Food Guarding

[Charlotte K.]

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[Charlotte K.]

Last night at feeding time, Forest became very aggressive. He was running around my son growling. I took a hold of his collar, not roughly, and told him no, and he immediately stopped. No food had even come out yet! It was simply meal time. It was at that moment I knew that he had to go back to the breeder. I talked to her on the phone for quite some time this morning, and she was so nice. She is meeting me at a half way point as she is a couple of hours away, on Thursday. We are sad but all of us feel this is the wisest choice. When I told my son, and asked him how he feels about Forest living somewhere else, he said he felt good, and told me that he is afraid of Forest.

Good choice. It became apparent that your child is not to be in the room at feeding time. Please crate or otherwise confine Forest then and crate him when taking him back if your son must go with you in the vehicle. It is hard to know what is going through the dog's mind and reflexes. Your home is not a good fit for him, and you are making the right, if hard, decision.

[windycanyon]

I have held off responding, as what I am about to state is not going to be popular. Good Labs don't bite people on purpose, past the little puppy, landshark phase. They should have bred-in-the-bone bite inhibition. I find that once they cross that line, there is no going back. My advice, without knowing you, Forest, the trainer, the veterinary behaviorist or the breeder: take the breeder up on the offer. Or just send him back to the breeder. This is too huge an issue around other children who might come into the house. I say this as someone who has done rescue for decades. I once had a food guarding Lab I rehabilitated over years, but he had been found literally starving in a state park in the winter. It took months to get his weight and condition truly normal. He had a valid excuse, but never, ever bit or scratched my son, even with all his noise. Granted, I took precautions at first. I have had others who had the issue come into rescue, and I found them impossible to totally trust over time. He may not have been socialized well and not trained well, or he may just be one of those dogs born a certain way. May all go well, no matter what you decide.

I"m in my super busy work time right now but you hit this nail on the head. I actually responded to an email (rescue) a few days ago and the woman argued with me over my answer that none of our vetted rescues would take in a human aggressive lab and she needed either to find the breeder or find a good behaviorist. She argued that the dog (new rescue belonging to co-worker's older mom) wasn't human aggressive yet the dog had bit the woman MULTIPLE times a few days earlier. Yikes..... this was a 1yo lab.

[barry581]

Many years ago I took in a dog who was returned to his breeder for being food aggressive with the other two dogs he was living with. He was a 4 year old neutered black Lab. At the time I also had Fannie, who was 9 years old at the time. I went into the situation with my eyes wide open and had a long conversation with his breeder. I had observed Jake with the breeders other dogs, playing out in the yard, and he showed no outward signs of any aggression, just playing like a normal Labrador. I brought him home and introduced him to Fannie out in front of the house, and it was all smiles and waggy tails. I was pretty cautious at feeding times, feeding them in the same room, but I always stood between them. Not one issue. These two happily co-existed for almost two years, until one morning when my wife was feeding them, Jake went after Fannie. My wife was able to break up the fight, and no one was injured. I was very cautious after that during feeding, putting them in separate rooms when the ate. A week after the first incident, he went after Fannie again, this time it was after they had finished eating, and the bowls had been picked up. Fannie had a pretty good sized tear in one of her ears and was bleeding pretty good. I took her to the E vet the bandaged her up and she was healed up just fine. Once back from the E vet I emailed the breeder regarding the incident, and told her he had to go back to her. I took him back to her two days after the incident, and she had him put to sleep, which really broke my heart. Other than the food aggression, Jake was a great dog, but there was no way he could ever be trusted around another dog.

When you have an issue like this, you just never know when the will have a bad reaction. Jake and Fannie were perfectly fine for almost 2 years, but for what ever reason he reverted to the aggression issues. Even though he had never had an issue with a human, I would not have trusted him around children.

To the OP - As hard as it is, I think your making a great decision to let Forrest go, there is no sense in testing fate with the safety of your kids.

[Labradorks]

I'm sorry it came to this but I am really glad that you have a breeder who is a decent person and is doing the right thing for the dog she brought into this world. Very, very sad for this dog.

When I did rescue, the food guarding was a huge issue. We euthanized all but one food guarder who came into our rescue, despite behaviorist evaluation and care and placement into experienced (albeit, Lab-experienced) adult homes, and then we had to put our foot down and not take in anymore because of the risk and heartbreak that our board and volunteers experienced when they had to be euthanized. So, they can be managed (not entirely sure about rehab), but it's hard, very risky and not possible with every dog.

And, I will say, that your post about the dog simply being undersocialized is just not true. So many dogs that grew up tied to a tree would never dream of biting or resource guarding, no matter how hungry they got. This could have been a fear or defensiveness thing, however. And, if not, it sounds like poor breeding and/or a screw loose in this dog (which can happen in a well-bred dog, but is rare).

[Melly]

I'm sorry it came to this but I am really glad that you have a breeder who is a decent person and is doing the right thing for the dog she brought into this world. Very, very sad for this dog.

When I did rescue, the food guarding was a huge issue. We euthanized all but one food guarder who came into our rescue, despite behaviorist evaluation and care and placement into experienced (albeit, Lab-experienced) adult homes, and then we had to put our foot down and not take in anymore because of the risk and heartbreak that our board and volunteers experienced when they had to be euthanized. So, they can be managed (not entirely sure about rehab), but it's hard, very risky and not possible with every dog.

And, I will say, that your post about the dog simply being undersocialized is just not true. So many dogs that grew up tied to a tree would never dream of biting or resource guarding, no matter how hungry they got. This could have been a fear or defensiveness thing, however. And, if not, it sounds like poor breeding and/or a screw loose in this dog (which can happen in a well-bred dog, but is rare).

What i mean about being undersocialized is not having been socialized to children. As Forest doesn't resource guard with myself, my husband or my teenage daughter. But, that being said I know there are dogs from far worse life situations that would never do any of this.

[silverfz]

Kids come first and you cannot have an incident . We went down the same path . I became friends on face book to the new owner and she says he is an amazing dog except for kids. He can handle them just not 24/7.




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[Shelley]

I am really glad that you sought help, and reached out to the breeder. I am very sorry what you are going through, and I know it was a tough decision for everyone, but I agree it is the best thing for the dog, and your family. Hang in there, my thoughts are with you.

[Melly]

The breeder has made us an exceptionally generous offer. She has 1 puppy left from this year's litter that didn't sell or the buyer backed out, not sure. Anyway she has offered her to us at no cost. She feels badly she said for what we have gone through. We are considering it but not sure if we want to go the puppy route. Having never owned labs before, can someone point me at some articles or talk to me about what to expect from lab pups?

[smartrock]

There are a number of articles available, here's one:

Before You Adopt | Brookline Labrador Retriever Rescue

There may be some on the board but I'll have to look and come back to share the links.

Here's one link that discusses biting and nipping that can be part of the package. A young pup is not being aggressive, labs are a very mouthy breed and they use their mouths for everything. It would be good to know about it ahead of time, especially in light of Forest's recent behavior.

Puppy biting!

You should also look over this article. I don't know how much you know about the breeder and what health clearances she does or how she selects the breeding pair or anything like that. Ideally the parents will have had several health clearances done on hips elbows, eyes, heart, EIC, things like that. It doesn't guarantee the pup will never have any health or temperament issues but you stack the deck in your favor to find a breeder who does all the clearances, breeds for good temperament, etc.

Selecting A Puppy - The Labrador Retriever Club, Inc.