Food aggression tips?

I have a year and a half old corgi named Zaza, and I'm pretty sure she has food aggression. She tenses up when we're around her food, and growled and snapped at us when we pet her or have our hands near her. She's also gone all day without eat her food and we'd find her toys covering the bowl. This has been going on for about half a year now.

I admit we probably made mistakes when we were trying to deal with it. At first we'd physically step over her food and make her sit and wait before she can go at it. If she still snapped we'd put her on her back. (I know and realize soon after that I shouldn't have done that) That wasn't helping so I did some research online and tried a couple of solutions I've found.. I tried feeding her by hand, but she wouldn't eat it. The newest thing I'm trying is to feed her in increments with me in the room. I saw this on that show "it's the dog or me" or something on Animal Planet and the dog portrayed a lot of traits and problems as Zaza. It's kind of working, but she still takes a long time to even eat the first couple of kibble. She'll take one kibble and take to a corner, leave and come back and stand over her food, watching me out of the corner of her eye.

She has the same problem with her kong ball that we fill with treats to keep her occupied, but recently she'll just lay next to it and when we walk past she'll stand over it tensely.

When we would crate train her, near the end of the crate training we notice she would snap and lunge at our hands at night, but not in the mornings. Same when we would fence her in the kitchen with the baby gate and she would snap at our hands when she would be sitting next to it.

She doesn't have any problems with us taking her toys from her or objects from her mouth. I know I've made mistakes and now I want to know how I can fix this.

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Permalink Reply by Sam on March 24, 2009 at 7:02am

No doubt she is most possessive of her food. I would start by sitting down and holding the bowl in your lap. Put in one kibble and let her eat it. It may take time as she will be way out of her comfort zone. Be patient. Give this 10 minutes and see if she will begin to eat. If not pick up the bowl and try again next feeding time. You can then add putting your hand "in" the bowl with one kibble at a time. If she continues to do well add more kibble at a time. She needs to learn that YOU own the food. As for her snapping at you when you close the crate or the gate I suspect this has become a habit and one person quickly shuts the door. She has learned that if she snaps you will go away. I would practice leaving her crate door open and tossing a small treat in there. Sit and wait. When she comes out pet her and tell her she is a good girl. Repeat the process. She needs to learn to become calm during these transitions. If you have not taken an obedience class I highly suggest you do so. She surely has some behaviors brewing. I think more exercise, more structured activities and more socialization with the world around her will help immensely. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by MagnoliaFly on March 24, 2009 at 9:38am

Go buy the book Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding by Jean Donaldson and do all of the exercises in it. They go step by step so you don't overload your dog and can condition them SLOWLY.
The book explains why the behavior starts and what might cause it so you can understand it better. It is invaluable and I recommend it to any client that says they're having issues with resource guarding. I've used it with my own guarder and it made a VAST improvement.

Whatever you do don't take the food or treat away when she growls because this will make it worse.