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High Value Food Aggression in 1 yo Boerboel Male

maedae

Member
Hank the Boerboel just turned 1 year old. He is in tact, 65kg and we have had him since he was 9 weeks old. We have always worked hard to keep him from having food aggression issues. We make him wait for us to give him the OK to eat his food. We can take his food bowl away from him, no problem. He listens when we put down treats and tell him to "leave it". All that is just fine.

The problem recently is that when we give him very high value treats, like meaty bones, he is extremely defensive of his food. I can feed him the bone from my hand and tell him to leave it and he will listen. I can put it down, let him chew a few seconds and take it from him. No problem. However, if I let him really get into the food, he will growl at me if I come anywhere close. He will snap at me if I try to reach down and take it. I can't even walk by him while he has the bone without him growling and getting in a very tense aggressive stance.

We have a 5 month old baby, so we are of course worried about when she is up and walking around, besides our own safety since a bit from him would be really terrible. We want to be responsible dog owners so any advice would be really great. TIA!
 

DMikeM

Well-Known Member
Right now the first thing I would tell you never allow your child anywhere near him while he is eating "PERIOD". No child should have access to a dog while it is eating for any reason except to actually feed the dog and walk away.

Now start teaching him the out or drop it command with ordinary treats foods. or toys. He must release the item on his own consistently. Then while he is eating a high value bone, bring another high value treat near but not real close (don't invade his zone) and tell him to out the first treat and have him come to you to get the new one. Do this a few times while moving closer every other time. Once you can be right next to him and him not growl or become uncomfortable tell him to drop the treat and let him see the new one but don't let him have it until you can reach down and pick up the original treat. It takes work and nerves of steel but you can get him used to you being right there. If he continues growling you need to tell him no and remove the item. Leashing him is a good idea during this training.
I also tell my dogs flat out NO! when they growl at each other over food and will use my legs to push them aside and take the food away, make them sit and behave. Then I will return the food to them.
 

gilles

Well-Known Member
DMIKE has a good advice...bu what you are describing is very normal...once he gets into his bone and chews on it for a while he becomes very possesive of it and that is very common ...volka was the same way....and sometimes still...DMIKe 's advice is good but you have to do it for a while do not expect results in one day...also do not lead him into such situations..for example when i give volka a chew bone to chew and eat i give hiom one that is small enough and easy to eat so he can finish it quickly...i don t give him the chance to think about resource guarding..big bones mean he will keep it and guard it ...try toi avoid such things...give him enough food to finish and not to guard ..it is always advisable even with the best trained dogs not to let children near a big dog while he is eating. anyways i think your dog is fine just be patient , train him and avoid situations with confrontation and resource guarding, remember it is his instinct it takes a while to break it.
 

maedae

Member
Thank you so much for the advice!

We have no trouble doing the "drop it" command with lower value treats, but it seems we need to up the ante so to say.

We will of course never leave our child unsupervised with such a big dog. And that goes double for when he is eating. But it is good to be reminded of it. It is probably also a good idea to only give him smaller bones and leave him alone to eat it.

To be honest, we have been having a similar problem with baby pacifiers. He will drop those when I offer treats. I guess we still have some more work to do with him with the bones.
 

DMikeM

Well-Known Member
I think Boerboels are a possessive breed in general. It comes with being protective. Protect the home, the family and protect my treat. Almost all dogs will guard resources but it can be trained down or mellowed out. I am constantly stopping my baby Boerboels from getting into it over food. I pick up the angry pup and set him on the next bowl, and continue to do it until he stops his growling. I can stick my hand in the food bowls any time I like and even remove fresh chicken legs from them and they behave, but to each other they can be monsters.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I've always used the 'trade-up' method... which gets harder and harder with the high-value items, for sure.
But, as longs as the dog THINKS you have something better, it still works.

Also, practicing the 'drop it' - where you take the item, look at it, play with it, then give it back can also help.
Basically letting the dog know that just because you take an item, doesn't mean they won't get it back. No need to get all growl-ly and upset, if sitting calmly means the item comes back to you.

"to get the treat, you must first give up the treat" - doggie Zen
 

corsotx

Well-Known Member
my pup had the same food aggression earlier when he was 10 weeks old. We used the hand feeding method and it worked. No problem ever. Recently, at 5 months old, he began growling without teeth in some occasion. I found out that he would have food possession when it is bigger piece as I am feeding raw. As much as I like him taking him time to chew the bones I have now feed in smaller chunks. Hope it helps.
 

karennj

Well-Known Member
I would also do a trade and teach a good drop or out command. It is much better for the dog to decide to give up the item. I also would stop taking things from him to prove you can. I never understood that really. The aggression is usually fear of you taking something away from them. If you keep taking good things away from him eventually he will catch on and decide he no longer wants you coming near to take away whatever he has. Make you approaching when he has a bone a really good thing. Give him a bone and for a few weeks keep walking by (slowly moving closer and closer) and drop hotdog or steak in front of him. Do this while your working on your out command. If you give him something even better every time you walk by he is going to start to associate you coming near as a positive thing vs. a negative.