Help with King Charles Cavalier

double d

HI THERE CAN ANYONE ADVICE ME WHAT TO DO WITH MY 10MTH OLD CKC. WE RESCUED HER 4WKS AGO. AT FEEDING TIME SHE TURNS INTO A SNARLING AGGRESSIVE LITTLE PARANA AGAINST THE OTHER DOGS AND TRYS TO OWN EVERYONE'S FOOD. WE HAVE FED HER IN OTHER ROOM TO NO AVAIL, SHE STRIPS THE DOOR DOWN TO GET BACK IN. WE PUT OTHER DOGS OUT IN OTHER ROOM TO EAT AND SHE STRIPS DOOR DOWN TO GET OUT. WE HAVE TRIED TIME OUT TILL SHES QUIET, WATER SPRAY, BLOWING IN HER FACE WHEN OUT OF CONTROL AND NOTHING SEEMS TO WORK. HAS ANYONE GOT SOME ADVICE. <snip>

Paul91

double d - first of I'd take your mobile number off yer post to be safe

is she aggressive to you if you try to go near her food?

andreac

Oh the poor doggie, if shes a rescue she might have been treated very bad by her previous owner and maybe had to fight to be fed or get any food if she was around other dogs.

This will probably just take time to gain her trust if she has had a bad past.

Keep feeding her separately for the moment and maybe outside, well away from the other dogs as she will need time to settle into her new home and surroundings.

I would suggest bringing her to training classes or get a dog behaviourist into your home to try and help her, but for the moment i would feed her well away from the other dogs so she feels safe and secure with her own food.

doubtfir3

We rescued a dog last November who displayed traits similar to this.

She never snapped, but always launched herself at food and literally wolfed it down any time she saw even a tiny bit of it.

What I started doing was leaving her bowl down and giving her food, and then refilling it so that eventually she saw that no matter when she went for food it was always there.

Next step was to make her sit before being fed and to wait for an "OK" from me before she would eat - at first just small bits and then on to "meals".

Now, she'll happily leave food in her bowl for a while and will still wolf food down but I can even put my hand in her mouth and around her face etc with no snaps, no bites and no agression or "drive" for food.

Don't know if it will help, but it might.. just get her to realise that there's a never-ending supply of food and she should calm down and realise that she doesn't need to fight for it..

merryhappy

This method was tries and tested by a friend of mine and it took a lot of effort but it worked:
http://deesdogs.com/documents/resourceguardingandfoodgame.pdf

As for the water spray and blowing in her face please stop doing this, all it is doing is turning 'dinner-time' into an entirely negative experience.

You really need to start small with her, you didn't mention if she is possessive with her toys if she's not then that's great you can teach her to share by taking her toys away from her when she is playing with them and give her loads of praise if she reacts positvely and then give the toy back to her. Try this numerous times and then move on to small pieces of food.

You should post your question on: http://board.cavaliertalk.com/index.php I am almost sure that this topic has been covered on there before ans the people are most helpful and at east they have has this experience with the same breed.

Good luck!:)

Shellih

Please, please, please stop with the water and blowing in her face. Being a rescue she has probably come from a less than ideal situation and this will make her worse.

Do you have a crate for her? If so feed her in it, dont lock it but put her food in the back of it where the other dogs wont try to get it and leave her alone to eat. Please dont separate her as cavaliers suffer from separation anxiety and dont do well when locked in/out of a room. Mine would scratch a door down if I did that.

I have a 4 year old rescue who was food aggressive, but only with other dogs. I used a baby gate to separate her at feeding time, gradually moving their bowls closer to the gate so eventually they were beside each other but still separted. It took a few months but now they eat side by side. There will still be an occassional spat over treats but nothing like before.

You could try just putting a small amount of food in her bowl and while she is eating put more in. She will learn that having someones hand in her bowl is not a bad thing.

It will take some patience but the unconditional love they give will repay you tenfold.

Good luck

Paul91

also believe if pups where taken from their mom at too young an age they can become food aggresive as they haven't learn to share, does she show any other forms of aggression i.e. with toys?

gerry28

double d wrote: »

HI THERE CAN ANYONE ADVICE ME WHAT TO DO WITH MY 10MTH OLD CKC. WE RESCUED HER 4WKS AGO. AT FEEDING TIME SHE TURNS INTO A SNARLING AGGRESSIVE LITTLE PARANA AGAINST THE OTHER DOGS AND TRYS TO OWN EVERYONE'S FOOD. WE HAVE FED HER IN OTHER ROOM TO NO AVAIL, SHE STRIPS THE DOOR DOWN TO GET BACK IN. WE PUT OTHER DOGS OUT IN OTHER ROOM TO EAT AND SHE STRIPS DOOR DOWN TO GET OUT. WE HAVE TRIED TIME OUT TILL SHES QUIET, WATER SPRAY, BLOWING IN HER FACE WHEN OUT OF CONTROL AND NOTHING SEEMS TO WORK. HAS ANYONE GOT SOME ADVICE. <snip>

Hi, We had a CKC years ago and what you describe is exactly what ours was like at that age. Scraping like mad at the door and very agressive when she had food. She would snap at all members of the family if they went anywhere near her.

We had her from a pup, but she did have the run of the place and was very spoiled.

merryhappy

Just came across this: http://www.dogtrainingireland.ie/workshop_itsmine.php?BT=W35

lorebringer

Have sent you a pm

roxiesmammy

where did u rescue her from? was it a private rehoming or through a rescue organastion. if the latter can u ring them up for advise? dont give up on her, poor thing, im sure with time, training lots of love and patience, she will be fine. By the way how many other dogs have u?

hunterwelly

As for the water spray and blowing in her face please stop doing this, all it is doing is turning 'dinner-time' into an entirely negative experience.

Maybe, but I think the most compelling reason for discontinuing this practice is simply that it doesn't appear to be working. Such things can be useful in certain situations, but if it's not working, leave it and try something else.

In my opinion, it sounds a bit like "small dog syndrome". It may actually be due to excessive spoiling and pampering, and may in fact be the reason the dog was given to the rescue in the first place.

The dog needs to learn that resources (food, toys etc) are not hers, they're yours. She can have them only when you allow it. Training the dog to sit quietly and wait for a signal from you to eat is what you're after here. It'll take time and effort, but you'll get there. You don't have to be mean to the dog, just be firm. A firm NO, when she lunges for the food bowl, and taking it back up for a few minutes is all you need to do.

Keep her separated from the other dogs while you're doing this training. Here's some info that might be helpful: http://dogs.about.com/cs/behaviorissues/p/resource_guard.htm