Dogs can exhibit behaviors of “resource guarding” or food aggression. Many of these dogs have nutritional insufficiencies, and when they’re hungry they make bad decisions. Dogs who do not absorb nutrients well may actually have begun their lives with nutritional insufficiencies or come from less than stellar breeders. They may seem as though they are always hungry and never satisfied. They most likely started this behaviour early on as they were trying to protect the food they thought was theirs. When dogs feel they own the food, they then can protect the food.
This is something that should be first addressed nutritionally and then addressed behaviorally. Just because your dog is overweight or chubby does not mean that he / she is healthy.
Make sure your dog has a very high quality diet of the best food you can afford to give him / her. Additionally, for dogs with nutritional issues or just for general health, it’s a good idea to consider a high quality vitamin supplement to ensure your dog thrives and is receiving all the nutrients including vitamins and minerals. Just as some dogs will be food aggressive or reactive of things like kibble and treats, some dogs are not at all reactive to kibble or canned food but become very reactive or aggressive with “long term food”. Think of present food as fresh food and future food as canned food.
