Recent food/water aggression

[Mike]

My 6 1/2 mo male has just recently started showing aggression (growling) with his food and water. i have a 7yo female boxer that seems to be the victim.  she is very laid back and never in a hurry to eat. she typically waits for him to eat.  my young daughter typically feeds the dogs just to help her maintain a status above him and have not had any issues in that regard. she will hand feed him from his bowl before releasing him to eat, but he has began to growl at my female boxer if she tries to approach his food or water bowl. if he sees her or one of my cats go into the kitchen he will run in there to make sure nobody is messing with his bowls. i need some help with what to try as i do not want this to escalate at all. thanks

[Lee May]

Lisa I wouldn't necessarily call it wrong I know plenty of people who allow it. But something I do not allow. I prefer balance and respect of my rules, so everyone knows to follow rules when I'm or my family aren't home. If they can not share a big bed then they should have their own and only be able to sit lay on their known bed. I would look at the pushing out very closely esp. if your talking about BB's they can be very protective and want the spot where they can see your entrance way and you. If that is the case I wouldn't really call it bullying but showing protective instincts so bed placement may need to be changed for that dog. And older dog should be given another bed  a few ft. away from watch post. Where it's just their bed and their place only. When you allow a pushy dog to keep moving older smaller dog they become kinda like kids and want more, (give a inch take a mile). Don't walk here you stay there, I own this. Which doesn't allow older dog to be comfortable like they use to. Even with puppies if they play thats fine but when other dog is ready for it to stop, you should make sure they do. 100% of the time so they know play time is up. This goes for furniture as well if you allow that, share or no one is allowed. Try to be Balanced and fair. 

[Lisa Tiro]

OK, well it's not an issue now because Bella has unfortunately passed. Brandi wasn't as crippled then but she did submit to Bella when she did this. Bella would just look at her and she would leave. This must have been a sign of what was to come with her dominance. I will be very aware of this with Axel as he matures. The placement of the beds are both in the foyer about 10 feet apart in front of the door. They are both big beds and no particular dog's bed. They all share. We have taught Axel not to try and play with Brandi because she is so frail. He likes lying next to me in the kitchen anyway so there are no issues with that so far. I keep gates nearby just in case he tries to bother her. I am glad I asked you about this because there are so many schools of thought on the subject. Thanks Lee!

~Lisa

[Lee May]

Sorry I forgot to mention Great Job Jennifer and Lisa, I was rushing to get out of the house earlier. You and all in your house esp. if you have small children should be able to bump walk by and put your hand in your dogs bowl. Best to start this day one with puppies. If you haven't done this before, this start with Adults and hand feeding slowly watch and read your dog. Safety first. Many kids get bit by dogs this way, sometimes just a bump by accident. Ok be well. and Peace Lee

[Lisa Tiro]

Great advice Lee!

[Leslie Arnold]

Great to read such an interested and well versed group of dog owners! Resource guarding is a challenging behavior; especially when there are multiple dogs in the same household. There are two things we do around here - one is preventative, and the other is corrective. On the preventative side; we spend a lot of time teaching deference - the dogs have to sit and wait for food and be invited to eat. I always say to my dogs - "by invitation only" - it's kind of my mantra.

On the corrective side, once I see a young dog start this behavior; I get some long beef stick type treats; sit the dogs down and feed them little bits at a time in tandem. I drag out the tandem feeding for as long as I can by restricting the size of nibble that the dog's can take. Any sign of tension and the treat is removed. As soon as the dog relaxes - the treat is re-introduced.

[Marco]

Great to see others replying to this topic, everyone has some great points to share.  Mike I hope things are getting better for you.  Always just make sure the rules are clear for all the dogs in the house.  The family should know them, and follow by them exactly.  If they do not, its a good idea to leave them out of the training process till a bit older, especially with a large dominant breed.  I would also make sure that everything in the dogs mind belongs to you.  That you can give, and take away at anytime.  Some dogs however can be very possessive, which can be the case with most dominant  dogs.  Make sure your dogs know an out command or leave it first off.  You don't want to be pulling something out of the mouth or reaching in on a high  drive dog, it can build upon the drive.  What you are trying can be done with the right know how, and training.  Though the fact that you have kids running around, and in the middle of things its best not to attempt it.  As I mentioned in my first post what might work best is just to seperate them while they are eating.  I have kids that run all over the place. My two would eat in their kennels, across the room from each other.  If you were mainly running this pack on your own, and in a controlled environment, might be a different story then.  I wish you all the best!

[Mike]

Marco, Glad to see you back! Thank you for your concern. Things have gotten a lot better just by moving their bowls apart. Since working with him more he has started to lay down and wait for my female to eat before he eats. Just a few minor changes in the way we do things has made a large impact on his behavior. My wife and I are able to approach him while eating with no problems at all and the kids we make stay out of the kitchen just in case.He does know "leave it" and will give me his toy when we are playing if asked. Not to mention I have had to dig in his mouth fairly often to retrieve stolen items from the kids rooms. He seems to have no problem with my hand being all the way in his mouth. So far so good and I thank everyone for responding. I learn something new here daily.