Definition of resource/food guarding

[greagre]

We kept preventing resource guard since we got our puppy when she was 11-month old. I read many articles and suggestions about how to prevent and correct resource guarding actions. My dog can patiently wait for as long as we ask before each meal. She can also stop once we ask her to stop while she is eating her meal, even though she might gobble for a couple of times before she stops. So there is no problem if we remove her bowl while she is eating. Sometimes I also put my hands close to her mouth while she is eating and sometimes I added more food to her bowl for a few times. She was all fine but I still can tell she was a bit nervous so tried to finish eating quickly. But there were twice that when my hands almost touch her mouth (maybe I am too annoying) and had been there for a while, she growled for an instant but continued eating. Is this acceptable? Sometimes I even think I am too annoying. It's like I am trying to upset her and trying to touch her bottom-line.... If I were her, I must be upset. So I wonder if what I did was correct. I never know what the formal definition of food guarding is. I know the symptoms, such as growling, snapping, biting... However, under what circumstances? Or under ANY circumstances? Is it like no matter what happens, dogs should not growl, snap, bite...., no matter how annoying her human is around? Looking forwarding to your comments! Thanks!

[smartrock]

I do not bother my dogs while they are eating. I think I've read that reaching into their bowls or otherwise acting as if you may take their food away often backfires and they become more protective of their food and more likely to react poorly. If I can find any article that might support what I've just written, I'll come back and post it. Did your pup actually display guarding behaviors before you started trying to train her not to guard her food?

I make my dogs wait for their food. I have infrequently made them stop eating for one reason or another by saying their name, tapping them on the back and either telling them to sit before reaching for their bowls or crowding them away from the bowl by moving forward between them and their bowls. I don't reach down for their bowl until their attention is totally focused on me, not on their food. I don't usually add anything to their bowl without at least a verbal notification that I'm going to give them something else to break their focus on their food. My dogs eat so fast that I usually just let them eat without interruption. I don't have any little kids around these days but when my kids were little I taught them to leave the dogs alone while they ate, no exceptions.

How to Stop Your Puppy or Dog Growling When Eating

[Snowshoe]

Unfortunately you had bad advice and what you did by messing with her food may have created a food guarding problem where there never would have been one.

Do you know what operant conditioning is? Do you understand a negative punishment? That's what you did by messing with her food and taking it away from her. You gave her a very, very strong punishment and an undeserved one. You gave her food then took it away, that's punishment and she doesn't understand it and it leads to distrust.

Growls are language. Growls are the language that warns of a bite. Prevent the growl and you may give the dog no option but to escalate to the bite without a warning. She is trying so hard to please you but she doesn't know what she's doing wrong by eating the food you give her and then mess with or take away so she tries to tell you, don't take it. Listen to the growl.

Please stop messing with her food. Give it to her and let her eat in peace. Maybe with time she will begin to trust you again. It's not your fault, you probably read to do this in a dog training article or website somewhere. I think the reason you find this idea still around is it does work on many if not most dogs. But it can backfire and when it does it can be devastating.

There are some things you can do to accustom her to your presence near her food given in the link. You can give her MOre food, but not ever take food away.

https://www.cappdt.ca/UserFiles/File/...%20parents.pdf

Doggone Safe - Home

[Abulafia]

On advice of our breeder, I *did* occasionally take the bowl away when our pup was very little, would put my hands in the food, etc. For the first couple weeks. This was just to make sure that she would be fine w/ people around her food if we needed to be. I haven't done it for a couple of months, but if I do
need to take her bowl for something, she is completely fine with it.

Messing with her now would just be annoying and cruel. I don't like people messing with my food when I am eating it, and I think it's rude to do that to a dog.

[barry581]

I think it's a really bad idea to mess with a dogs food while they are eating. I think what you are doing is creating a problem, based on these comments in your original post.

"She can also stop once we ask her to stop while she is eating her meal, even though she might gobble for a couple of times before she stops."

"She was all fine but I still can tell she was a bit nervous so tried to finish eating quickly."

"she growled for an instant but continued eating."

I make my two "place" while I'm prepping their food. Once I put their bowls down and release them to eat, I leave the room and wait for them to finish and them bring me their bowls.

In essence you are creating the problem you are trying to avoid.

[greagre]

Thank you so much for all of your advice! What you said all make sense to me! And very informative. Yes, I did hear some different opinions from online or my friends. I was told the dogs should be fine whatever we do while they are eating, which sounded cruel to me as well.

Ok, so now I will do these:
(1) Sit close to her but don't mess her while she is eating, to make sure she is comfortable with people around and trust people who are around.
(2) Only occasionally (maybe 1 in 20 times) ask her to stop for a couple of seconds while she is eating, to make sure she is okay in the case we need to get her bowl.
(3) Never take her food and bowl away. If I want to check is she is okay with my hand around, I will only add more food to give her good impression.
Do these sound correct?

[Snowshoe]

No, I don't think those sound correct, #3 maybe partly. If you read the links you will see recommendations on how to handle food, by not handling it. Me, I would back right off and give her a break for a couple of weeks.
#1 I would not sit beside her at all, even after the break.
#2 I would not arbitrarily bother her at all.
#3 in the links you will see that you start by tossing treats to her so that they land near her bowl, then move closer to drop them in. If you want to add food to the bowl then only put a small amount of food in, let her finish that in peace, with no hovering or interference, then pick up the empty bowl and put more in. you should be able to take an empty bowl away but you've built up a lot of reasons for her to mistrust your intentions so I would not do any of it for a couple of weeks.

[Tanya]

Thank you so much for all of your advice! What you said all make sense to me! And very informative. Yes, I did hear some different opinions from online or my friends. I was told the dogs should be fine whatever we do while they are eating, which sounded cruel to me as well.

Ok, so now I will do these:
(1) Sit close to her but don't mess her while she is eating, to make sure she is comfortable with people around and trust people who are around.
(2) Only occasionally (maybe 1 in 20 times) ask her to stop for a couple of seconds while she is eating, to make sure she is okay in the case we need to get her bowl.
(3) Never take her food and bowl away. If I want to check is she is okay with my hand around, I will only add more food to give her good impression.
Do these sound correct?

not to me no. By hovering, removing, making them stop eating you are teaching them that humans around the food bowl = bad things. = will have to stop, = will lose my food. this CREATES only negative associations to humans around the bowl and can create guarding behaviour (and gulping food down quickly).

if you want the dog to be happy to have people around them when they are eating ADD FOOD TO THE BOWL. Add higher valu treats then walk away. just drop it in and leave. this way the dog associates human near bowl to MORE or BETTER food - a positive association.

Don't mess with a dog's bowl. they are allowed to eat in peace. don't ask her to stop. don't just sit near the dog and hover. If you do the above (add food, high valu items) then if anything happens and someone does stick their hand in there or something happens and you HAVE to stop the dog from eating/remove bowl they will accept it much more readily as you put in valu and positive association to humans and the food bowl. (if you ever have that happen really up the positive association for week afterwards.

A LOT of research has been done in the last 20-30 years of dog training, things that used to be recommended and that unfortunately many still do and recommend is outdated and proven false/to have negative associations. this is a great example.

IF you put in work to create a POSITIVE association to humans around teh bowl then sure the dog will allow you to do whatever to the bowl (though again, if you ever have to mess around with it, you have to put more work into re-creating the positive association). But why should a dog just randomly accept a human messing with their food needlessly. A fair "leader" would never do this so to me it's not even a good example of "alpha theory" (I don't believe dogs follow the alpha theory at all either way). No alpha is going to randomly keep messing with the food of the others. Alpha wolf may eat first but he won't mess with the other wolves food ones they start eating.

[smartrock]

I agree with Tanya and Snowshoe on this and start by giving her a long break from any of those actions. However well-intentioned your efforts to make her not guard her food, from your description it sounds like it had the opposite effect and may have increased her mistrust of people near her while she eats.

If there are a lot of people in your household or little kids who cannot keep their hands off the dog while she's eating, you could even consider letting her eat her meals in her crate, if you are using one. If it's just you or you and another adult, just feed her in her usual spot, or pick a new spot to break the association with the former spot, have her sit and wait for her food. Put the bowl down and step away, tell her "OK" or whatever release word you want, and then let her eat without interruption, without walking or sitting by her, without touching her and I'd do this for several weeks before starting any attempts to give her treats or otherwise interrupt while she's eating.

She is already "on alert" for interruptions from you while she's eating and I'd try to give her time to let that feeling extinguish a good deal before trying any of the other techniques.

If this behavior has also started with treats such as chew bones, toys, filled Kongs, etc., it would probably be a good idea not to give her any of those items that trigger the guarding behavior until things have improved with her food bowl. Some dogs guard their food but not toys or treats, some the opposite, some both. I'd just work on one issue at a time. She has to eat, she does not have to have bones, toys, Kongs, etc.

[Tanya]

double post