Crackers will not stop guarding her food!!!

[Owlan1]

Well, hello from the great state of Texas! My beloved 1-year-old Frenchie Crackers will not socialize with my family hardly at all when we come visit my mom and dad. There are usually several other dogs present (different breeds) and she is always just ridiculously overly concerned about her food bowl, crate, toys, and belongings. She guards her food literally all day and even when we close it up in the room with the door closed, she will stand in the next room just staring at the door.

Mind you, when we're at home, which is 95% of the time, she is 100% okay and never does this at all, but when we get around other dogs and bring her belongings with us, she just goes crazy. It's kinda funny, but it's also frustrating because my family doesn't get to enjoy her as much. When we force her to socialize, she is not herself at all, she's just highly stressed out and will return immediately to her stuff as soon as you let her go.

At any rate, we love our pup dearly and just want everyone else to experience how awesome she is. Please let me know if anyone else out there has experienced this and if so, what can be done about it. Thanks!

 

[blushy]

First off OH MY GOSH SHE IS SO CUTE I LOVE HER!

Second, I have a similar situation but it's not with guarding when we are around family it's with being a complete psycho and jumping and getting in faces, so I too understand wanting to show my family how amazing our Frenchie is but she's a nutjob!

I know someone with more experience with guarding/shy dogs will pop in!

Good luck!

 

[Jakeyjake]

Hi and welcome! Crackers is adorable.
Our situation is a little different, but Stella has had a history of guarding her food or even when I'm cooking she starts to get a little crazy. There were times, she would not eat at all and would just guard her food, running back and forth in the kitchen. We would sometimes have to hand feed her reassuring her that Jake was not going to take her food! Stella is also on Atopica which can make her tummy upset so it is very likely that this contributes to her behavior of wanting to guard her food rather than eat it. We began snapping her out of that state before it got too intense by simply tapping on her food bowl and redirecting her attention. Also something really yummy in the bowl helped. I would try to redirect Crackers attention when she starts to guard. Not a good state for her to constantly be in. A walk, her favorite game. etc.
Stella is not a very social dog either. She plays with her brother but has no interest in meeting/playing with new dogs. Not sure how active Crackers is, but maybe more exercise would help to release some of the pent up energy she has focusing on the toys, food, bowl etc. Will she go for a walk with the other dogs? Also some basic obedience training is always good. Good luck and hope you find some solutions.

 

[2bullymama]

:welcome3: to FBN! Crackers is too cute!

Although some bulldogs (French or English) prefer humans over other dogs it is not totally far fetched that she not want to socialize... my bigger concern is the resource guarding when she is not at home. I highly recommend you bring a trainer/behaviorist into your home for evaluation and provide you the proper instruction on how to break the resource guarding. It is a tough nut to crack and is best handle by a professional.


best of luck and please keep us posted

 

[PugandTwoFrenchies]

It's interesting that you mention this, because my female Frenchie is more protective of her food than her brother is, and gets snippy whenever our pug gets too close. I can't say I blame her 100% though, as our pug will steal her food (if we're not watching), so I can sort of see where the paranoia is from. LOL

The only thing I could perhaps suggest is not free-feeding your dog, and instead make her eat her meals at set times during the day. If there's an issue of another dog getting too close to her while she eats and it's stressing her out, perhaps keep them separated during meal time with a baby gate. (This is what we have to do to keep our pug from getting into our Frenchies' dishes) Otherwise Penelope would do the same; she'd constantly be looking at Emma, 'guarding', running around to make sure Emma wasn't around, etc. Now that they're physically separated Penelope will relax and eat her meal without distractions. (Sweet Fergus doesn't seem to care)

Some puppies just don't seem to be AS social or comfortable in new situations as others. I definitely notice that with our female. She's very shy, quite timid, and follows Fergus' lead. She's not as confident as him. Other than continuing to expose them to new situations (without causing too much stress), I truly believe that some behavior is just innate and you just have to go with the flow (to some degree).

 

[Alice Kable]

:welcome3: to FBN! Crackers is too cute!

Although some bulldogs (French or English) prefer humans over other dogs it is not totally far fetched that she not want to socialize... my bigger concern is the resource guarding when she is not at home. I highly recommend you bring a trainer/behaviorist into your home for evaluation and provide you the proper instruction on how to break the resource guarding. It is a tough nut to crack and is best handle by a professional.


best of luck and please keep us posted

I agree 100%!

Crackers is beautiful!

 

[Squishy Walnuts]

Welcome!! Love the name Crackers!

I agree with bringing in a trainer to help with her protectiveness of her stuff. Good luck!

 

[Owlan1]

Thanks so much to everyone for the suggestions! She is perfectly pleasant and sweet and loveable when not guarding her stuff, and my family adores her, but the problem is she guards her stuff about 95% of the day. And, even if we put her empty bowl and food bag inside the crate and close the door, she'll just lay on the floor beside it and guard it. It might be because of one dog in particular, my brother's Jack Russell, Stuart, who is a renowned food thief. But, Stuart now knows not to come near Crackers' stuff or she'll run him right off. It's actually pretty hilarious. At any rate, we will try a bit of behavior training and go from there. We haven't really made much of an effort yet to really train her on it, but we will start now. Also, we will try to get her to eat at set times instead of just leaving her food out.