Food Aggersion Grounds for Being PTS?

[Sharpeigirl]

I Was watching animal cops Detroit the other day & they put a great dog down do to food aggerssion?? Can't that be trained out of them?? I don't see why they couldn't just feed him in crate, or outside?? :( I hate that they put them to sleep just for food issues :(

[Seijun]

Although I don't think any dog "deserves" to be PTS for food aggression, things like this often have to be done in the world of rescue. With so many animals coming in all the time, many shelters can't afford to keep a "problem" dog. Most people don't want to or don't know how to deal with a food aggressive dog. A food aggressive dog can also be very dangerous (depending on how food aggressive it is). Rather than keep a dog like this around that could take much, MUCH longer to adopt out than non-food aggressive dogs, shelters usually choose to just put the dog to sleep. This leaves room for the much more adoptable dogs that are likely to be adopted much quicker. By KEEPING the food aggressive dog, they are taking up space that could have been used by several much more adoptable dogs, which now might all have had to have been put to sleep because of this ONE food aggressive dog that was sitting there taking up that space. I know, it's not fair, but in a shelter that is forced to take in so many dogs all the time, keeping back only the most adoptable dogs is the only way they have of saving the most dogs possible.

~Seij

[imported_Kat]

Oh I know what one you are talking about i think! A wee long haired cream terrier type mix? I watched that on animal planet and was yelling away because they weren't treating the dog fairly. They didn't even take the time to try training. :evil: It galls me when dogs are not given a chance.

[DogPaddle]

I don't think it is absolutely nec. to put down dogs with food aggression. Yes, it can in many cases be dealt with. However, the reality of the situation in many shelters is that when you are full to capacity and there are more dogs coming everyday and when your organization could be held liable for a dog biting after you adopt it sometimes there are going to be salvagable dogs put down.
I think that Animal Precint is pretty good, they work hard to place dogs and will do some rehab with behaviour issues and will spend money to save injured or sick animals. Animal Cops Houstan is pretty good, Animal Cops Detroit is acceptable given the conditions they have to work worth (such as half a million pits alone in detroit) and Animal Cops Miami is the most pathetic, horrible, callous, evil group. They perform feild euthanasia on injured dogs without tags. They don't show compassion in their handling or transport of the animals. The prevelant attitude is one that appears to be cowboys wrangling "just animals."

[pyrless]

Although I can see the point about the shelters being horribly overcrowded and those folks really do have to make some difficult decisions about those animals every day, if a dog you [i]own[/i] is food aggressive then I think it is a workable situation, if not fixable. Sasha is food aggressive towards other dogs but not people. So she eats in her crate and must sit before she eats, etc. etc. She still makes a scene if the other dogs walk by. The difference is, I was prepared for this to happen, many Pyrs are food aggressive, and took steps to manage it. An unsuspecting person who has no dog experience would find Sasha's outbursts quite frightening, I would think.

[Sharpeigirl]

[quote name='Kat']Oh I know what one you are talking about i think! A wee long haired cream terrier type mix? I watched that on animal planet and was yelling away because they weren't treating the dog fairly. They didn't even take the time to try training. :evil: It galls me when dogs are not given a chance.[/quote]

yes "Chip" He was nippy around food & just a entergetic puppy pretty much.. He got returned because he nipped when he was fed.. Then he became aggersive from being caged, hell I'd be snappy too if I was tied like he was, and then put into a cage in a shelter.. Cute little fellow
:(

[Carolk9s]

Another reality in our 'sue happy' society, if the shelter adopted out a dog know to be food aggressive, even if the people were made aware of it, and the dog savaged a child that got too close, the shelter might be sued. Even if no lawsuits were brought against them, I can understand why a food aggressive dog is not considered adoptable. Too many stupid people out there and sooner or later, someone is going to get bit. Maybe just a nip, or a full out attack. Would you like to see your child or niece or nephew or the kid down the block ripped into because someone had a food aggressive dog and did not properly manage it? If EVERYONE who adoped a dog had the common sense needed to properly manage these dogs, it would not be such an issue. Obviously, too many people do not have these skills.

[JackieMaya]

I definitely don't think that food aggression is grounds for putting a dog to sleep, but unfortunately not every food-aggressive dog gets the opportunity to go to a foster home, or a trainer, or to a new owner who knows how and is willing to work through any problems. I can see both sides of this problem that the shelters have.

Like others said, they don't have the time or staff to rehabilitate the food-aggressive dogs to get them adoptable. So if they think there might be an aggression problem with the dogs, unfortunately, many of the dogs end up being put to sleep just because of the lack of facilities/training available to shelters.

Of course the best scenario would be the put the "food aggressive" dogs in foster homes to attempt to work through any aggression issues.

When I got Maya, they said that she was food aggressive. She growled at me a few times at first if I would try to move her food when she was eating, but it didn't take long at all for me to get through to Maya.

I feed my two girls at opposite ends of the kitchen, and both of them have to sit before I put their bowl down, and they have to stay until I tell them they can eat.

Now if I want something that Maya has in her mouth, I'll tell her to "give" and she'll give it to me. Maya has never shown any aggression towards people or other animals; it was just the food, and she's gotten over that.

[Seijun]

[quote name='JackieMaya']
Of course the best scenario would be the put the "food aggressive" dogs in foster homes to attempt to work through any aggression issues.
[/quote]

I usually count it a blessing to find foster homes willing to take ANY dog, food aggression or no.

~Seij

[JackieMaya]

The shelter I adopted Jackie and Maya from doesn't have an actual shelter building. ALL the dogs are in foster homes. And they stay in foster homes until they get adopted. Too bad this can't always happen, huh?

[StarFox]

Well I can kinda see both sides. It's not fair that food agressive/shy/etc dogs get put down. But it is a reality. I hate to say it but it's almost a necessary evil. Trust me if shelters had the money, time, staff, funding, and support to rehabilitate dogs with behaviour problems they would. No one likes to kill dogs that have a small problem but they have to think about the "big" picture more then the emotional side.

Speaking just from experience, our shelter gets 10-20 dogs in a day. Now with 80+ dogs that are already in there it gets full fast. So yes we are going to put down the dogs that arn't in tip top behavioural condition. But we do work with some dogs. We have a "dot" system. Blue dot=perfect, 100% on his tests; Green= good but not perfect, 90% passes his test; Orange=Shy, fearful, 80% passed the test. The "oranges" we do work with, there is a group of people (myself included) that are only allowed into there cages to socalize them and try to bring them up to a green or blue dot. We try very hard to work with all the animals but considering how many animals come in a day it literally is impossible to help every one.
It is also a HUGE liablilty to adopt out a dog with agression problems of any sort. And considering that 70% of our adoptees have children we can not in good conscience put an agressive dog with children.

As much as I hate knowing that so many dogs are put down i'd much rather have them have a happy last few days in a shelter, getting fed every day, having a nice warm bed to sleep on, and getting attention then having the dog die on the streets.

[imported_Kat]

Star just wanted to say the GSD in your avatar is stunning!

[imported_Cassie]

The Newfoundland dog breeder I work for recently took back and destroyed a Newf which displayed some food aggression. A Newf (at least the ones my friends breeds) should NEVER show any sort of aggression be it food or other and they should NEVER ever show any sort of human aggression. For a Newf food aggression is unacceptable. The Newf that was destroyed growled at a toddler (which by the way was allowed to maul the dog while it ate :roll: ). The Newf did not go past a warning growl but that was enough for it to be deemed dangerous and destroyed...BTW the breeder did take the dog back to evaluate before putting down.

In a shelter situation I feel it is a necessity to evaluate a dog for any sort of aggression before adopting out. There are many people, even those who "think" they know a lot about dogs who can make mistakes while owning such a dog...why take such a chance? the only way I would consider adopting out such a dog would to have a reputable dog owner who understands and is willing to rehabilitate the dog.
I myself adopted a Rottweiler that was aggressive in many aspects when I rescued her. She was going to be euthanized due to her problems, before they did so they asked me if I would take her. I did, I rehabilitated her and kept her. Do I think I could have rehabilitated her and placed her in a new home...no I don't. Placed in a new situation with new owners she may have displayed more behavioral problems.

Just to add, I own 5 dogs (had 6...2 of them being intact males and one intact female) all of these dogs came from kennel situations and my Dobie was a starved malnourished stray I picked up on the side of the road. All of my dogs eat side by side with no issues. There are no warning growls etc. and these are all dogs which COULD have been very food aggressive in the wrong home.

So to sum up, shelters do what they have to do. They are over crowded enough as it is...its best to weed out the problem dogs which may pose a threat to humans. Food aggression in the right or shall I say wrong circumstance can turn out to be dangerous especially to a child. Any sort of aggression be it food etc. and children do not mix.

[courtnek]

Unfortunately, I have to agree.The shelter here sends me mail, asking for donations, sheets, towels, old clothes (because they know I'm a sucker and will come up with stuff for them) so they certainly cant afford trainers and behaviorists....and I have seen over the years that very few people are willing to tolerate a food aggressive dog,although they will let this same dog growl at them and ignore it if its not food related.....

:o :o :o :o

[Guest Mutts4Me]

A food aggressive dog shouldn't be put to sleep. Sasha has a severe case of food aggression if you listen to her. One of the cats comes near her food, and she growls, snarls, bares her teeth, etc. She doesn't [i]do[/i] anything about it. She's 8, and we;ve had her for 7 years, and she's never attempted to injure one of the cats, not even if they share a plate with her (our Siamese isn't affected in the least bit by the snarling). But it's scary as all heck to listen to, even see. She might fail a test (she sometimes growls softly is we reach for a rawhide, but never ever does anything about it), if not in food aggression then at least in same sex dog aggression. So I don't think a pet dog ought to be PTS because of various behavioral problems that it may have, as long as the owner can deal with them.

BUT in a shelter situation, especially one in an urban area literally overflowing with homeless animals, there's not always time, space, or funding to work with problem animals. There are a lot of sad things going on at MHS, including the euthanasia of all unclaimed pit bulls, but there are so many sad things going on it the Detroit area that it's hard to condemn the MHS - if you've seen it and really understand what's happening in the area.

In a perfect world, shelters could be full of volunteers helping to socialize and train problem animals, and the community would donate to the shelters so that maybe they could afford to expand and/or hire specialists. A dog with minor food or dog aggression could be worked with, or a shy dog could be socialized, and the staff would have the resources to make sure the dog only went to a perfect home that knew how to deal with the situation. In an ideal situation, community members would open up their doors to foster animals that weren't working in a shelter situation. In an ideal world, people would spay and neuter their pets so that thousands of homeless animals weren't put in a situation where only the "ideal" ones could be put up for adoption.

[Carolk9s]

Amber,
I agree that the severity of food aggression should be taken into account. I guess when I think of a food aggressive dog, I think of one that is all too willing to lash out and bite, not one that simply growls or shows teeth.
However, I personally will not tolerate ANY food aggression amongst ANY dogs in my house. Each dog has their 'spot'.
I have to watch my girls, they would sneak in and steal Jesse's food and he would let them! I monitor feeding time and only allow 'bowl surfing' once everyone is done. Both girls make a beeline for Jesse's bowl in hopes that he left them a piece or two. I also watch him when they get cookies or greenies, the girls finish theirs and watch him as he slowly works his way through his.