How long to conquer food guarding?

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Okay, Hattie has growled at me and the cats when I give her food with good stuff mixed in, like yogurt or pumpkin etc. So I take and give the bowl back, add more treats, and sit and hand feed and we talk about it all. By the end of the meal even the cat can walk up and eat out of her bowl. But she of course is also full at this point! But still it happens every time there are good eats. The other day I gave her a new Yak Chew and the cat had the audacity to walk by and Hattie came unglued. So then we sat again with taking and giving back. Now the Yak Chew is still her favorite but I can easily take it away. How long does it take to relax them enough that this won't continue to happen? I read that females are more prone to food guarding.

[Michael Gurley]

Sunny has done this, guarding her food against my other dog, and has actually punctured the other dog's ear.

 

I usually just separate the dogs, take away the treat, and playtime/ treat time is over.

[Jennifer and Jack]

There is for sure more the one way to do things to get an effective and desirable outcome. Jack as a puppy was a food guarder. Now he wouldn't dare.

 

It took a while and a lot of persistence on my part. Jack never guarded his food with me, ever, I could and did stick my face in his bowl as a puppy. I took his food away and stuck my hands in it, had I heard one and I mean one even slight growl he would have been corrected so fast with a firm no, I would have taken his food away totally, Made him sit, they put the bowl down and make him wait until I released him.

 

His issues of guarding came with other dogs and small children. The worst part for me was getting advice from either people who never had their dog around another dog so had no idea how their dog would react, or people who had dogs but didn't struggle with this issue. It is hard to admit our babies are less then perfect.

 

What I did to correct Jack's guarding with other dogs, it just so happen that I sort of moved in for a while with my friend who had three Goldendoodles and they just worked it out, I fed Jack last when they were fed, he was the last one to get his bowl put down and then eventually they all started sharing and eating each other foods, often times out of the same bowl.

 

With small children, Jack would guard his bully sticks, and bones, It drove me crazy, At first I just picked them up and did not allow him to have them when children were around and I made sure I took and gave back his bully stick without an issue, Never an issue for me or for another adult, A dog he may growl to say back away, with a child, I was stupid in my training. I was inexperienced and very lucky nothing happen and that Jack did learn from my way of teaching him

 

I don't know that I recommend this unless you have a good trainer that is right there with you but what I did is I held Jack by his collar and I had my friends child that is very good with dogs but still a child sit next to Jack, if Jack so much as growled or even looked funny, I took the bully stick away from him and gave it to the child, Then I had the child make Jack sit and she gave him the bone, it took days and days of consistently correcting even the slightest sign that he was going to start to be aggressive...

 

Now as you can see by the pictures Jack is amazing with children, he brings them his high value treats, he brings his toys and he will let a child happily take food from his bowl, All of these things took a long time, Jack was not totally trustworthy until he was just under 2, and to this day, I will never leave Jack alone with a small child with a bone or anything of high value just in case he loses his puppy head.

 

All that to say, it does get better, be consistent, I am not sure I would use soothing tones when you talk to your dog, I personally would give a firm NO.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Sandy, I hope you are pleased that you posted this. I was certainly interested in reading what everyone had to say. At this point we don't have a resource guarding issue, but ever since I heard about it on DK I have followed the responses with interest. There is so much to learn, and I think we each do the best we can. Thankfully we have DK where we can exchange ideas and discover new ways to handle our particular dog's issues. Hattie is just about as cute as any puppy ever! You are a great doodle mom.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Cubbie started resource guarding about 1.5 years after we got him (he was right around 2).  I took him to my trainer and we worked with him by practicing the leave it command.  She told us not to take anything directly from him but to have him do a "leave it" or "drop it".  It was so bad that my husband couldn't even walk near Cubbie if he was chewing on something of value (special biscuits or chews).  My husband had to start by telling him to "leave it" and then toss him a treat from across the room.  gradually he worked his way closer so that he could hand Cubbie a treat while the special item was still in front of him.  We never try to take anything directly from him but to get him to leave it and come to you for a treat and then you can go back and retrieve the item from where he left it.  It has worked for us and we haven't had any problems since then.  Overall, I would say that for me Cubbie got better after a week of a few 5 minute training sessions each day.  With my husband it took longer (a few weeks) but he wasn't as committed to the training as I was.  I'm sure every dog and every method is different, but since you were looking for a time line, I figured I would share my experience with you.  Best of luck.  Hope you get it all worked out.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper never guards her kibble (she and the kitten will eat out of the same bowl sometimes), but if she has "high value" food such a raw meat then she will growl. She will also growl when she has a bone and a cat gets too close. I posted about this several months back.

We already had 2 of our 3 cats when we got Cooper, and we taught her right from the start that the cats were higher in the pecking order. If Cooper was getting pets and the cats came over, the cats got pets, then Cooper got pets. The cats STILL get their food first, and Cooper waits patiently. DH has even fed the cats and then forgotten to put Coopers food down and she just sits there looking at the cats sadly. We would often take her food away then give it back when she was little.

If Cooper growls at the cats she gets a firm "no", if she continues to growl I take her bone away. She often knows im going to do it and drops it as I move towards her. Sometimes she gets it back, sometimes she doesnt.

Cooper has learnt to respect the cats - if they are close to her bone, and she wants it, she will sit there and wait, looking totally pathetic, til the cat walks away. Merry even licked her bone once and Cooper just sighed and lay down.

Cooper is 2 and she does still growl at the cats, but I have learnt that its nothing to worry about (in her case) but I still take the bone away.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Sandy-Nobody's dog is perfect! Hattie is perfect in everything else but this, it's just something to work on. I could never take their food completely away but I would say a firm no-put it on the counter and keep repeating until she gets the point. It's up to you if you want to add goodies to her food. Maybe feeding her with a few goodies (part of what you would normally) and then if she does good give her the rest as treats or maybe teach her leave it with another tyoe of treat and if she does then give her the one she really wants out of the other hand. It wwill take time but you are not doing anything wrong-you are working with her on it! When you correct her it's all in how you say it too! Wehn I correct Myla with firmness she puts her chin down on the floor in shame, makes me feel bad but it works.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

But aren't you having fun???? She's adorable and I think she knows it! Good luck!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Sandy, none of us has perfect dogs - we just brag about the parts that are perfect. Truly. I think I have never had a food guarding issue because it is one of those things I don't allow.  We all have those areas our dogs are really good at because they are highest on our priority list.  My Springer does not walk well on a leash and I have tried various methods to improve this, but I have not dedicated enough time and insistance to cure it - I guess it is not high enough on my personal priority list to do more than complain about it.  You can work through this and in time it will be a thing of the past.  I can tell you that the few times my dogs have growled at me or each other when they have a special bone or treat, I swoop down and take it away so fast they don't know what just happened.  I do not give it back for a very long time. Is this a good method?  I have no idea. It is just what I do.  In my opinion the dog does not get what he growls over. If it was his meal, that is just too bad and he would have to wait until the next meal. I know this was kind of disjointed and rambling but my point is to take heart and realize that none of us has a perfect dog - just perfect for us.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, I thought about writing the same thing yesterday none of us has a perfect dog - just perfect for us.  Well said!!!