Canine food aggression is not only dangerous to family members, especially children, but it is also frightening, frustrating, and cause for great concern. Not all food-aggressive dogs start out as food-aggressive puppies. Sometimes pet parents create and/or encourage this behavior unknowingly.
Here’s how we encourage this unwanted aggressive/reactive behavior without realizing how it can manifest.
- You feed your puppy inside the crate
- You put food bowls in the corner of a room.
- You put the bowl of food down on the floor and walk away.
- You put food bowls in another room for feeding like the laundry room, for example.
Puppies should be given their food in a central location meaning away from the walls and corners of the kitchen where the is regular household activity.
Puppies should be hand-fed one handful of their food straight from the bowl after it’s placed on the floor ( or food stand.)
“Children should also hand feed the puppy one handful from the puppy’s food bowl as often as possible.
Family members should pet the puppy gently for a few seconds a few times during the meal. Do not let your children overhandle the pup by pushing, teasing, or threatening the puppy in any way during meals, or any other time!
Food bowls should be taken away after meals and washed until the next meal.
Do not use the same food bowl all the time! Buy a few different feeding dishes and alternate them so that the puppy will not become possessive of the bowl.
