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Posted by Chelle on February 18, 2003 at 14:43:27:

In Reply to: Dog aggressive around new kittens when food is involved posted by joymoore on February 18, 2003 at 13:19:43:

...that is unacceptable in human households. Personally, I don't use the words "jealous" when it comes to animals. In my opinion, those are human emotions. Dogs and cats are black and white/here and now thinkers. Your dog wants the cats to stay away from food that is percieved as hers. There's a few ways to handle this- 1) Teach your dog that nothing, not even food, belongs to her. This is done by strict "no free lunch" rules for a few weeks at least. The dog doesn't get fed until it does something for you. That something can be as simple as a "sit," but it has to be done before that bowl hits the ground. That means if you "free feed" this dog, that must stop. This rule also applies to toy privaleges, attention from you, and playing with you. Still, food guarding is tough to deal with because it is so instinctual (and in your dog's case reinforced by a time when it was absolutely necessary for survival). Keeping the dog and cats seperated when food is around is probably your safest management of this. 2) There's nothing that says your dog can't be in the kennel while you eat dinner. Also, the cats should probably be put into their own room while they eat or have their bowls of food high enough where it isn't in the dog's territory and the cats can still get to it. Your pets will probably be able to co-exist safely as long as you remove the food issue. You don't want your dog to have to "practice aggession" towards the cats or you so prevention of it is best. If by some chance there's a kid walking through the house with junk food in hand and the dog's drooling and thinking "that's mine- stay away cats!" Your best bet is to teach a "leave it" or "off" command that basically tells the dog "that's not yours so don't even think about it." There are many sites that tell how to teach this behavior. A basic obedience class could also help with that one. It has to be taught in small steps, but it's an extemely helpful tool in many situations. Hope that helps a bit.

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