[ann_hawes]

It took almost 5 months, but last night I was able to feed the dogs together, in the same room, without Audrey going after Baloo over his food bowl! And that included ME leaving the room, out of her sight, having no control over what she did! For anyone that's ever dealt with a food aggressive dog, you know this was HUGE!!

I've been feeding them at the same time, in the same room for 3 weeks, but was there to supervise, and had to intervene the first few times, then again into the second week. I'm also seeing her allow Baloo and other dogs at her agility class take toys from her during play without her going ballistic.

I know it doesn't mean "problem solved", I know that it still could be a life-long project. But her resource guarding was the reason she was going to be killed after failing in 3 new homes.

NILIF works. I'm not sure that anyone could manage rescues with issues any other way!

[JessicaR]

Yay Audrey!! Keep up the good work

[Momto3]

Tis awesome BUT with all the rescue boys I have I still have this problem. I have read NILIF but I don't know how to apply it to FOUR rescue guys. It worked well for Maxwell but now I have two that are really food aggressive. Any hints? They all have their own feeding stations but will go to the other dogs' feeding stations, push them outta the way, and steal their food. I have to stand right there and play referee all the time.

[ann_hawes]

Do they actually fight for the food or just take it? A little fussing over a food bowl would be normal dog behavior. If serious fights break out, it's an unsafe situation. We had one sided fights here. Audrey would approach Baloo and stand over him, initiating the stare. Whether Baloo reacted or not, she would go at him within a few seconds. He didn't fight back, but she'd continue to go at him until he got up and left whatever he had. I started feeding him first, with her in a crate. As soon as he was finished eating, I'd put him in a down stay and let her out to eat her food, but made sure Baloo didn't get up, even to just wander around. Gradually I'd start letting her out of the crate to eat while he was still eating, but almost done, then earlier and earlier so that they eventually were eating at the same time in the same room. If she chose to leave her food to go after his, she went back in the crate. It took a long time, and I'm not foolish enough to think the problem is resolved. I expect a lot of backing up and repeating steps.

[Momto3]

Mine don't actually fight. Mozart just pushes the smaller dogs away from their food so he can eat it.