Food Aggression (Hand Feeding Stopped Working) - Page 4

jack, it comes down to "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs". two of the most basic needs are food and sex. the desire to survive and procreate. no dog wants to be at the bottom of the pack. Now some will accept being the bottom dog whil other will rather die than be #2. also no animal, especialy a pack animal wants to give up its food. Some will do so w/ no problem, while other will fight like hell to keep from doing so. just like no dog ever said "oh, no buddy, dont worry about me. Why don't you take this breeding an maybe ill breed next year". every animal has the desire to breed, some more desire than others. a ball and sleeve are so far away from the basic needs for survival it really cant compare. Im sure someone here has seen a dog that is fine w/ you touching his food but gets very aggresive around a bitch in heat. your problem is a rank problem, and it is showing its self around food. Dogs are pack animals, they know that top dog always, "ALWAYS EATS 1ST". Id be willing to say if you poured 40 lbs of food on the floor he'd gaurd the entire thing, and once he was finished he would let you do what you want. in a pack #2 can only eat first when he has kicked #1's ass and is the new sheriff. PLEASE do not think of this as a food problem....

was he from a large litter?? I have seen this alot with large litters, the pups learn very early that they have to fight for the food... the next step that I would take would be to keep the leash on him.... go through what you are already doing...when you go near the bowl and he growls, then pull up on the leash and "hang" him....when he relaxes roll him to his side, and pin him there until he compleatly submits. then let him up and have the food. repeat until he doesn't care weather you are there or not, and will not show any aggression if you move the bowl with your foot, hand walk by sit by ect....keep the leash on him while he is eating so you have something to grab and work with. remember he only gets the obedience command when you are starting out, if he starts growling, showing teeth then he gets the correction....no verbal from you. withholding the food doesn't work because they will get more aggressive as they get more hungry, and if this was imprinted in him as a puppy you are having to work against that and that is a big deal....I have seen this behavior move from the food to toys later( after you fix the food issue watch for this to happen, you just keep repeating the correction no matter what he postures and gowls over.)

Whan the dog is hungry he will be much more inclined to guared his food. You need to Basically make sure the dog knowes that you are his boss. You can put on a choke or a pronged collare have the dog wait put some food down wait do not let the dog decide when to get the food you must do that. Then you say ok. You having the leash on the dog then say even if he is being good STOP you then correct him make him stop eatting. You do not let him continue to eat once he is callm and looking at you and you see he is callm you can say ok and let him eats some more. You then do it again and say no wait make sure he stops eating call him and take the food away let thim calm down and then put the bowl down make him wait to begin to eat when he realizes that you are the boss and you decide when and how much he is alowed to eat he should start to be much better with the food agression but make sure you ARE VERY FIRM WITH HIM he must know that you are his boss and he is not alowed to get away with anything. You must be prepared to hurt the dog just like what would happen it the wild! I had a dog that started to get food agressive I did this with the wait and eat on my command and the first thime I had the muzzle on the dog so that I could literly jump on the dog and roll it on its back and tell him firmly NO it worked and all I hace to do know is say stop and the dog knowes that it must stop or else. If you are not sure of how to behave like how hard to be when correcting the dog just watch a documentry with wolves and whatch the alfa dog beat up the submissive one. Hope this helps Jess

I'm not saying this to be insulting, Jack, but frankly, if you really knew how to do the stuff that's being suggested without someone experienced right there with you to direct you, you wouldn't have this problem to begin with--so that tells me that anything you try to do at this point has a 50/50 chance of making things worse, not better. You need, need, NEED the on-site help of someone who is experienced not only in working with dogs, but who can also read *people* well enough to determine if you really have it in you to be "the Big Dog", or if you're going to need to use a roundabout way to get compliance from your dog. I could sit here and explain how to 'string' a dog up (which, BTW, I was taught to do ONLY as a defensive measure should the dog attempt to come up the lead at me...it was never to be used as a 'training' method, but a protection one only), but unless you can project the right attitude along with it ("OK, dog, you've got one shot, so you better make it count, because I'm going to eat you alive for making the attempt to bite me") all that's going to do is piss the dog off. If you can't force yourself to not respond in any way that even suggests you're afraid of being bitten, if you can't believe in your own head that you can take the bite and not pull away or flip out, then the dog isn't going to buy it, and a lot of the things that have been mentioned will just get you hurt. I agree--NILIF exercises alone do not a pack leader make. NILIF exercises, however, can at least create a structured frame for someone who hasn't been successful in presenting themselves to their dog as the pack leader to work within in order to start gaining some control over the situations. Nothing can make a leader-type figure out of a passive or neutral owner--which is why some breeds, and some lines within some breeds, simply shouldn't be placed in pet homes or with owners who don't want to have to demonstrate their rank daily when they interact with their dog. I'm still concerned that you, or someone else in your household, is going to get seriously injured by this dog if you don't get some experienced, hands-on, direct interaction instruction.