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The doghouse

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Original poster

Puppy aggression when we eat

42 replies

Tfutcher · 23/04/2023 20:21

We have a five month old King Charles Caviler Spaniel. Now he is generally well behaved, can walk out the lead, has good recall etc.
However, he has always been hard work around food. This started off with his own food, becoming aggressive. Growling and lunging at us. We have been taken this off him and giving it back. Also snag CJ img food off of plates and out of hands.

however lately he has become aggressive when we are eating our own food. Just this afternoon we tried to pull him away from my son as he was bothering him when eating and he bit my husband. Any ideas of what we can do as not concerned he will be dangerous with the kids.

Not sure if this has made it worse, but in the last week we have got a kitten (had a previous cat whilst had him). They get on well.

OP posts:

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:06

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts you do if you wanna teach them who's alpha. Part of the problem is humans treating dogs like humans leads to all these sorts of problems.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 24/04/2023 19:07

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:06

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts you do if you wanna teach them who's alpha. Part of the problem is humans treating dogs like humans leads to all these sorts of problems.

The whole alpha/dominance theory was disproven years ago 🙄

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:12

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts I don't care for studies. After 54 dogs I know what works and doesn't. If you want a dog to be chilled round food teach them manners. End of.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 24/04/2023 19:15

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:12

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts I don't care for studies. After 54 dogs I know what works and doesn't. If you want a dog to be chilled round food teach them manners. End of.

I don't need to show my dog who's "alpha" in order to teach him manners

You do you, though.

TanukiMario · 24/04/2023 19:16

I would try to find something he loves even more than the pig ear. Then i would trade him. So he learns if he gives you the pig ear he gets something even better.
Then just practise. Every time he gives you the pig ear, he gets his super treat and he gets the pig ear back too afterwards.

Its can be more tricky with kids because dogs see them more as playmates. But i dont think kids should ever be taking food from dogs.

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:18

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts ok but tbf I hadn't commented on your post. I commented on ops post.

CuriousGeorge80 · 24/04/2023 19:19

Our dog is poor around food and we’ve not managed to fix it really. There are some things she just cannot have - pigs ears being a good example. We just cannot give them to her as it makes her aggressive. Treats have to be things she can eat in one go so she doesn’t become territorial.

At meal times, she has her first (with plenty of space and we never take it off her). She then goes into a different room for a sleep while we eat.

LabelleLabelle · 24/04/2023 19:25

I give mine treat puzzles as a distraction as he spends ages focusing on getting the treat out and it’s mental stimulation

Newpeep · 24/04/2023 19:34

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:06

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts you do if you wanna teach them who's alpha. Part of the problem is humans treating dogs like humans leads to all these sorts of problems.

Bingo. I was wondering when dominance would come up.

It’s an incredibly outdated view, one which has been disproven time and time again and was never founded in fact anyway.

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:43

@Newpeep I disagree. dogs do like to show dominance and it's usually towards the weaker family member, usually children. Humping can be a sign of dominance after all.

Newpeep · 24/04/2023 19:47

shadowchancesassy · 24/04/2023 19:43

@Newpeep I disagree. dogs do like to show dominance and it's usually towards the weaker family member, usually children. Humping can be a sign of dominance after all.

Humping is often a sign or stress/over arousal. My cat humps. He’s not trying to dominate me (he doesn’t need to - he’s a cat 😂)

KitKatLove · 24/04/2023 19:57

We’ve always taken the food bowl away and returned it from a very young age so our dogs have known that we’re top dog and to avoid any aggression down the line and we have never had any issues. When we eat we’ve always had them in/on their bed and not at the table, they’re crate trained but we get rid of the crate once they’re about two. We’ve had 5 dogs over 28 years.

BeansOnToast32 · 24/04/2023 20:26

I have an almost 10 month old CKCS.

I've never had a dog aggressive with humans around food, usually as puppies I use their meals to teach them commands, sometimes I'll hold something they can eat/lick from like a yoghurt pot or a kong.

"Leave it" was one of the first things I taught before my pup could go on her first walk and I trade where possible.

I never just yank her bowl away even if she's finished eating and just licking it, I'll say "have you finished" and she will just step back because she knows I'm picking her bowl up. She wouldn't actually go for me if I tried to pick it up before, I just don't think it's polite to just snatch it away 😂 I wouldn't want someone to grab my plate because they thought I'd finished.

She will bring her chews and try to chew them on my knee if I let her so she definitely trusts me with her favourite stuff. I do put her in the crate at my meal times because I don't want her to get into the habit of bugging me when eating. I did this with my last dog and she became excellent around my food when older. I could leave a sandwich on the coffee table, walk around the house and it'd still be there when I got back and she'd be laid on the settee.

TobyHouseMan · 24/04/2023 22:31

I won't have a dog I cannot take food/bones away from. Sorry, I know everyone else will disagree with me. But life is a hell of a lot simpler when the dog doesn't have aggressive moods.

It's about putting the dog in their places. I'm the boss and the sooner they realise this the better. A dog lunging at you and biting is under the impression they calls the shots!

One of my labs started to growl when I went near their food. For a couple of weeks I hand fed the dog every single thing they ate - they ate nothing that wasn't out of my hand. They had to sit and wait before each bite. That sorted that problem out and I highly recommend it.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 25/04/2023 07:15

I won't have a dog I cannot take food/bones away from. Sorry, I know everyone else will disagree with me. But life is a hell of a lot simpler when the dog doesn't have aggressive moods.

I couldn't agree more - but the point people are trying to make is that you don't need to randomly take their meals away (with no warning) to achieve this.

You can use positive training and swap, drop, wait or leave it commands to take things from your dog with zero risk of aggression or snapping.

As for putting dogs in their place - I really don't know what to say to people who still believe that - it's been thoroughly debunked numerous times over.

SpeckledlyHen · 25/04/2023 07:26

Im not sure if this is feasible now or whether possible to do with a family but I taught my dog to lie on her bed whilst we ate. It took a bit of persistence. I would serve dinner and ask her to get on her bed. ‘On your bed’ was the command. If she got up, I would stop eating and tell her to get on her bed. I can’t remember if I rewarded her with food but I have a feeling I didn’t, it was just constant repetition of the command and told she’s a good girl when she got back on the bed. It took a few weeks from memory with her getting up far fewer times. She now gets on her bed and sleeps (lays down) whilst we eat. Once everyone is finished I give her scraps and leftovers.

Shes an older dog now but I could have 8 people round for lunch/dinner and she’ll quietly lay in the corner until everyone has finished.

Also she is a hound, very stubborn breed normally but I caught her young and it paid off.

Newpeep · 25/04/2023 10:56

SpeckledlyHen · 25/04/2023 07:26

Shes an older dog now but I could have 8 people round for lunch/dinner and she’ll quietly lay in the corner until everyone has finished.

Also she is a hound, very stubborn breed normally but I caught her young and it paid off.

No dog is stubborn. They just need more or different motivation 😉

That’s what we’ve done with our pup. Bit of vetbed by the table. Treat tossed on when we eat. Another. Another. Over time we created longer gaps between treats. We made it more valuable to lay there than beg. Fast forward a few months she throws herself on her mat and lays down when we sit down to eat and has maybe one or two treats over a meal. If she wanders off bored and doesn’t beg then we just let her. I don’t care what she does as long as it’s not trying to steal our food.

Funnily enough it’s helped self control in other areas too 🙂

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