Ideas on ways to handle food agression?

[HoneyDreameMomma]

My adult LGD, Miller, has always had very mild food aggression. He never growls at people, but when other animals - particularly the cats and chickens - try to get their snouts into his dish, he does the 'growl and lunge.' He's never harmed any of them; it's obvious he's just trying to get them out of his space.
Maybe I should have corrected it, but I never did, because I figured with 6 barn cats and over 20 chickens, if he didn't chase them away, he'd never get any food.

However, within the last week or so, three of our goats seem to have acquired a taste for dog food. Terrible, I know, and I get them out of it every time I see it happen, but it doesn't seem to matter if they've had their grain or how much hay, etc. is out for them, if they see the dogs eating, they come and try to butt their way into the dogs' dishes.

Our new LGD puppy, Clyde, is such a softie he just lets them in (while frantically trying to get as much food as possible before they eat it), but Miller has started doing the growl and lunge at them. Again, he hasn't hurt any of them, but I noticed that Clyde is starting to half-heartedly growl at the goats now too (although not enough to intimidate them in any way ).

My question is, is this behavior harmless? I worry that if Clyde learns from Miller to growl at the goats, he might try to take other liberties with them.

I was thinking of creating a little run area within the goat pasture that we put the dogs into for feeding time, so the goats can't get to their food. Has anyone had success doing something similar? Any other suggestions?

The three goats in question are pregnant and I was wondering if there sudden interest in dog food is because they need more protein. We give them a 16% protein feed, and a mineral lick, but the hay available around here this time of year doesn't have as much protein as I'd like. Any suggestions on goat diet that you think might help would also be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Womwotai]

This doesn't solve the food aggression per se, but…..I wouldn't have thought a (vegetarian) goat would be interested in eating dog food. Is the food you are feeding grain based? If so, perhaps switching feed will make it less appealing to the goats in the first place.

Most cheap dog foods have corn as the primary ingredient and in that case I can see why it might appeal to a vegetarian animal. A good dog food will have meat as the primary ingredient, and very little grain content, particularly corn. Perhaps switching to a meat-based feed for the dogs will keep the goats from trying to get at it.

 

[Southern by choice]

The puppy "creep feeder" is a good idea. It is a hard call. I raised my 3 pyrs for NO food aggression whatsoever and of course we have to separate them out for feeding- less for the goats and more because of the chickens. Of course when they have raw nothing bothers them. Our Anatolian was raised up by my farm partner and did not work with her. She guards her food from all the animals to the point of ridiculousness. Like 20-30 foot range.

She will not do anything to her beloved goats but it is a big show and lots of noise. But to my male pyr that is with her she acts . The toli knows I don't tolerate it and if I am near her she won't do a thing.... but there again I didn't train her in this area but of course I am still stuck with the issue.

You are right, there is always the possibility of these dogs taking it too far or gradually escalating the issue. I chose the absolute no food aggression and feed out of the goats/chickens areas. Not a big deal as it is done am/pm when we are doing the feeding watering of the farm animals. I am simply not ok with any act of aggression toward livestock period even though I do think the dogs have a right to defend their food. Far easier for things to go badly with allowing any possessiveness with food.

As far as the goats... we up their alfalfa hay. We just add it to their regular hay and increase their feed about 3-4 weeks prior to kidding.

 

[HoneyDreameMomma]

The thought had crossed my mind, but we buy a good quality dog food with high meat content. Maybe we should try changing brands to see if it helps...

Not sure if this could mean anything, but the three goats that are the repeat offenders are a group we picked up early last fall. The rest of our goats seem uninterested. I wondered if it might have been prior eating habits, but it seems like if that were the case, the issue would probably have come up sooner.

 

[HoneyDreameMomma]

Thanks for the advice, Southern!

 

[Southern by choice]

@HoneyDreameMomma

not to be a pest but...... pictures.... just love to see LGD pups grow up! Such fun and it is always amazing at how fast they grow.

 

[treeclimber233]

I had a lot of problem with Drift and food aggression toward the goats. I found that if you take bacon grease (or something similar) and mix it with hot water and pour it over the food the goats will not eat it. And as for the chickens I put his food bowl in a dark corner of the stall and the chickens did not bother it. They could not see it well enough to check it out. He ate a premium food that did not have any corn or wheat in it. And I also had the problem of the same goats that tried to eat it all the time. The rest of the herd never bothered to even try after the first sniff.

 

[Baymule]

If these three goats are "problem children" maybe after they have their kids, they need to go to another home. It looks like they are causing the dogs to misbehave and could even teach the other goats or their own kids to be a problem too.

 

[Beekissed]

My sheep loved dog food too. I allowed my dogs to protect their food in this manner from the other animals, as it's only natural. I could take the food from them at any time and so could any other human, but I allowed the warning lunge and bark at the other animals....if not, they'd never get any!

I'd just make sure that you can still put your hands in and around their feed while they are eating...if not and they growl, time for some training on who is the pack leader. Also, make sure the lunge and growl/bark doesn't go any further than that...just monitor that interaction. If the goats are smart they will keep their distance. My sheep did.

 

[Pips]

I would never promote food aggression by ignoring it in any guardian. One day your face will be too close, he will be a bad mood about something, and you may need stitches between ear and nose. I would feed him separately anyway from your herd, unless it is a carcass you throw out in the field for your dogs like I used to do, still do but in the garden now. Popsicle rabbit
There is a nice trick I learnt about 15 years ago that seems to the best correction method for guardians. Take treats for your herd and the dog out to pen/field, get him to lie down and feed them in order, herd first then him. Do this regularly he will get used to them feeding with him. Correct any aggression although sometimes no correction is needed & they just learn all everyone can eat together.
There are lots of methods to improve food aggression, PM me and will help as much as I can. But starting early is important. I would isolate him for now, especially with family children in case he accidentally, while trying to warn, harms.