How To Stop a Dog From Being Over Protective of Food

We have a dog that seems to have been abused for the first 7 years of his life. He acts very strange and is sometimes very aggressive. One of the things he is most aggressive about is food. He growls when anybody is near him when he’s eating and snatches whatever treats we hand to him.

Since I really value my fingers, what we’ve recently been doing is feeding the dog every meal from our hands. We cup our hands together and scoop up a serving. The dog will then eat from our hands. The same goes for treats. We made the dog eat it out of the palm of our hand, not our fingers.

After a few weeks, there has been a great improvment. Our dog still snatches treats at times when he’s very hungry, but 80% of the time he will gently take it from our hands. He also eats meals slower and is easier around other people while he’s eating. He’s less stressed, and so am I.