Food Aggression

[440rider]

I have 3 dogs the oldest is 7yrs and the other 2 are 11mo. old female littermates. One of the females is very food aggressive. I usually seperate them when feeding (and also when I'm out all dogs are seperated), but the one female is very food/treat/toy aggressive. I know that 2 females especially littlermates are prone to not getting along as well as female and males do. All 3 dogs get along great and actually sleep in the same chair and never have problems unless toys or food are present. Well, the other night I had the food container pulled out and it wasn't even open and my female went over to it and my male dog walked up next to her and she just spun around and grabbed his ear. Her dove on her and as My girlfriend and I were seperating them the third dog jumped in. No holds were taken just all 3 were trying to get at the closest one. I need advice! How do I solve this food aggression problem?

[DEACON ROM]

split dogs up only way separate feeding times.

[440rider]

I feed them all seperatly and keep then contained seperatly when I'm gone. The main prob is my one female. She does growl when I put my hands in her bowl and positions herself to where you cant get to her food while she's eating. She'll keep moving from side to side when i'm standing near her to make sure I dont get closer to her food whn i'm walking to either side. She is not agressive in any other ways with humans besides the food bowl. I can put my hands all over her take her toys /treat /and disipline her it's just the food situation I want to resolve.

[DEACON ROM]

dam i thought you meant aggressive toward other dogs.......i d keep my eye on her for other signs. and keep an open mind about how potentialy dangerous she really is, or could be.

[Crash97]

440, that behavior needs to be curtailed immediately. If not it may turn ugly anytime. Not because of any media fueled bullshit, but because if a bulldog gets it in their head to be aggressive towards people they can do a great deal of damage. Our breed isn't supposed to show any aggression towards people, it's not what they're bred for. Human aggression is a fault IMO.

[440rider]

Any suggestions of methods I could use to deter this food type aggression. This particular dog is very submissive to me(allows me to be dominant in all ways besides food) and does listen to commands ,but I've never really had this prob with a bulldog before. I noticed it when I would feed her with the other dogs in the house (one would walk buy and she would growl). I now feed them all seperatly. Does anyone know if this type of aggression will show itself outside of the food bowl with humans considering she is very submissive toward me and my girlfriend? Iam going to try feeding her from the bowl by hand and also feeding her with a pinch collar on and when she growl let her know It won't be tolerated, any other suggestions??? THX

To what extent would you go before putting a down down for this type of behavior?

[DEACON ROM]

if she is still 11 id just keep eye on her and do your best to correct this agression when happens.

[rocksteady]

start teaching her basic obedience commands
Make her work for food. Dont put the food down until she sits and stays

that way she learns you're in command

It may help a bit

[440rider]

thx guys, yeah she's 11mo. I do make her sit and stay before she eats I just need to work with her i think. I was just looking for some suggestions. Appreciate the feedback! THX

[Mudville_Monsta]

Whatever you do it has to be consistant. She has to know that this isn't something that will pass with time. Take a firm tone and stand with her. This is something that can be changed. Constant work test her with a stick and fake hand. I had a dog before that I was given and he did the same. I took the hand off one of my cousins big dolls and duck taped it to a broken broom stick. When I fed him I would put the stick and hand near his bowl. Go in easy any thing that moves fast will alert him automaticly. When he gets in his way let him no it won't be tolerated. Little by little work on it until he gets the idea he's not to have that type of behavior. It worked for me.