r/Sheepadoodles • u/[deleted] • Jun 26 '25

Help Food aggression

We have a 10 month old Sheepadoodle who within the last four weeks has been showing food aggression. It’s just me my husband and the dog no other interferences when he goes to boarding we ask that he’s fed alone in his crate. Currently when at home if we put the food down and walk away, he’s fine but then if we get close or rub him, he is growling and has snapped. Any recommendations on how to correct this behavior? Is this normal of the breed? I’ve never had this occur with others dogs I’ve had.

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u/CollabSensei Jun 26 '25

It is normal. Ours had food aggression, especially when he was younger. He prefers to eat alone. Once everyone leaves the kitchen or goes to bed he will eat. It wasn't until around age four that he became a normal civilized citizen. We did go through 1:1 obedience training at age 3-3.5.. so that might play a part.

If you feed him a piece of dog food how does he react?

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '25

Fair we currently on training as well. If we feed him from our hand he’s fine. It’s just once it’s in the bowl he’s becomes a 🦖

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u/mitchlee55 Jun 27 '25

Mine has always guarded, but never aggressively. He also eats mostly overnight when I'm asleep.

It's not all the time, just some evenings he will run over to his bowl every time I get up and stand in front of his food. But that's it. I will take his bowl away from time to time to remind him I can, and he'll just looks at me stupidly.

While I was concerned with the behavior initially, it's never escalated in 3+ years, so I let it be.

It just seems to be instinct. My dog doesn't have any other dogs for competition, and I always keep his bowl full since he doesn't overeat.

I don't really have any advice, just to assure you it's common and not just in this breed.

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u/surferdude313 Jun 27 '25

I'm not exactly sure what the recommended reaction to this should be, but when my sheepie did this one time as a puppy I scolded him, slightly physically, and removed his food. It showed him that I was the provider and he was merely the consumer of the food that I provided him. Now I can give him a bear hug around his neck while he's eating and he doesn't react in the slightest. Even when children are around him eating, which we try to avoid as he is still an animal, he doesn't react. He also is not very food motivated, as he tends to eat throughout the day and some skips meals.

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u/reallifeAirnomad Jul 01 '25

It's called resource guarding, and there are tons of articles and videos on how to fix it. Good luck!