Preventing food aggression

97.Feeding your puppy in a quiet, peaceful area will remove the chances of her becoming stressed out and defensive about mealtimes.Too much activity and commotion near her feeding area may cause her to startle quickly, ingest her food too quickly, or become protective.

98.If her litter was large, she may have had a great deal of competition either for a teat on the mother dog or for food in a bowl as she was weaned onto dog food. This competition is stressful and may have caused her to have to fight to claim her food.

99.Sit quietly by your dog in a chair,holding her leash. This gives not only direction to your puppy, but also enhances her ability to adapt to someone being near to her food bowl. Remain motionless and do not disturb her while she’s feeding. Don’t stare at her. Sometimes your puppy may perceive that as a challenge.

100.After a week or two of sitting by her, you can begin casually reaching down and petting her gently while she’s eating. Don’t distract her too much. Just touch her as the next step in desensitizing her. Praise her gently for allowing you to interact with her.At later feeding sessions, reach into her food bowl and touch her food.Again, praise her for not responding. 

101.You may want to divide her meal into two “servings.”When one “serving” is finished, you can add the rest to her bowl and let her finish the second “serving,” which is really just the second half of the total meal. This may help her to see that food isn’t scarce, her needs will be met,and there will always be plenty for her to eat.

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Introduction

Raising an “obedient dog”requires more than just obedience training. As we tell all of our clients, there is a difference between h...