What is food guarding and why do dogs do it?

If your dog guards their food, it is because they see it as a valued resource and that they need to protect it in order to survive, even if this is actually not true.

Food guarding can manifest itself in several ways. Usually it just begins with the dog growling, then escalating to snarling or even snapping. If these warnings are ignored, and the dog has enough confidence, or the hands approach too quickly, the dog may even bite.

Punishing such behaviour can actually make the aggression escalate as the dog will also react to your aggression. If your punishment is severe enough, you will apparently suppress the aggression, but you must be aware that it could come out at a later time, sometimes unexpectedly with a person who is perceived as being weaker such as children or visitors.

Preventing the problem of food guarding

It's essential that you teach your dog from a very young age that human hands give and not take away.

You can do this by luring them away from what they are eating with a more appealing titbit than the food they are eating. Whilst concentrating on the titbit, food or chews they were eating can be removed. The titbit is then given to them before the food or chew is replaced.

If you do this often enough, your dog will soon learn that human hands give rather than take, and so there is no need to be aggressive to keep them away.

Solving the problem of food guarding

If your dog is growling, snarling, snapping or attacking over food, you will need professional help from a pet behaviour counsellor in order to solve the problem safely and successfully.

The solution lies in teaching the dog that approaching human hands are good news rather than bad, but this needs to be done very carefully. It is important to treat this problem rather than just managing it in case someone, particularity a child unexpectedly approaches one day while the dog is eating.

Until you can get help, you could try:

• Hand feeding
• Feeding in a different place
• Scatter feeding which reduces the amount of food in one place
• Placing food inside strong toys sot at your dog has to work to get it out

Whatever method you adopt, care should be taken to leave the dog alone while he eats until you are able to tackle the problem with a professional.

Guarding Chews and bones

As well as making sure that your dog is safe around food, it is also important that he should learn not to guard bones and chews. This needs to be done in a similar way by teaching him that hands give and not and take away.

Until you are able to do this, it is a good idea to give many chews and bones so that each becomes less valuable, or to give chews and bones only when he is shut in a room or the garden. Alternatively, do not give chews or bones at all if you cannot keep him safely shut away while hew chews them.

» Read more on how to deal with food aggression