How to Correct a Dog's Food Guarding Habit

To correct a dog's food guarding habit, you can try feeding it by hand, so the dog understands that its owner won't compete with it for food.

Change the Feeding Method

To correct a dog's food guarding habit, you can try feeding it by hand for 5-7 days. This method allows the dog to understand that the hand brings food, rather than competing with it for food.

After the dog becomes gradually accustomed to being fed by hand, you can switch to placing the food in its bowl and continuing with the feeding process. Keep the feeding sessions short and frequent, aiming to let the dog get used to the owner's hand being near its bowl. Once the dog is no longer resistant to the owner's hand touching the bowl, you can start petting it while it eats and try to take the bowl away. If the dog still guards its food, repeat the process of placing food in the bowl until the guarding behavior stops.

During the training, if the dog growls as a warning, the owner should promptly制止 it and then soothe its emotions to increase its trust in the owner.

2.定时定量、分开喂养

Understanding the reason behind a dog's food guarding can help correct the bad habit more effectively.

If the dog guards its food because it's often hungry due to irregular meal times, the owner should provide the dog with enough food every day and stick to a scheduled feeding routine. If there are multiple dogs in the household and they often fight over food, the owner should separate them during feeding sessions.

Note: Correcting a dog's food guarding habit doesn't happen overnight. The owner needs to have patience during this process and avoid using violent methods. Using force can make the dog's guarding behavior worse and completely erode its trust in the owner.