[Dailydrool] dogs fighting each other around food

[Brenda Waldrop]

I brought my two bassets home from the rescue on the same day.  Although
they had completely unrelated stories, they happened to be brought to their
foster home the same day, and perhaps because they were the "new guys" they
bonded well.

When I first got them home they were both food, toy, and treat aggressive.
More protective than aggressive I guess, but the issues they had both dealt
with were evident in their behavior.  Copper my 55lb boy, then almost 10
years old, weighed only 26lbs when the shelter got him, and 31lbs when we
got him from his foster family.  He'd been staked out on a rope in the back
yard of a house for YEARS.  He was never allowed off the rope, rarely fed or
watered, and never bathed or tended.  As a result he was very protective of
his food when we first got him, and he always ate everything up the minute
we filled his bowl.

Elphaba was an escape artist, crazy curious about everything and dying to go
on adventures.  She was found wandering the streets at about 9 weeks old,
was adopted out, and was found wandering the streets again at 12 months
old.  They think she's been on the streets for a few months at that point,
and the former owners never claimed her.  She's quite the food scavenger as
a result and she counter cruises all the time.  She's also petrified of
garbage trucks and runs to hide whenever one comes down the ally.  I suspect
she was scared away from quite a few garbage cans by them in her time on the
streets.

Over the last year and a half they have both really calmed down, not really
through any sort of training that I'm consciously doing, but more from the
fact that they know they can expect regular meals and treats, and there are
always plenty to go around.  They often leave their food in their bowls all
day, just grazing at it whenever they wish.  They eat from each other's
bowls regularly as well.

Copper still likes to hoard the rawhide chews when they get them, but I
think that's because he chews his so slowly, and he knows that the puppy can
go through three or four in the time it takes him to eat one.  Still, the
worst it gets is some minor growling or nipping at each other.  They attach
each other a lot worse than that when they are playing the alligator
wrestling game they love so much.  Neither of them has ever hurt the
other in any significant way, and they are both pretty good at listening to
commands regarding toys or treats like, "Share." (Sometimes one has to
actually pick up one of the items to be shared and give it to the other dog)

Every dog is different, but hopefully what they really need is some time to
adjust to each other and it will get a lot better.

Brenda- momslave to Copper and Elphaba
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