# food/poop aggression



## bklantz (Feb 14, 2010)

This might get a bit long but I think the background might be helpful!

Me and my boyfriend got a 3 month old basset hound (Ella) in December and she has been a very good pup, when we first got her she lived with another dog too. The other dog was pretty mean and all around a very poorly trained dog. The other dog was very possessive of basically everything and would growl at our pup when she got near her food, toy, and even her owners room. It even got to the point where whenever we walked to or out of our room the dog would start barking because we had to walk past the room. Anyway, we moved out of the house and were very pleased that Ella had not picked up any of those traits from the dog, she was never aggressive about food or anything at all really, she loved all people and all dogs equally 

Ella has always been very very excited when she gets to eat and gobbles her food down in an instant and she also has a very bad habit of eating her and other dog's poop and we have been very unsuccessful of breaking this habit so far. The worst is at the dog park; if she sees a dog squat she immediately runs over to see if the dog is pooping so she can eat it

Now, about a month ago we adopted a 5 yr old basset hound (Ringo) and he is very very laid back and basically just sits around all day. He isn't aggressive or possessive with anything which is great.

Well a couple weeks after we got Ringo I was dishing up their food and Ella growled and lunged at Ringo! I was hoping it was an isolated incident but then a couple days later she did it again! So now I put them in separate rooms while I get their food and while they eat. They don't come out until they are both done eating. So that problem is being managed and it isn't too big of deal since it's easy to prevent. One time she also lunged at Ringo because he was near a bone she was chewing earlier (she was even laying down partially sleeping when this happened) but that has only happened once so that is good.

Now when we go to the dog park and Ella tries to eat poop sometimes she will growl and try to nip other dogs that get close to the poop, and she does this while I'm either holding her back so the owner can clean up or while I'm leading her away from the poop - this has happened about 4 times I would say. Today she growled and tried to nip Ringo at the dog park.

We thought maybe her poop eating is stemming from not getting enough nutrients so we are currently switching her food to Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's soul (we started an obedience class and the trainer said that is what she recommends) So I'm hoping that if she stops eating poop then she won't be aggressive.

So what if that isn't the problem? How do I go about stopping this aggression in her? She never did this until we got Ringo, so maybe he has something to do with it?

It is very frustrating and now I don't like taking her to the dog park because I don't want her to get aggressive over POOP of all things!! 

Any suggestions at all would be very much appreciated!


----------



## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Some things to consider in the attached link:

http://www.webtrail.com/petbehavior/april97.html


----------

