By Josiah Neuman CMT, CDT
Neuman K-9 Academy, Inc.

Food aggression or Resource Guarding is a behavior that manifests from a dogs inherent desire to protect or guard food, water, or a resource needed for survival. This trait is natural in a canine, and more often than not it can perpetuate into aggression in the home if not handled the right way.

I am going to preface this article by telling you that I have studied and utilized many different methods of disarming resourceful aggressive dogs. I have yet to see a single training method (positive or negative punishment or reinforcers) that truly extinguish or permanently modify this inherent trait. You can train a dog to do something on command, but this does NOT change their inner desire to do what Mother Nature has hard wired into the brain.

Hand feeding is NOT the solution.

Interactive feeding is probably the most commonly referred to exercise for conditioning or defusing resource aggression. An example is hand feeding a dog, petting, or touching the dog while they eat. From the human’s perspective, they are comforting the dog and giving positive stimulus, so the dog associates the human presence during meal time as a good thing. If a dog does not have a strong desire to protect a resource they will tolerate or enjoy the human presence, thus the human feels as though it is disarming future potential for food aggression. The fact remains, the dog in this example did not have the desire to guard food to begin with so this ritual or exercise has no positive or negative impact.

The other side to this equation is the dog that has a strong desire to guard food or show resourceful aggression. The human petting the dog during meal time is pushing the dog into defense, causing a stronger desire to protect or guard the food. The more the human pushes the dog into this state of mind, the more the dog associates food or resources with a defensive behavior, and further starts to see the human as a challenger or instigator. Hand feeding is similar in that a truly resourceful dog will eat by choice of survival, but that feeding is a stressful exercise caused by the presence of the human.

A dog with little or moderate resourceful behaviors can become food aggressive if the human initiates these defensive feelings by interacting with the dog via hand feeding, petting, or other conditioning exercises.

Adding fuel to the fire with punishment.

Physical corrections to the dog for showing resource guarding, simply throws fuel on the fire. The dog sees the human as an aggressor, a threat to the resources. By shear dominance, a human can assert themselves over the dog thus suppressing aggression; however the dog will still have the same desire to protect food and resources from dogs or humans. The more insecure a resourceful dog becomes around food and humans, the more the problem will manifest and the level aggression will continue to escalate. Imagine a child walking through a home stumbles and falls on the insecure resource aggressive dog…. This is a recipe for disaster.

Using the crate to disarm aggression from the resource protective dog?

A dog in the home environment should be introduced to the crate early on. The crate is a safe place that we use to give the dog a place to chew on a bone, eat food, drink water, and enjoy resources without feeling challenged. Is it any wonder our dogs readily go into the crate and enjoy quiet time without feeling anxious or nervous?

I teach the dog that it only has access to these food or consumable resources inside of the crate and then I incorporate obedience into the ritual or routine of feeding and play time. The dog must earn the human’s approval for the food or resource to be granted, however food and resources are never an item that is challenged, won, or lost by either dog or human. The item first earned by the dog going into the crate, second by performing an obedience command (going into the down position), before the item granted to the dog.

If a dog is only given access to chew items and toys in the crate, it also prevents destructive behavior like chewing human items, children toys, scavenging for food, and counter surfing.

Obedience in the home maintains a safe environment.

In the real world a dog will at some point grab an item or go after food which creates a situation where training is imperative. We use the 'leave it' command for the dog to drop and disengage, and we train a reliable off-leash recall.If a dog is well trained, both commands work in this scenario, and it avoids the defense mechanism hard wired into the dog - to defend the item or become aggressive over food resources.

If you would like more information about the types of training offered by Neuman K-9 Academy click here ---> Dog Training Services