Yesterday my OH gave Holly a bone with bits of meat and marrow, a rare treat. Later on she went to take it away and Holly snarled and snapped and would not give it up. Once she'd taken it away from Holly everything returned to normal. I wasn't there, but the whole thing sounds like food aggression. We've not had this problem with any other food or meals. Holly is usually very docile about food, waiting while we put food down and allowing us to take it off her. The bone seems to have revealed another side of her. Has anyone else encountered this behaviour? If so, how did you deal with it.
Re: Food Aggression Yes, I have! My dog was about 5 months old and had been caged re elbow surgery, friend gave me a bone to give him and suddenly this dear little boy was a snarling beast when I tried to take it off him. Friend who gave me bone was very much into dog behaviour and said to swop it for another bone, which I did. Have never had a moment of trouble since.
Re: Food Aggression I would deal with it by: (A) not giving any food item that cannot be eaten in its entirety and (B) not attempting to take food items away from my dog. It is reasonable for a dog to want to keep a valuable food item. That is not food aggression, it's common sense to a dog
Re: Food Aggression Poppy is the sweetest dog on earth, but I would never try to take a bone away from her without swapping it for something else. She gets all hunched up over her bone and obviously quite anxious if I get too near her, so I leave her in peace. If for some reason I do have to take a bone away from her, I make sure I have something really tempting to give her instead.
Re: Food Aggression Ah Phil, what a shock to hear a snarl from the lovely gentle Holly! I am not an expert (as you know very well!!!) but I would think this is a real one-off, and nothing to worry about. Holly had the most fabulous treat and was enjoying it massively; and maybe she was just a bit grumpy for whatever reason; and then this silly human comes along and tries to take it away; and she just lost her manners. (I can imagine her writing a note to Ruth later today saying "Look mum, sorry about earlier, I really didn't mean it, you just caught me at a bad time....can I get your slippers for you to make up?")
Re: Food Aggression Yes, I definitely wouldn't worry about it. It's not a sign of a problem. Totally normal behaviour.
