Dog training-possessiveness with food:
Though sometimes some of us would probably like to believe otherwise, food is a dog’s primary priority, so the very first step to reliable training is to identify yourself as the pack leader, this can be achieved by showing him that he can only receive his food at your discretion and command. Provide him his meal, allow him to eat for a few seconds, then take his bowl away from him. Incorporate an appropriate sound each time you do so, such as “leave” or “away”, and keep the bowl for a few seconds. As long as he didn’t show any aggressive behavior as you removed the bowl, tell him ‘good boy’, give it back and permit him to carry on eating. Replicate this a few times during each meal for a few days, then once or twice a week for a few weeks.
Some dogs are never possessive with their food, but you might possibly find that if your dog came from a huge litter, the only way he could obtain his share of the food was to threaten his brothers and sisters. Finding this action achieved the desired outcome (getting more food), he may well try it with you. If you don’t sort this out very early on, this possessiveness will shift to other things, such as bones, toys, furniture and so on, perhaps even to other members of the household.
To stop him being aggressive with his meals, don’t give him ownership of it! By this I suggest feed him by hand for a few weeks. Make his meals in the dish as usual, but don’t put the bowl on the floor for him. Simply feed him a handful at a time. The bowl of food on the floor almost instinctively will make him want to protect it, so if he is not put in this position of needing to guard, he will not bite!
Feeding by hand also helps if your dog is aggressive in other areas. It makes him wholly reliant on you for the most significant thing in his life, his meals, and this will reinforce your positioning of the alpha dog, as he is only getting the food from you and not from the container. You can also use this period of hand feeding to your advantage by making him execute some small order from you for some of the food. Get him to sit first before one handful, or to lie down for the next, and so on. Don’t make him run around for the food as this could cause digestive issues.
You will find that after a few weeks of this regime, his general manner over possessions will adjust. You can then try giving him his food in a bowl again, and, as long as there is no sign of aggression, continue to feed him normally.
For dogs that are food dominant, do not give them bones or toys, as they will try to protect these in the same way. Once the food possession has been sorted out, you can try releasing a squeaky toy, but make sure the dog understands that it is your toy, and he is only allowed to play with it with you, and when you determine the game is to end, you must end up with the toy.
