Question on Food aggression
 

My Girl has a ton of aggression isses, this one is very mild but as she tends to be mild for a long time then she blows to a bigger step in aggression. I like some ways to handle this before she jumps in her aggression level.
So you know she will and has used her teeth to protect her self.
She is great with drop it and take it not so great at leave it but improving.
Not food though if it on the ground and it gets in her mouth before a leave it good luck. I can remove things from her mouth and not get bite.
When she eats she will speed up and clear the bowl faster if someone enters her space, she to date has not snapped at or bite in this area of aggression.
But as I said she tends to be mild in many things till she does bite.
I know she not great with men and she been fine for a while till this pasted Nov when she went after someone. My fault I missed she was in trouble.
So she can go for a long time with aggression being mild and then go off.
Any thoughts on how to make sure this is improved.

Joy

The one thing I've always read for food posession is to drop treats in the bowl when you walk by. Or to toss them to her. She then learns that people entering her space when she is eating is a good thing.

The funny thing for me is that while Loki is sometimes object posessive he is not protective of his food bowl. When he was a pup I'd sit next to him and just stick my hand in the bowl and then feed him a piece or two, while he was eating. I bet you can't get that close, though. Try chicken or high-value treats and slowly get closer? Have men try this too. She will begin to think that all men entering the kitchen (or wherever) are there to give her yummy food.

Do you get the Dog Whisperer on your TV? His name is Cesar Milan. He works with a lot of dogs with aggression problems. :animal36

my yorky
 

Hi am jayne from england i wanted to know what do you give yorkys to eat he eats everythink you give him my mums dog use to eat rice and chicken.. could you please help :animal36

I am going to give this a try.
Thanks

Joy

I work with aggresson as well.
That show is banned from my home.
Makes aggression look like an easy fix when it takes a life time of stress, pain, frustration and time. lifetine not, 3o mintues, not a month, not a year, a life time. This is the way this girl will be for life and that is fine.
This thing called aggression is not a fixable thing it is only managable depending on the dogs age and mental make up.
Managemant can look like a fix but it is not it is skill on the owners part.

Joy

Your best responce to this question be in the health section here.
I suggest that you ask there.
I feed mine only a high quality dog food.

Joy

:confused: Im' sorry didnt you ask for other members thoughts? I'm sorry you disagree. But it was my thought on your question. :confused:

I am down to the fine details of rehab.
He is not able to help in this area but thanks for the thought.

Joy

Joy, once again you are showing what a wise woman you are! Very few people would recognize this as an early warning sign of food guarding (which could turn into aggression).

Joey was exactly the same - not growling or snapping or anything, but obviously not comfortable when someone entered his space when he was eating. We've worked through it for the most part (he's fine now with family, but still displays the behavior you describe when strangers are in the kitchen). I found the following 2 articles to be helpful:

http://k9deb.com/foodguar.htm

http://www.clickersolutions.com/arti...ctguarding.htm

The ClickerSolutions article starts out with object guarding (which is treated similiarly). Toward the end, it talks about food guarding.

Basically, it's treated as Erin suggested but these sites give more detail. You can begin by just walking by when the dog is eating, saying the dog's name, and dropping a treat nearby. When your girl, stops eating to look up for her treat, you know you can progress. Very gradually progress to touching the dog's hind quarters after talking softly to her, and dropping the treat. Progress until dog is comfortable with you petting her and putting treats IN her bowl.

Other steps you can use are only giving her small amounts of food so that she has to look to you for more. You can also hold her bowl the entire time she eats, adding more to it as she finishes what is in.

Jean Donaldson's little book MINE! Practical Help for Resource Guarding is a good guide. She raises an interesting point that is contrary to what I would have thought (but I believe she's right). She says being right there beside them the whole time they eat (even holding their bowl) obviously is a threat, but actually is LESS threatening to the dog than approaching from further away when the dog is eating. She also says approaching from different angles increases the threat. Interesting stuff!

Joy, you know that I admire and respect you and your views on dog training :thumbup: but I got the impression from an earlier thread that you had never seen the show. :confused: If it is "banned from your home" based on what other training experts that you respect and what they have said or written then I respect that too.

I don't think that Caesar Millan has ever given the impression that rehabilitating an aggressive dog is easy, simple, or can be done in 30 minutes. On the contrary, he is very careful to advise that it is a lifetime of hard work and effort on everyone's part.

I just would hate for any members here to miss an opportunity to learn some valuable training info from the show because of reading what you wrote. I wish you would at least maybe watch a few episodes and judge for yourself. JMHO.

I respect your opinion but if it is not based on personal knowledge of the show then I don't think it is quite fair to criticize based on third party hearsay. No offense intended. :thumbup:

:lightbulb I have an idea. What if we kept THIS thread about the original question - food aggression - and left Cesar Milan out of it?

It's a radical idea, I know, but we've recently debated Cesar Milan (& it went poorly, I might add). Food aggression, on the other hand, isn't something that's been discussed lately.

But Cesar Milan deals with food aggression. I was only giving my thought on the subject "food aggression". I'm sorry If it was not well recieved. Maybe next time it should read "food aggression, but no Cesar Milan fans". :lightbulb

Please stop with Cesar Millan
 

I'm sorry Yorkiemum that this is off topic but it needs to be said so we can go back to addressing your post.

PLEASE STOP with Cesar Millan. She (and others of us) has made is perfectly clear that we are not interested in his show. I have watched some of it on the internet and I asked my own trainer about it last night. She confirmed that his training techniques are not positive. If you have a specific suggestion that she can consider trying, please share. Telling her to just watch his show is not adding anything to this thread. Why is it necessary to follow her to multiple threads to continue this? Please read ONE of the 15 books we've listed over the last few days and you will understand. Then we can debate some more. Start with "The other end of the leash"

Yorkiemum works with a trainer, as do I. We post because we want to know what others have tried with their Yorkies. Please give specific suggestions. There is already a thread about Cesar. There are many of us who have read the books, consulted with the trainers, done our OWN reseach. When we try to share this information with others or when we try to ask a question ourselves we are shot down by the I love Cesar fan club. Why can people not be respectful. The debate belongs elsewhere. Please take it there.

As I said before his is not for a fine tuning which is what I need.
This is not a blow up in your face aggression thing with the food guarding, as it stands now and is with a dog that goes into collapse with anything other then a ahah.
Even seen a dog have an adrenilne dump. Not pretty at all.
Do you even know what that is? Until November I not even heard of it.
I rather not have seen it and never again do I want to.
So I like to do this in multiple steps and go extremely slow. Without the dog tossing off calming signals even other second. Any idea what a calming signal is? How and why a dog uses it and the many diffenrnt ways it can be used?
I have seen him work and for me it will not work for others they can do as they wish.
But after having come close not once but twice to haveing no choice but to put my girl down as her brain got so badly scrambled, I am not willing at this time to play around with anything less than a hands off and overly gentle way. Hands off meaning my hands or anyone elses never need to touch her to teach anything.
I can not have to call my vet crying saying " we are lossing her ever again."
Watch my girl shake and spin and slam herself into a tree because she so hurt in her head she does not know how to stop it.
I am lucky I have one of the best aggression behaviourist in my area to work with and that is who I will be takeing guidence from. One who was held my girl in her arms and was hurt when I hurt and loves this girl as much ass I do.
That even smiles and celabrates the small joys of the baby steps of progress like her laying down at the office or backing out of a problem and asking for help.
Do you know what it looks like for a dog to ask for help?
This is serious stuff I am doing for me it is my dogs life and her being able to be comfortable here in the world.
This still could come down to her not being here and that is a fact I have had to face. One of which in my attempt to teach I had hope non of you will ever have to face because of aggression.
May non of you ever be where I have been.
Thanks for all your input.

Joy

Why doesn't this work both ways ? Both those that want to hear about him and his training program and those that don't should receive the same respect.

i just got my first yorkie hes 6 weeks old i need all kind of tips :D

I am with you I am looking for the tips and ignoring the bickering.

I agree....not everyone agrees about the techniques used by every trainer and some things work for some and not for others so if these threads are to teach ALL members not just those who don't like a certain trainer then I think it is only fair to allow ALL training methods which might help someone be discussed in a civil and respectful manner.

I have several trainers, my dogs are service dogs, and I have been obedience training my own dogs since 1972. I have never had a "red zone" dog before so I am unfamiliar with that level of training. I am pleased that the forum finally has an active training section as I feel training is so important for the well being and safety of the dog. I would like to participate and would hate to feel like I have to be careful what trainer I quote for fear that he or she may not be one that some of you agree with.

Let's keep this friendly. :)

Yorkie Mum and I have a mutual respect and have communicated privately. I don't think she has a problem with my post and I think it is fair to ask everyone to watch the show before you judge it. If you decide from your own personal experience that you do not care for it, then you can say why what you saw bothered you and why it wasn't "positive" as you define that word. There are a lot of people who are just getting "turned on" to training their dog BECAUSE of the popularity of the show and even those who may not agree with all of his techniques would have to agree that is a GOOD THING.

Back on topic now.......

Here is some interesting advice on handling food aggression:

Here are some suggestions for coping with food-guarders, compliments of Fisher and behaviorist/author Jean Donaldson (Dogs Are From Neptune):

* Practice being close to the dog during feeding time by hand-feeding. Encourage the dog to take the food without grabbing or nipping-say "gentle." (This is a good technique to practice even if the dog has not exhibited food aggression.)

* Feed twice vs. once daily (the same daily amount fed over two meals).

* Change the food bowl as well as its location to a place free of stimuli that might trigger mistrust.

* If you have two or more dogs, feed them in separate areas, or even in their crates.

* Buy two similar feeding dishes. Place one bowl on the floor and put the food in the other. When he dives into the empty bowl, put a couple of spoonfuls into the floor bowl, adding food in small quantities, until the dog finishes the food, then take the bowl away.

* This slows down a gulper and also establishes you as controller of the food.

A behavior modification plan:

* Start with a low-intensity version of the bite-triggering scenario. Stand at a distance from the dog and the food. Then as the dog appears comfortable with you at a certain distance, gradually decrease the distance.

* Use a less desirable food item.

* Vary the setting and stimuli. Try a new food, new dish, different room and different time of day for feeding.

* Decrease the distance and increase the desirability of the food item very, very gradually.

* Never smack a dog in response to a food guarding response; this tends to teach him to dislike your hand and often will toughen a dog's resolve to protect his food. However, you do need to nip this behavior in the bud. Once the dog learns that aggression allows him to "win" the food, he may try this tactic with resources and possessions other than food.

An effective strategy is to establish yourself and other people in the home as the controller of all resources.

* Call your dog to you, and immediately reward his arrival with a small food treat and say "take it" at that moment. This will reestablish a conditioned response.

* If the dog tries to snap the treat from your fingers, command "GENTLE!" and withhold it until the dog takes it politely. Then praise "good dog." Repeat this several times.

* Next, delay giving the treat for a few seconds. If the dog jumps for the treat, close your hand and say "OFF." Ignore the dog until he calms down. As explained on http://canines.com, the dog will learn that the owner controls the treats.

Hope this helped someone out there.

Thanks for this and Erins post as well.
Just when I thought I was out of the woods for reading got more to do.
I have not read "Mine" got a couple others of hers on my shelf.
I have one on order let you know more when it gets here and my trainer wants me reading another one but I forgot the name.
We are not haveing a great this week but just got home from being away.
Nice to be back on carpet instead of hardwood, she can not get the energy out that she need.
Being away is ok it just the gravel to work the energy level down is hard as not the best thing for her feet.

Tonight we are playing to see if we can get the edge off.
She a little strung out right now
Hope it ok am going to snag your post to read in bed.
Little light reading to end the day.

Joy

Thanks..it helped me.