mix , ca 1.5 y old ) is very food aggressive. We can not adopt him out like that (he still belongs to the animal shelter , we just foster him and his sister in our doggy day care). Does anyone have an advice how we can train him ?We would hate to see him getting pts . He lives in our day care , boarding facility is very well socialised with other dogs and has just this problem. thanks

Posted by: Critter on 2010-03-13, 18:23:27

It's totally fixable. Try leashing him when you feed. Make him sit before putting the bowl down, and use the leash to control him so that he has to wait until you say it's okay for him to eat. Now in order to avoid being injured by him, try the technique in the following video. It's a great way to ease the dog into allowing the bowl to be taken. If you force it and you are not trained in how to do it correctly, you might end up further encouraging the resource guarding (which is what he is doing). Check out this video. It's a simple strategy that you should do to him several times while he is eating. My only criticism is that the dog takes the treat too roughly. The treat should be used as a distraction and should only be given as you are taking the bowl. Additionally, I don't like that she was rubbing the dog as he was tense. That is rewarding that state of mind. It's better to just go in assertively and do it. Good luck, and here's the link: youtube.com/ watch?v= iMaqwgWiBfU

Posted by: KellyG on 2010-03-13, 18:46:41

You don't say if he is food aggressive to just other dogs or people too, but I will say that it is not unusual for a Corgi to be very protective of their food. Depending on what his background is (was the aggression necessary at some point due to lack of food?) he may get over the worst of it as time passes and he realizes that food is readily available to him. Control is a main issue. If there are 6 Corgi's in a room and one piece of food on the floor, there will at least be a scramble for it. But I can line up those same 6 dogs and give them treats in turn without so much as a turned head. So first control the food, then you control the dog. Start by hand feeding him. When he can take food calmly from you, feed him next to a crate with another dog in it, giving the other dog food as well. If he improves move to having him on a leash with another dog nearby, both of them getting food from your hand. Move to putting small handfuls of food in a bowl in front of each dog and eventually putting full bowls in front of each dog. Take care not to rush on to the next step before he is ready. Curing food aggression can take time, and while you may be able to get him over the worst of it, his new owners will probably need to be able to follow up with the training.

Posted by: nicey on 2010-03-14, 04:39:41

Hi, It's even normal among puppies. But if you let it continue into adolescence and adulthood, it can develop into a complicated and dangerous problem. Simple and safe training exercises can prevent this problem from ever developing. Before you begin, you'll need to make sure that your puppy has developed a strong chewtoy addiction. Here are more tips: lnk.nu/ dogtime.com/ w4s.html