Expert: Have4Paws - 7/6/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hello. I have a 4 yr old full breed female beagle. We have had her since age 2 and a half. When we got this beautiful, indpendent, little girl, she could care less about human food, and showed little desire for even her own food. She ate well, just not overly excited about it. About 8 months after getting her, she statrted to become food aggressive, and it has gotten increasingly worse since. She will now sit at our feet while we are eating, waiting for someone to drop a crumb, will attempt to jump up to the table where there is food (and has occassionally reached it if close enough to the edge), and has actually taken food right from our hand if the hand is lowered enough. Regarding her own food, she eats her entire bowl of food in 15 seconds, and now swallows her treats and even Greenies whole! It is out of control. She has no medical issues. She gets regular checkups, shots, bloodwork, etc. and is perfectly healthy. Any suggestions? Thank you so much for taking my question.

ANSWER: Hi thanks for writing to me, well this isnt sounding like it is fun at all for you OR her. She is for some reason acting as if she will never eat again and trying to protect resources. She may also be just plain hungry as well as aggressive about it.

So my first question is how often do you feed her and how much? How much does she weigh? She should be fed twice a day and depending on her size will determine how much. Twice a day is best for adult dogs so there is food in her stomach most of the time. Also what kind of food is she eating, is it mostly grains or is it mostly meat with high protein? The kind of food also affects their hunger, if it is mostly carbs etc it is like with us, we get hungrier faster than if we are eating high protein.

Next come the behavioral issues. She should not BE under the table while you are eating. Hopong that she has learned sit, down and stay already so she should be put in another part of the room and made to lie down and stay there while you eat. You must work on this and make it known that she is not welcome at or near the table. This alone will eliminate half of the problems you are having. This is a high priority becuase food aggression escalates rather quickly and is not good....Does she also try to bit at your hands if you stick them in her bwol while she is eating? Are you able to take a treat away from her?  I need some more specifics about her behaviors. Please write back with more info, ok?

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QUESTION: Thank you for taking the time to get further information and provide guidance. She weighs 38 lbs. Eats just once daily. We followed the routine and food regimen as her origianl owner so as not to interrupt her diet. She eats 1.5 cups of dry Iams Weight Control mixed with 1 packet of Pedigree Champions 5.3 oz. packet. She also gets 2-3 treats per day. She knows all commands very well, but again is so resistant to follow any commands when someone is eating. As of lately, she will not allow me to take the treat from her; she will growl if I do. I am definitley going to increase her eating schedule to 2x daily, as well as stick with the command to lay down away from the table, even if it takes all night for her to follow. Thank you and please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Answer
Hi Holly, so first off 38# for a beagle is wayyyyyyyyyyy too much! She should definately be eating twice a day as we discussed and should be getting about a total of a cup for now PER DAY so she can lose some weight. I dont know what the protein and fat content is for the food you are feeding her but you want as high of protein as you can get but lowest fat content and if possible without all the grains and junk that fatten them up and also cause allergies in beagles. IAMS is not in my opinion a good food, it is very low rated on the sites (see http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/) I use Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets which are grain free, high in protein and low in fat. If you decide to change which would be good, remember that it must be done gradually, should take about 7-9 days to switch over to avoid any stomach upset or diarrhea, You would start with replacing only a few pieces of the new and gradually as I said increase it until you have eliminated the old food. I know you love her but 2-3 treats a day is also too much if she is getting like a whole milkbone or something that size. One is plenty and could be given midday to put something in her stomach. You have to think about this proportionately, if a human who weighs 150 # gains 5 # that is not much of an increase but a dog who weighs 30# and gains 5#, thats a huge increase! Beagles are notoriously weight gainers and will eat until they pop if you let them, every extra pound puts stress on their joints and organs and significantly shortens their life span so this is why this is so important.

As far as the aggression and resource hoarding (bones) I would suggest not giving her ANY until you get this under control because as I told you food aggression quickly escalates and someone will get bit, as well if she senses your fear of taking the bone away it reinforces that she is in charge. I would highly suggest going on line and reading everything you can about resource guarding and food aggression and work on this asap before it gets out of hand.

Good luck and feel free to check back with me and let me know how things are going.