Some dogs which are perfectly friendly, happy and well trained in most situations become posessive, aggressive and territorial when given food.
Their owners may have to avoid approaching or touching them during meals. Or they may have to leave the room for fear of being bitten. This might be understandable if the dog was starving, but it occurs in dogs which are regularly and perfectly well fed - and even overweight. So what turns a loving, cuddly family pet into a snarling tyrant?

Since identifying who eats what, where, and when is part of establishing the hierarchy in a "pack" (to your dog read "family"), food guarding can be a symptom of much wider problems in the relationship between dogs and their owners. If your dog is inclined to be aggressive in other situations too, you should get expert help before putting any training regime into practice. However, food guarding does occur as an isolated problem which has actually been taught to the dog by a well meaning owner with exactly the opposite intention, and in this case it's usually fairly straightforward to cure.

When I started training dogs @#*! years ago you generally got one of two reactions to this problem. These were "Ah well, you should have stopped that when he was a puppy" or "You're the boss, you'll have to insist." The first of these was hardly constructive and the second put many a bitten owner into hospital.

This was because "insisting" generally involved removing a meal while the dog was eating. It was based on the theory that if you took food away and then gave it back to him often enough, he would "get used to it". Logically, this sounds as if it should work - they say you can get used to anything in time - and some dogs did tolerate this strange behaviour on the part of their owners quite well. Others got much, much worse.

Look at it from the dog's point of view. How would you feel if the waiter in a restaurant removed your dinner just as you were tucking in, patted you on the head then put the plate back? Surprised? Annoyed? ... Aggressive? How would you react next time he walked past? Would you eat faster? glare at him? grab the plate?

He might get away with it once, but what if he kept on doing it? Would you "get used to it"? Or would you complain? shout? stick the fork in the back of his hand?

Actually, you'd probably go to another restaurant but this choice isn't open to your dog. Without that option it is likely that the waiter, far from training you to tolerate his actions, has made you into a food guarder. If you want to get technical this is negative reinforcement. The unpleasant (negative) experience of having your food removed has increased (reinforced) the possibility that you will act to defend future meals. Why should your dog be any different?

The best cure is to make your closeness to the plate a positive experience for the dog so that he has no reason to be defensive. This can be tricky, especially with a dog whose preferred reward is food - he already has his dinner so what can you do to improve on this? In the restaurant you could get a £5 discount every time you allow the waiter to touch the plate, but this offer is unlikely to get you far with Fido.

What really puts you - the owner - one step ahead is that however clever or dominant Fido is, he cannot get his own meals.

Get out his bowl and pretend to prepare his dinner, then put the bowl down as usual but EMPTY! He will probably go mad snuffling round for the missing food. Depending on your sense of humour this may sound either funny or cruel, but remember you are dealing with a potentially dangerous situation here and drastic methods are called for. Calmly - no laughing at him - use a long handled spoon to throw a small portion of food into the bowl from a safe distance. If he does grab anything, he'll grab the spoon and not your fingers. (Note - a posh carpet plus mash and gravy is a mistake when using this method - better to use a plastic table cloth or lino on the floor and a dry diet!)

Even if you normally have to leave the room while he eats, Fido will almost certainly allow this. If he insists on guarding the empty bowl, leave as usual and wait until he comes away from it. (If he's really determined this may take some time so start the meal early if necessary.) Feed him the whole of his meal in spoonfuls like this, so that your getting access to the bowl is a condition of him getting fed; this is a powerful incentive for him to allow you close. Continue this at every meal until Fido is completely happy to let you throw food into his bowl from a distance. Then very gradually increase your closeness each time until you are putting the food in place.

When he is happy with this, put a small amount of dinner in the bowl before giving it to him and spoon feed the remainder as usual. By gradually increasing the initial amount you will eventually find yourself putting down all his dinner in one go; at this stage keep some especially tasty titbit for "pudding". Again very gradually, begin to add this at progressively earlier and earlier points in the meal (throwing them from a distance at first, then getting gradually closer as before) so that he learns that your approach during a meal is just as rewarding as it is afterwards. Take plenty of time, making sure Fido is absolutely relaxed and happy at each stage before going on. If you hit any problems immediately go back a couple of steps and start again.

If you are starting with a puppy, you should be able to begin at the stage where you put the occasional treat in his bowl while he is eating so that he never doubts that your presence near his bowl is a good thing.

You may argue that this does not teach Fido what you set out to teach him - to let you take his food away from him - but frankly this aim is really just a power trip. It's hard to think of a real life situation where you need to take away a bowl of food you have given him in the first place. For most practical purposes what Fido needs to learn is that people are not a threat to him while he is eating, and that your family has the right to be near him or even brush against him without retaliation. This lesson will keep you and your family safe from Fido's aggressive feelings during his mealtimes.

And the fact that you can be around him and touch him when he has food should, in emergencies, let you take it away from him if he is ever given anything which is unsafe, or if you accidentally drop the Sunday joint in his bowl! However, in this case it may be a good idea to replace it with something tasty and rewarding immediately if possible or you may undo all your hard work.

Debbie Waller