As a foster, I need to be prepared to answer questions about dogs in my care. One question not always thought of is "What can trigger an aggressive response?" Many of the dogs come with incomplete histories, so I often run the pups through a gantlet of scenarios to see how they react. Right now I want to talk about food aggression.
Even the best of dogs can have some food issues, so I don't typically consider it a deal breaker. However, it is vitally important that we can paint an honest picture of dogs available for adoption to make sure the match is forever. Food aggression could mean nothing to a family with no children or other dogs, or everything to a family with both. When we get a foster dog I end up checking their levels of food aggression and their triggers systematically.
Dogs first start out with meals in their crates. This actually ends up being very helpful to nervous dogs who are over whelmed with all the changes. From here I can also see the pace and interest in kibble. Some dogs inhale the food, others graze, some only eat when they see others eating. If I have multiple fosters in the house, my next step is to start each meal with pups in their crates. Then I will let them out, one at a time, directing them to their specific bowl, based on the speed that they eat. I always stay in the room to play referee. Invariably, one will try to wander over to another bowl. I just guide them back to theirs and pick up all the bowls once a meal is done. What I'm looking for here is which dogs try to muscle and how each dog reacts to the proximity.
From this baseline of kibble at meal time, I can test if different foods trigger different responses. We
feed a variety of food and snacks here, and expose our fosters to them little by little. Biscuits,
dried meats, can food,
home made dog food, bully sticks, cooked meats, raw meats. Those last three are the ones to watch for severe reactions.
Before any snack I make sure that each dog is sitting. Once they are chomping away, I approach, and then walk away. A little later, I come back, this time a little closer, and walk away. Lastly, I walk on over, say "good boy/girl" and give them a pat. With Relay it doesn't matter what the food is, if I came over and took it straight out of his mouth, he would not react at all. Some of my fosters may growl a little until they figure out I mean no harm. Only on two occasions have I encountered an aggressive response.
It was actually our very
first foster, Holly who bit me. We had never had any indication of food aggression up to the incident. I gave her a bully stick and she went over to the couch to chomp away. Both Jeff, Relay and I were in the living room, moving around. I sat on the couch and she growled. Thinking I would send her to 'time out' I motioned towards her, and snap. This sweet little beagle, loving as the day was long, clamped down on my hand and took out a chunk for good measure.
Looking back I can tell I took her sweet, submissive demeanor for granted. Also, I wasn't paying enough attention to her physical cues. But the good news was I now knew that there was a problem to address. I trained with her over the course of the next few weeks until I was able to give her that same bully stick, take it away and give it back, and sit next to her, petting the whole time as she enjoyed it. And before she was adopted, I made sure to inform the family.
I am by no means professional dog trainer, but a year of living with pups, smoothing out their rough edges, research, and good old fashioned trial and error is helping me become a better foster mom. As I figure things out, I'll be sure to share my two cents, but I'm always looking for insights. So, what about you? Ever encounter food aggression? What worked, what didn't?
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