Dog getting "aggressive" about food

[staceychev]

Our dog--aged 1-1/2 years--is starting to get aggressive about taking food, especially from the kids. I say "aggressive" because she's become much more forward about it, but she's not mean or dangerous, IMO. She's doing things like jumping up while DD5 is sitting at the counter and taking peanut butter toast out of her hands. I think this all started a month or so ago when we started putting the baby in the high chair and the baby realized how much fun it was to drop food to the dog. 

So, question to the more experienced dog parents out there--how do we reverse this behavior and teach the dog good manners? As I said, she's about a year and a half. She's a rescue dog--probably has pit bull or some other terrier in her and seems to be some sort of herding dog as well, like cattle dog or border collie. She's probably about 50 pounds. Other than this behavior, she's a very sweet dog. 

[tinuviel_k]

I'd start by making children with food completely inaccessible to your dog. When the kids are eating and you can't be 100% right there with them to supervise the dog you can have her on a leash with you, or in her kennel (if you crate train,) or in a different room with the door shut (if she is trustworthy enough to be left alone). Ditto when the baby is eating in the high chair. She needs to learn that she can NEVER be allowed to take people food from the children, and first you will need to remove all her opportunities.

Next I'd work on training in regards to food. I'd start with leashed down-stays when you have time to sit with your children and the dog during a snack time. Reward often as she holds a down-stay with kibble or dog treats, not people food. Eventually you should be able to take her off the leash, but give it lots of time!

I'd also have the children work on feeding and taking the dog's food away (if she is trustworthy with the children in regards to dog food). One of the best ways we found to get our dog to respect our daughter was to have her lend a strong hand in training and to let her be the giver and taker of meals at least once per day.

[staceychev]

Thank you so much for your reply! We do crate train her, so we can use that. My husband uses the leash in the house to work on the relationship with the cat, or behavior during dinner. I will definitely start leashing her during kids eating times. I think one of the problems is that she's become a better dog in terms of eating the kids toys, so we're a little more lax with her being in the house without us watching her every movement. I think we need to get back to being more vigilant! 

Thank you!