Hello, I am new to this forum . I am fairly new to the Corso Breed as well . I have a nine month old blue female . She is the smartest and most affectionate puppy I’ve met . We have completed puppy and intermediate obedience at our local PetSmart . She has never shown aggression towards any other dog big or small . We recently brought home our male 9 week old Corso . And I’m noticing she’s giving him a growl and a bark when he comes near her feeding area . Is this something I should let her teach him to stay away . Should I redirect her that she’s misbehaving. Or should I just feed them separately . Any fees back would be appreciated thanks
Hello and welcome to your Corsos and you to Breedia I do not know anything about the breed, only having had small dogs, but I think it would be better to feed yours separately until they are used to each other. She is not misbehaving, she does not yet understanding that there is a new pup in the house. That is what I always did when I had a new pup - feed them separately until they realised that the other one was not going to take their food.
Hi Josh, it seems to me that she is just warning him to stay away from her feeding area. Does this happen at meal time or just anytime he goes near her feeding area? I have two Akitas and have to manage the food aggression... The problem grew over time, and got to the point that my older male seemed like he wanted to kill his younger 1/2 sister. He would jump on her and beat her up, he was just mad that she ate... I fed and still do feed them separately, with a wooden baby gate between the kitchen and living room. Once I realized what was going on I’d bring them both to me after meals, and talk to him and try and calm him down. His whole body would go rock hard. This was a real issue. Now after meals I give them both a dental chew, and he gets a no-hide chew as well, as he is bigger and chews them up faster. It’s just enough of a distraction to make him forget how pissed he is that she too eats food... He still wants to go for her but once he’s had his chew he is fine. 5-10 minutes later they are playing and roughhousing, chewing on each other, etc. But when that food aggression light goes on it’s quite scary. I hope your situation doesn’t escalate to the level of mine. Good luck and keep us posted as to how things are going.
Thanks for your story . And it has happened both while eating and just out during the day with no food in the dish . And I have been feeding separately with no barrier and since I posted this morning . It’s gone rather well Agatha finishes her meals and comes to me and waits for Bruce to finish his . I of coarse instinctively give her the leave it and down Cues . I’m keeping a watchful eye
Do you leave the empty food bowls out on the floor all the time? I pick them up and put them on a very high shelf when they are done with meals. I’d guess your older girl only needs to eat twice a day now, but would think the new puppy should eat 3-4 times a day.. if so how do you manage this?
A lot depends on the individual dogs, resource guarding is not uncommon, but if not handled correctly can get serious. I wouldn’t leave empty bowls lying around, I always supervised when feeding ,the pup was not allowed to go toward older dog when eating and vice versa, soon as dishes was empty they were picked up immediately.
I do leave the older dogs out she has one of those high standing feeder stations . But the puppy I keep up after he is done as the older dog will try to finish what the puppy doesn’t and or lick the bow clean .
As @GsdSlave said, a lot depends on the individual dogs. When I rescued Pereg, who was head first in a bowl of kibble with her litter mates, I had to keep her and my then dog separate for feedings. Because Pereg was probably frightened that she would have to fight for her food. It was not so much that Lexi was scared that the new puppy would take her food, it was that Pereg was trying to make sure that she had the food she needed. I now have a dog who will not let me go near either her morning frozen turkey section neck or her evening wet meal. That is her and I accept that. She is the same when she goes into her night crate and has a small treat. She asks for her treat, she lets me close her crate, but she will threaten me if I go near it until she is curled up to sleep. That is her. But she is the only dog I have and I love her and her food is her food. But I have never taken her evening meal dish away. Because she knows that once she has eaten she has no need for her dish. Her water bowl is different. It is where it is and she knows I will take it, wash it, and replace it with fresh water. All dogs are different and as such they needed to be treated as they are. Maybe I did not do as others would, but I have always treated my dogs the way they and I have found the best way for us all.
All dogs and households are different. I posted a video a short while ago with my 7 year old dog and my less than 16 week old puppy sharing a large kibble bowl. The adult dog is an extremely good and placid dog. He will share his food with cats and puppies. The puppy will snarl if the adult dog approaches a bowl he is eating from but if puppy comes to eat from the adult dogs bowl, puppy won't snarl at all. He seems to know not to snarl over food that isn't his. My puppy had pretty bad food aggression towards me when I got him. Kicked it immediately. I don't tolerate being threatened by my own dogs in any way. Do not bite the hand that feeds you.
I had a major food fight on about day three of the first week Merry arrived. She was an adult from a multi-dog environment, and Eddie had lived happily with our previous dog, so it never crossed my mind that they would have problems with being fed in opposite corners of the kitchen - but Beagles are voracious feeders! We started defusing the situation by feeding Merry in the hall, and Eddie in his usual spot in the kitchen. They were separated by a baby gate, but you could sense the tension. Eventually I could tell that Ed had decided that it wasn't worth fighting over the last lick of a dish, so we started to leave the gate open, and they went back to eating on opposite sides of the kitchen. They were soon eating happily side by side, but I will always have to watch that she doesn't attempt to grab a mouthful of his dinner. Any disputed morsels are Merry's - Ed doesn't dive after any dropped food, (because she does), but they have gradually learned the meaning of Share, and the tension has disappeared.
It is always so different with our dogs. My Griffons were always fed the same food in a number of bowls in the kitchen and they never had problems. Same when I weaned their pups. Pereg had to be fed separately from Lexi, because she needed to make sure she would not miss food having had to fight with her litter mates from one bowl of kibble. Tik? I have no idea why she does not want me near her when she eats. She is just like that and I accept it.
I'd always supervise where more than one dog is feeding. Easy to do. Meals are usually quick affairs. Bowls well apart, stand between and if one dog start to stray over to they other, that one should be ushered back. If one of your dogs is guarding her entire feeding area, make sure you remove her bowl first. Even with a feeding station, surely it can be picked up and put on a worktop/counter until the next meal
