Another major issue people have with their dogs is food aggression or overexcitement. Learning how to feed your dog and how to deal with food aggression issues will go a long way toward saving yourself some energy.
Dogs need to earn their food. This is a fundamental aspect of their psychology. As animals, they are used to hunting and tracking to get their food and then being rewarded with it, only after they’ve completed a hard task. When possible, you should do the same thing for them. Playing games, making them sit, or feeding them after they come inside will all be helpful in this regard.
Make them wait for their food until they are calm and submissive. This will remove many of the seemingly demanding behaviours a dog can exhibit when waiting for food – the barking, the jumping, and the aggression towards other pets. This will also reward them once the food is given. You’re challenging them to remain calm and relaxed after they are fed.
It’s also possible to reduce their fixation on the food by requiring their attention be on you rather than the food dish. You do not need to deny them the food, but the same as you do when you walk them – require their attention so they don’t fixate on other animals or people – you should get them to focus on you rather than the food.
Aggressiveness with food is a big issue and always has warning signs.
If the dog tries to cover the dish, their hair rises on their back, or you see their teeth when you or another pet comes near the dish, you may have a problem. These are specific messages from your dog saying “this is my food, leave it alone”. If you have multiple dogs, there are a few solutions. You can feed them at the same time, separately, or you can feed only the calm, submissive dog first, when he relaxes. This teaches the other dogs that submission will earn them the reward of the food.
If the dog is aggressive towards you, be extremely careful. Even the calmest, happiest dog in the world, when they have food aggression, can become dangerous. Never give them affection to stop the behaviour, as you’ll only reinforce that behaviour. Waiting for food can be a good tool here, but if you cannot get it to go away, you may need to find an expert to help relieve the problem.
