Food aggression is dominance. He’s saying to you “I’m the boss, stay away”. You need to break this cycle. It can be very dangerous, especially to others who may want to give the dog a treat, etc. First and foremost, with this dog; do not “free feed” this will not solve aggressive behaviors. If he’s under a year you can feed him 3 small meals a day, or if over a year but still young 2 times daily. Free feeding is only good for dogs who don’t have issues with food aggression and who are good at self regulation. In most breeds, free feeding can lead to obesity and the host of problems that come with that.
You need to take possession of the food. It is YOUR food and you will share it with your dog. In dog packs, the leader always eats first! So, here’s a simple and effective trick. Have some crackers in your hand or in the dog bowl. Call your dog over to eat. Have him sit and stay. Make sure he is aware of you holding his food bowel. Take your cracker from his bowl, eat it and say Yummy good food. So, this sets precedence….you are the Pack Leader, you eat first…he has to respect that. Do that a couple of more times. Make him wait until you give the command “ok” or whatever word you want to let him know he can eat now. This needs to be repeated at every feeding by everyone who feeds him. All your immediate family including young children who are old enough, need to develop this routine. You can even put his bowel down and teach him to wait patiently. My puppy Mia has to sit and “shake – give paw” every time she wants to eat. In essence, she needs to work for it. The reward for this good behavior is the food! Hopefully, in a short time, you can ditch the “we eat the cracker bit”, call the dog to the food, have him sit, wait, and eat on your command. Once he has master that; and develops some respect for you, you (the adult only at first) can try to call the dog, pat him when he’s eating. Do not let the children do this until you are 100% certain he will not be aggressive. DO NOT play with or tease him with his food. This doesn’t gain respect, it just kind of bullies him. Continue to offer treats by hand…make them enticing, like some real chicken or steak. Once again, make the dog sit, stay and then offer the chicken on your hand. For dogs who are showing aggression, you need to be firm and take a leadership role. Some dogs like mine are fairly subservient to begin with. Growling by dogs in general can mean a few things. One is potentially being frustrated and the other can be dominance. And a third…can be overexcitement. Our dog Mia can growl when she’s playing rough with a toy. She’s almost a year, and if she does it with me, I still grab her snout and tell her “NO BITE”. So in our book, nipping, biting, growling are all the same. Lastly, don’t make the mistake his former owners did. They likely didn’t like him because he was growing up. It sounds like they never employed any consistent training, and then the dog developed some bad attributes. Don’t feel sorry for him. You know he’s in a good home now and dogs live in the moment. It doesn’t sound like he was abused (but who knows). Puppies and young dogs take a lot of work and most bad behaviors are the product of people who do not enforce limits and discipline. Let us know how it goes! We are still learning everyday – and Mia is a ball of energy who constantly challenges us. At least two times a day, she sneaks down into our cubby where we keep the family shoes. She comes tearing through the kitchen (I swear with a smile on her face) to say…ha, ha, ha look what I can do. All I have to do is look her in the eye and say “NO SHOE” and she drops it. Ok, she gives me those puppy eyes, and it would be so nice of me to let her have it, but that would defeat my rule….you can’t rip up our shoes. And no, don’t give the dog his/her own shoes and expect she’ll know not to destroy others. Instead, I say “GET TOY” and praise her and play with her for a minute…..the whole stealing the shoe thing is just a game and her way of getting attention. Keep us posted on Reilly. He’s still young, he has a lot of learning potential! From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 10:13 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [cockapoo] Food Aggression Welcome Candy (?) This is what I was going to suggest. I don't have any other advice, I free feed my two cockapoos. The only problem I ever had is my two wanted each others food. Jasper was on puppy and Mandi on senior so I started feeding Jasper in his crate so they wouldn't switch dishes. I eventually put them both on regular, so they can switch as much as they want (which they do). Neither has ever growled at me. Sue, M, and J In a message dated 10/27/2008 7:58:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: i fed him by hand for 2 weeks and he's fine, I have held the bowl and he's fine. _____ Play online games for FREE at Games.com! All of your favorites, no registration required and great graphics – check <http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1211202682x1200689022/aol?redir=%0d%0ahttp://www.games.com?ncid=emlcntusgame00000001> it out!
