A dog growls over food

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Growling Over Food

Dear WOOF:

We have a male chocolate lab who is about 6-½ months old now. We began working with him as a young pup to get used to people touching him when he was eating so he wouldn't be aggressive if it happened down the road with a child, for example. He seemed to be doing quite well, so we laid off for a while. We decided about a month and a half ago to see if he would not growl when touched as he was eating we found this not to be the case!

Currently, what we do is give him about a third of his food at a time, and tell him "easy" as he begins to eat. He tends to wolf food down, sometimes almost choking himself. As he eats, we pet him and tell him "easy". If he growls, we take the food away for a bit, and repeat the process. He tends to get so tensed up that he's shaking like a leaf all over, and sometimes he's even a little incontinent. We just try to settle him down, and tell him to take it easy. We would just like to know if we are approaching his training correctly, and how long it might take to wean him from this behavior. Any advice you can offer would be appreciated!

Hello:

First off, let me say that this is not your fault, and the behavior that your dog is displaying is very common. Some pups are born with a higher genetic propensity for this behavior than others - perhaps yours is one of them. Guarding valuable resources (like food) is normal in canines and it will develop more often than not, unless measures are taken to prevent it.

Many people think that this behavior is "just a puppy thing he/she will outgrow" only to find this not to be the case after an unfortunate incident. We must understand that dogs do not "outgrow" learned behavior and the longer it goes on, the worse he will get, and the more difficult it becomes to treat.

Gulping food gives us the first indication that the dog/pup is uncomfortable and that he is likely to learn to use more obvious behavior to communicate that, namely in the form of a growl, snap, or even a bite. Although for many, the use of punishment seems like the best way to handle the problem, using any form of "discipline" to treat such a problem will only make it worse - much worse.

You ask if you are approaching this correctly, and I must reply with a question to you; Is the behavior getting better or worse? Unfortunately from the sounds of it, he is getting worse so it's critical that you change your approach now, and start from scratch. I understand that you are doing the best that you know how to try to treat this behavior, but I must warn you that continued attempts to *make* him like being touched while he is eating is actually making the problem worse. He is very likely to inflict a bite in the future as you try to take the bowl in response to his growl, so I suggest that you stop that immediately.

There is no quick fix to the problem, but using the proper techniques, he will learn to actually look forward to your presence around the food bowl, instead of feeling concerned about it - and once he feels better, he'll behave better too. The goal will be to teach him to *like* having people around while he's eating first,
then to work up to being approached and touched while eating from there.

How long it will take is impossible to answer, but getting started now will give you a much better chance of modifying it sooner. Every dog and case is different, so I can not outline a protocol for you in an email. More in-depth investigation of your dogs behavior is necessary in order for me to help you all most effectively. Please contact me at 248-616-6500 to discuss scheduling a private consultation.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon, and thanks for writing.

Sincerely,

Lisa (Laney) Patrona, Dip. DTBC, CPDT-KA, CBC

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