FOOD GUARDING
PREVENTING AND FIXING FOOD GUARDING IN DOGS
Food is REALLY important to dogs. Left to their own devices most of their waking hours would be spent looking for and eating food, and they would spend the rest of their time sleeping and digesting food. Guarding food from other dogs, other animals, and even people is a natural dog behaviour, a survival tactic even. Unfortunately a very common problem for dog owners is that their dog growls if people approach him while he is eating, and this can escalate to snapping or biting. We need to teach our dogs that they don’t have to guard their food from us.
FOOD GUARDING FROM A DOG’S POINT OF VIEW
Snoopy loves mealtimes, he can’t wait for his dinner to come and he’s not planning on sharing! Up until now Snoopy’s people have put his food bowl down and left him to eat in peace but Snoopy’s people have just read that you should be able to take food away from your dog and as their baby is now a free ranging toddler they decide to see how ‘good’ Snoopy’s food manners are. Snoopy’s male owner strides over to the bowl while Snoopy is eating, Snoopy is a bit worried as this is unusual. The male owner reaches down and tries to take Snoopy’s bowl which makes Snoopy gobble his food down really fast, but he’d nearly finished anyway. The next day the male owner puts Snoopy’s food down, leaves the room, then walks back in. Snoopy is worried the male owner will take his food again so he stands over the bowl and gives a little growl. The male owner has read that he should hit Snoopy if he growls so he knows who is in charge so he smacks Snoopy on the nose and takes the food away. This happens most evenings for a few days, even the female owner has started taking his food away. Every time he is fed Snoopy gets more and more worried as his people not only steal his food, they hit him as well. Finally Snoopy is so worried that he growls and growls and when the female owner moves her hand to hit him he snaps at her. She doesn’t move quickly enough and his teeth sink into her hand. Snoopy didn’t mean to bite, just to scare her away from his food…but she’s straight on the phone to the vet, “Enough is enough,” she says, “next time it could be our toddler’s face!”
FIXING FOOD GUARDING IN DOGS
Luckily when Snoopy’s owner called the vet she was given the number of a COAPE behaviourist who agreed to come out and see Snoopy. They discussed how to keep the toddler safe while Snoopy learnt new food manners and how Snoopy’s owners would change their behaviour at feeding time. Various options were discussed and tried including hand feeding, scatter feeding, and adding tasty treats to the bowl. It took several weeks of patient practice but before long Snoopy began to trust his owners again. He stopped growling and would sit it they approached his bowl in the hope of getting an extra treat. Because food guarding can have serious consequences we aren’t going to tell you exactly how to fix it here. It is safer for a behaviourist using modern, dog fair techniques to visit and assess your dog. Our vet Vicky is a COAPE behaviourist and is happy to help with this as well as other behavioural issues.
(Snoopy isn’t a real case, he’s just an all too typical example!)
PREVENTING FOOD GUARDING IN DOGS
Prevention is always better than cure. What if Snoopy’s owners had done things differently when they brought him home?
Snoopy’s owners did lots of research before bringing him home, and they spoke to COAPE behaviourist about how to teach him manners around his food. The behaviourist told them they should use his food ration to help train him instead of using lots of treats. Snoopy’s owners held the bowl and when Snoopy did clever things like sitting, or peeing outside, or coming when they called they would feed him from their hands. Being a puppy Snoopy would occasionally get a bit excited and nip his owners when taking the food. When this happened he wasn’t offered any more until he calmed down; Snoopy soon learned to be gentle with his mouth. After a while Snoopy’s owners needed to use less food for training and Snoopy was allowed to eat by himself from the bowl more often. Sometimes they came over to his bowl and added tasty things like bits of chicken. Now when Snoopy sees people coming towards his bowl he steps back to give them lots of room to add treats.
WHAT WE DO
WHAT WE DO AND WHY WE DO IT!
People can be confused by the term ‘holistic’, especially as it seems to be used to sell just about everything. So what does it mean at Four Seasons Holistic Veterinary Care?
HOLISTIC VETERINARY CARE
Holistic care is characterized by the treatment of the whole animal, taking into account mental and environmental factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.
Animals are usually referred for holistic assessment and treatment because they have complex, multiple, or chronic conditions.
We will ask questions about your pet’s diet, exercise, and mood state as well as the main symptoms. All too often a chronic illness means a pet can’t take part in the activities it used to enjoy and a low mood state or poor quality of life can make managing a disease more difficult. We often make changes to what,or how a pet is fed as well as using appropriate games, training and exercise to improve their mood as well as using acupuncture or herbal medicine.
Holistic also means that we use a wider variety of treatments than most primary care practices; we offer herbal medicine, acupuncture, and physical therapy as well as advising on diet, lifestyle, supplements, and behavioural modifications.
HOLISTIC VETERINARY CARE CASE STUDY: THE DEPRESSED PUG
A pug was referred to Four Seasons after diagnosis of a degenerative spinal condition. His pain was well controlled but he seemed to have lost all his spark and his owners were considering euthanasia. A detailed discussion revealed that as his mobility was poor the owners were taking this pug out on his own, then taking the other pugs for their usual walks. It seemed that the pug had a low mood state because he was missing out on walks with his friends. The solution was two-fold; herbs with a proven effect on improving mood and perhaps more importantly getting the pug back with his mates. His owners bought a ‘dog pushchair’ so he didn’t have to do the whole walk and let him out to sniff around with the others. In no time at all his cheerful personality was back and an integrated approach from his referring vet and our vet made a huge difference.
Puppy Training
“WHEN SHOULD I START TRAINING MY PUPPY?”
This is a really common question and the answer is simple…as soon as you get it home. In fact, if you have chosen a good breeder your puppy’s education will have started before it even left the nest box.
EVERYTHING IS TRAINING
As soon as your pup opened it’s eye and ears it started learning about the world. A good breeder will have introduced all sorts of sights, sounds, and experiences in the first two months of life. At this age a puppy can’t learn to be afraid of things so anything it meets is accepted as a normal part of life. Puppies come with lots of ‘pre-programmed’ behaviour too, like not wanting to go to the toilet in their ‘nest’. Good breeders will provide a toilet area (usually on newspaper or puppy pads) so even house training is started before you pick your puppy up!
TRAINING IS FUN
Many older dog books will tell you not to start training until a pup is 6months or a year old, but as long as the training is in small bite and is always fun it makes sense to start while your pup is young and ever so eager to learn. Most puppies really want to be with their new person, and most puppies a really into their food so why not use these two things to teach a great recall?
At dinner time instead of giving your pup it’s food from the bowl use it for some training. Throw a bit of food away from you so the pup chases it down…then encourage pup back to you with another bit. What a fun game! And there’s food! Pretty soon you can say “Fido Come!” just before you show the food in your hand and hey presto Fido has learnt a recall, and most importantly that coming back to the person is fun.
Playing training games like this with your pup is a great way to build a bond, prevent food issues, and start teaching your pup without it even realising.