The reason why dogs protect food

Dogs’ food-protecting behavior is innate and is engraved in their genes. They will know it as soon as they are born!
If you have ever had the experience of raising a female dog to give birth to puppies, you will definitely find that some puppies will squeeze other puppies away from them when sucking milk, or compete for a teat with more milk. , this is the most primitive food-protecting behavior. And when they grow up, when you feed them milk cake or goat milk powder in a dog bowl, you will find that some puppies will make whining sounds while eating, trying to drive away their little friends. This is also The most elementary food-protecting behavior.
For "dogs" who once lived in the wild, protecting food is a good instinct. They rely on this instinct to protect their food, avoid starvation, grow stronger and stronger, and reproduce more and healthier offspring.
Later they were domesticated by humans and entered human society, and have lived a life without worries about food and clothing. However, their "food protection genes" have not disappeared because of this, but have been preserved to this day.
Although their "food protection genes" have always existed, most dogs do not show strong food protection behaviors. There are a few exceptions. They not only protect food, but also protect nest mats, toys, and owners. . In short, they want to possess everything they like.
So how should dogs with food-protective behavior be corrected? Very simple!

What should I do to protect my dog’s food?

It is very, very, very bad for dogs to have food guarding behavior, especially for larger dogs.
The dog’s food-protecting behavior is best solved in early childhood, and the method is very simple:

Puppy training

Every time you feed your puppies something, let them see the food in the dog bowl first, but don’t put it on the ground in a hurry. When they come over, they want to grab the food in the bowl. When the time comes, you lift the bowl to a position where they can't reach it, and then slowly put the bowl down after they calm down. If they run over again, quickly raise the dog bowl to its original height, take a few steps back, wait until they calm down again, and then slowly lower the dog bowl to the ground. If they are still fussy, repeat the previous actions until they can wait quietly for you to put down the dog bowl and call them over to eat.
Alternatively, you can take away their bowls when they are halfway through their meal, and then immediately give them the food they prefer. If such behavior is repeated frequently, the dog will no longer exhibit food-protecting behavior when it grows up.

Correction of adult dogs

Correcting the food-protecting behavior of adult dogs is similar to training puppies. However, it is best to have someone help you and let him hold the dog (make sure he can hold the dog steadily and will not be pulled down by the dog), and then you take a dog bowl with food and train it like a puppy, but For large adult dogs, be careful not to be pulled down by the dog.
When looking forWhen there is no one to help, you should tie the leash to the dog first, preferably using a collar or P chain. For large dogs, be sure not to use a harness, because it will be more difficult to hold the dog. Put the food your dog likes to eat into the dog bowl on the ground, and then lead the dog slowly towards the dog bowl (depending on the size of the dog, it is appropriate to be 50 to 100cm away from the dog bowl). When the dog struggles to eat from the bowl When the dog gets something in it, tighten the leash to prevent it from eating it, command it to sit down (if it can do it), and pay attention to feeling the strength of the leash. When the dog relaxes, you also slowly relax the leash. If the dog wants to eat again, you quickly tighten the leash.
Repeat this behavior several times. When the dog can wait quietly for more than 30 seconds, you then issue the "eat" command and let it eat the food in the bowl.
When a dog learns to wait for food, its food-protecting behavior will be greatly improved.
The reason why some dogs have strong food-protective behaviors is mostly related to their past experiences. For example, you have violently taken away their food, toys, or your smelly socks, and even beat them violently. , or was robbed of food by other dogs, etc., which left a profound impact on the dog's psychology, so it slowly learned to protect itself.
In order to completely correct the dog's food-protecting behavior, you can also prepare a larger bone and some dried meat. The bones are tied with a nylon rope, and the snacks are cut into pieces of suitable size. Tie the dog in a fixed place, hold one end of the nylon rope and give the bone to the dog, and let it chew a few mouthfuls. When the dog is interested in chewing, take the bone back through the rope, and then quickly throw it to it Give it a few snacks, wait for it to finish the snacks, then return the bones to it, wait for it to chew for a while, take the bones back again, and then throw a few snacks to it again. After so many cycles, the dog will slowly understand, If you take away its things, you will get something better, so gradually you no longer protect the food.