Dogs love to eat, and most are not real crazy about sharing their food with anyone. While this is pretty normal behavior, you need to take steps to make sure that it does not develop into a serious problem.
With pack animals like dogs, the only guy that gets to eat without being disturbed is the alpha dog. When a dog bristles and guards his food against other dogs, he is simply asserting his superior position in the pack.
And while it perfectly acceptable for an alpha dog to guard his food from other dogs, it is completely unacceptable for him to guard it from his humans, who occupy higher positions in his "pack" than he does.
When a dog starts aggressively guarding their food from their humans, it means that there is some confusion going on about alpha status. Instead of recognizing their humans as those in charge that are responsible for feeding him in the first place, the dog is viewing them as a threat to their food that must to be guarded against.
The simplest way to keep food-guarding from becoming an issue is to remind your dog that he is not the alpha dog of the household pack.
In dog or wolf packs, the alpha not only eats first, they are the only one that is allowed to eat without being disturbed. So don't allow your dog to eat alone in silence. Make sure to disturb him while he is eating.
Feed your dog in the kitchen while you are preparing a meal, or during any time that is high-traffic and noisy. While he is eating, approach his food dish and drop a little treat into it from time to time.
You do not want to harass him the entire time he's trying to eat, but you do want to bother him him a few times during each feeding. That should be enough to help him learn that he is not entitled to the alpha dog privilege of eating in majestic solitude.
Of course, this is more of a preventative measure. If a dog's food-guarding has progressed to the point where it is actually dangerous for anyone to disturb him while he is eating, then you would need to adopt different tactic.
If your dog snarls, snaps or bites when anyone attempts to approach their food, they are displaying signs of serious food-guarding aggression, and some method of dog training for aggressive behavior is needed.
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