Our 2 yr old lab is showing food aggression. We noticed this only a couple of times before when we had our other lab, but it wasn't often so we were not sure, until recently, he has food aggression and we have no idea how to fix it. The resources I find is more for resource guarding human to dog, not dog to dog. He is totally fine around any human it's only dogs, it is also only his actual meal times and a dental bone we give him. Help I have no idea who to even call for this. We feed our dogs separate, the puppy eats in his crate and our 2 yr old lab eats in kitchen where he always has. I'm so worried about this.
None of our Labs have ever been food aggressive, but if they were, I would just feed them separately. It is not uncommon, though Labs usually seem a little mellower than some other breeds. When we got Tilly years ago, the Breeder had one female that ruled the roost. She would go take a bite from all the other dogs bowls before they could eat. I didn't see it happen, but that's what the breeder told us.
Thanks, we do feed them separately but I just don't want it to get worse with even treats, as of now that is fine even if one falls on the floor and they both go for it he is fine. I think we will need to look for someone to help with it. I just noticed that you are from Portland Or, so are we, we live in Beaverton (Aloha), I thought most everyone on this forum was in another country.
Actually Tigard, but no one outside of Oregon knows where that is. We have been lucky with food guarding. Even though all our Labs have been starving at every meal time, they have not gotten aggressive about it, so we never had to feed them separately. A lot of people do though.
I’m actually wonder how to train or decrease this behavior as well. We’ve had to take our other little dogs to thevet on four separate occasions for surgery or stitches. We also feed them separately but it has happened with treats or a chewy. I feel we can’t keep her if this continues.
I would talk to a behaviorist as soon as you can, it's very difficult to advise on this kind of situation without seeing the dogs in person. In the meantime it's important to feed your dogs separately. Including treats and snacks. If it's simpler then just stop treats / snacks / bones and other 'recreational food' for now. Your dogs will be fine without them for a while.
Thank you, at this time of the coronavirus it is very difficult to get anyone to help. We do feed them separately and as far as treats go, I have done the exercises where you put the dogs together as close as possible before the resource dog gets mad and do treats feeding the non resource dog first and that is totally fine, they can be touching and he is fine, it's only with actual meals, his bowl, our lab that is doing the resource guarding always runs to our puppies crate when he is done eating and has to look around in there for any food, should we not allow him to do this? We have been forbidding him to do it because that is the "puppies room". Yes it would be easy to shut the door on the crate but everyone seems to forget from time to time.
Pretty much all behaviourists and trainers I know are offering exactly the same services online as they previously were in person - they have to, if they want to survive. This actually means it's never been easier to get help and the choice of who you work with (the world over) has never been so great. IMO the experience is just as good via Zoom as being there in-person - in fact, I'm preferring it and considering my initial consult is always on Zoom even after coronavirus! This doesn't make any difference to the resource guarding, as long as the puppy is not there and isn't feeling pressured by the older dog's looking around. TBH, whenever there are inter-dog issues within the same household it is EXTREMELY difficult to work on them via training - because the dogs are free-range all the time. The solutions are almost always management-based. This means feeding them separately and trying to avoid situations where treats fall on the floor and they both go for them. (Keeping dogs out of the kitchen with a stair gate?) I would also be looking at training each dog to remain on a station whilst you're training the other dog and then to switch, so there is a very clear system of turn-taking in place and all the dogs are clear about whose food is whose, when and where. That clarity is going to enable the avoiding of issues escalating...
