Dog guarding his food

Honey08

Honey08

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Hi, Just wondering if any of you have any experience/advice on the situation we are finding ourselves in with one of our labs (male).

He is not your typical food driven lab, unlike our other one. He loves to retrieve sticks and gets a bit obsessive over it - lying at your feet with a toy for ages staring at you on the offchance you throw it, not disctracted by anything.

We have had him for two years now, but in the last month he has started refusing to eat his food, but simply lies next to it with his head down, growling if anyone comes near. We changed him onto Wag over six months ago, but he is like this with anything - you could give him a raw chicken breast and he would drop it and guard it.

If you try and nag him he growls more. He will spend all day there, given a chance, sometimes going to his basket, but never taking his eyes off it. Wetting it helps a bit, as does putting olive oil on, but not always. Occasionally he eats normally. "Bribing" him to eat seems to work the best now, telling him we're going for a walk, he comes over wagging, then telling him to eat first. Once he has eaten he turns back into the happy, playful, sociable dog that we are used to. He doesn't seem to show any signs of stomach pain. He isn't sick and poos as normal. It does seem to be behavioural, but only recently..

Any ideas?
 
I'd pop him to the vet to be on the same side.

There are a couple of things I would suggest, including restricting food/hand feeding for good behaviour (mine never eats out of a bowl) but it's tricky to advise without actually seeing the dog.

Removing the food altogether could reinforce that he is right to be guarding it in the first place...it really does depend on the character of the dog, how to tackle resource guarding, with some dogs you have to offer a swap, with others simply 'going after them' can stop it but like I say it is hard to know without knowing the dog involved.

Are there any other variables or changes, even the slightest little thing, that could have influenced the behaviour? Something you or someone else in the house might have done or may have acted? Even something seemingly inconsequential to a human?
 
Sounds like a behaviour problem not health.Guarding food is a sign of dominance.Reassert your position as pack leader by feeding at set times making sure he sits ready and when if he shows signs of growling stand in front of his dish so he cant get to it showing you are possesing it yourself.,the food belongs to you. you should be able to take food away from him whenever you want without him guarding it.Ceaser Milan books, videos helped me enormously with my last terrier.My new dog is a joy to handle and its just a matter of knowing how dogs minds work,hierarchy in the pack etc.Remember you are the boss!
 
Yes, and with some dogs who resource guard, if you are continually going in and taking the bowl away and messing with the dog while it eats and making mealtimes into a three-act play, you will make resource guarding worse.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fluffy bunny, like I say my dog is not fed out of a bowl and my dog only ever gets food when he works for it, but not absolutely everything about dogs, is about dominance.

Some dogs just do need to be left alone to eat, some dogs need the food taken away from them, some dogs are happy for you to stick your hands in the bowl when they eat, you can't apply the same logic to every individual dog.
 
What happens if you feed him in his own in a crate and only let him out once he's done, maybe he just wants space?

Although its not behaviour I would want Maybe there's an experience hes had eating with others.

Not going in too loads of detail as plenty of threads here but wagg is a very poor quality dog food. As is bakers/ pedigree/ all purina foods
 
CaveCanem said:
Yes, and with some dogs who resource guard, if you are continually going in and taking the bowl away and messing with the dog while it eats and making mealtimes into a three-act play, you will make resource guarding worse.

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Click to expand...

This is a bit what we found. When we first started it, we took the food off him and sent him to his basket for five minutes, allowing him back afterwards and making him sit calmly while we put the food back down etc. It didn't really help. Like I said, the best way, at the moment, seems to be to ignore him and distract him with the promise of throwing a toy or a walk - he will then wolf it down in order to get out and play. He does grumble slightly as he goes to his bowl still, but does as he is asked.

If I was to put him in a crate and leave him, he would sit there all day. The kitchen is huge and they get fed apart. Sometimes hubby feeds them at 7am and he is still sittlng there when I come home at lunchtime. He does seem to have a collecting gene - he will collect any shoes, clothes, toys, anything left around and pile it up in his bed given a chance. He never damages it, just lies on it all. He was a rescue who had had four homes before us and has always had this collecting need.

I can't think of anything that has changed in the house. We are doing a lot of building work within the house,and it is like a building site, but it has been like this for the past year and in general he is his usual sunny self. This guarding mood seems to descend on him at meal times. I did wonder if he had eaten some rubble or something and blocked his stomach, but when you persuade him to eat he eats it all and everything else about him is as normal. Its not something I've ever seen. I've had dogs for 40+ years, so would like to think I assert myself as pack leader with them, but I could be wrong!

Thanks for the help and ideas.

I will pop him to the vet. They are due their injections/health check anyway.
 
My lab used to guard his food when he was young we tried loads iv always taken food away to stop them and assert dominance. With him we had to do the opposite we left him to eat in piece no touching or talking or being in the room now he is 10months we get him to wait patiently then he gets his food we can now touch him if we need him to move and he has the word trust used to stop him if we need to. He is a happy boy now.
Hope your dog is ok agree get him checked over.
 
CaveCanem said:
Yes, and with some dogs who resource guard, if you are continually going in and taking the bowl away and messing with the dog while it eats and making mealtimes into a three-act play, you will make resource guarding worse.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fluffy bunny, like I say my dog is not fed out of a bowl and my dog only ever gets food when he works for it, but not absolutely everything about dogs, is about dominance.

Some dogs just do need to be left alone to eat, some dogs need the food taken away from them, some dogs are happy for you to stick your hands in the bowl when they eat, you can't apply the same logic to every individual dog.
Click to expand...

Excellent post CC

You need to be seen as the giver not the taker of their food. This is a good article explaining why dogs resource guard and what to do about it:

http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/resource-guarding/
 
Thanks for that article - its really helpful and intersting to see that it can flare up in later life. It sounds like the ignoring it and making a fuss with a walk etc in return for eating is the way forward. He doesn't look aggressive, more afraid when he is crouched near his food.

I was going to video him this evening to show people, but he ate it without any fuss!!
 
This is absoloutely natural behaviour, esp towards other dogs, dogs are natural survivors and in order to survive food has to be guarded/stashed/hidden away for safe keep for later otherwise it stolen!
I take it he is only guarding from the dogs or it is you aswell?
I would make only one change, I would feed him and give a 5 minute window and then lift the food (if he was to show aggression to you) offer him something high reward whilst you remove the food and dont offer any more food until next meal, it could be day 4 before he decides to eat that meal, but never leave it down for him to have to guard, he is not a greedy dog as you suggest and he regulates his food in a more natural un greedy manor, dogs where designed to eat 1 large meal then go for up to a week without another (whatever they can or cant catch) in order to survive. Us humans have feed them in a more unnatural manor with food on tap;)
If he weight is fine and he is otherwise healthy, dont worry.
Is he neutered?

If he is guarding with you then spend time feeding him holding the bowl and allowing him to eat from it or put the food in the bowl by hand if not and its just the dogs, dont worry its perfectly natural, just lift the food as suggested and feed in a more structured manor (with the time limit).
 
i currently have three adult dogs
5yrs, 12yrs and 14yrs i have had them all from puppies. the eldest is and always has been bottom of the pecking order and he is the only one that will growl over food. he will only growl if you look at him and touch him intentionally (i think he sees this as a threat), he is the only one that will growl at the other dogs over food too and my dogs are fed outside with a few feet between them and supervised, the others have never taken food from him.
food guarding is not a dominance thing, i would say it is the opposite the dominant dog would not have to guard food as no-one would try to take it.
the funny thing with him is that you can remove his food by lifting the bowl no problem and you can sit with him whilst he eats its only physical contact that makes him growl.
in your shoes i would feed him outside on his own so if he does not eat straight away you can remove him from the food not the other way round as i think its the safer option.
walking your dog or playing ball after eating can increase the risk of gastric torsion-mine dont run for an hour after eating as we have seen too much GT at the vets i work at
 
Yes, I would say that the other, bigger, greedy bitch is the boss when it comes to food too, not him. He is a bit like your lower dog too, in that he growls when you get really close to him, touch/eye contact. In general he isn't guarding it from anything, just lying next to it.

When I say walk, its nothing really. Their routine is that we get up, feed the cats and dogs then go down the lane (hundred yards or so) to the stables to get the horses in and feed the hens. The dogs just potter around while we do that, then we go in for our breakfast. Its a walk in the sense of emptying the dogs rather than exercise!

Ironically he has eaten his food straight away since I wrote this! I've made both dogs sit for a minute in front of their food today before allowing them to eat, which seemed to up his enthusiasm.

I was thinking today, and I think that I first noticed this behaviour when I bought bones or chews as treats for them. The bigger dog eats the whole thing like a pig then will steal his if he leaves it for a moment, so he started guarding his treats. I've taken them off him once or twice to stop the greedy one stealing it and to get him to come out of his basket (where he guards them), so perhaps this escalated into his dinner guarding too? They only got the bones once in a blue moon, and I don't buy them anymore to avoid the situation.

Yes he is neutered and weight is fine.

Thanks very much for all your suggestions. All good food for thought.x
 
It's highly likely - with more than one dog, I like to see bones and chews and even toys given out separately/with the dogs in isolation/different rooms/kennels/crates etc...it would be lovely if all dogs played nicely but it can start more rows than enough.

The way he would see it, I had this treat, my mate kept trying to steal it, I hid it so I could have it later, and then mum took it away, meh! Not letting that happen again!
 
Yes I agree. I think a vets check would be in order though, as he does it for a week or so, then is right as rain for a week, then goes wierd again - we always keep wondering if he has swallowed a stone or something.
 
What you need to do is Hand feed for a couple of weeks - we had this issue with our dog & its one that needs to be nipped in the bud. we just fed consistently from hand for 2 wks & never had a problem since.
 
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