Food Aggression--Bitten

[yummybagel]

I have a two year old male Beagle, and I guess it's not a surprise that he is completely obsessed with food.
But it's been kind of a problem because he guards certain type of food.

I'm not sure if this is how things happened exactly because it was pretty chaotic, but I'll try to describe it as much as I remember.
Two days ago, my family and I--including my Beagle--was at a place where it was kind of like a dog park, but it was at a beach. Knowing from past experiences that he doesn't go in the water because he hates cold water, and seeing that the place was pretty well confined, I let him off leash to run around with the other dogs. It was a complete success. He had so much fun, and he responded to me calling him back very well. So I got excited and took him back to that place the next day. But I guess I was pushing it for taking him back there. He was running around with other dogs but then all of a sudden he had his nose stuck on the ground, sniffing and following a trail of scent intently. I followed him and I realized that he was walking towards this one family who was sitting on the beach. Turns out they had food laying around, and my Beagle smelled it from miles away. He ran over to the family and started stealing their food. I completely panicked, and my body moved ahead of my head, and instinctively grabbed him by his harness and tried to pull him back. I should have known better than to do this because a year ago, I learned that he gets extremely aggressive when I try to take away high-value food like piece of bread or meat. I've been badly bitten by him before for trying to take away the high-value food that he picked up at a park. Since then I was careful with him around food, never tried to take away food that I know he would guard, and tried to be alert and prevent him from picking up precious food in the first place. But this time, the fact that he was touching other people's food rather than some old abandoned food on the ground just freaked me out, so I pulled him back by his harness without really thinking. When I tried to pull him back, he got really aggressive and bit my hand. At first, he bit me not too hard. I think it was a warning bite. It didn't leave a mark, just left me taken aback. Then he went for more food from the same family. But at this point, my brain must have been not working properly. I really wasn't thinking because I pulled him back again and now he bit me even harder, to the point where it was bleeding. I got a deep cut and a bruise all over my hand. To make matters worse, my dad, who was watching the whole scene, spanked him really hard when he was biting me. But the thing is my dad spanked him from the back and my dog didn't see my dad spanking him so it might be possible that he thinks I'm the one who spanked him. Would this cause him to fear me??

Just for the record, my dad, being old fashioned always believed in the "traditional" way of training dogs. So he's spanked Bagel couple of times before when he got out of control. But after learning about Victoria and positive training, I kind of made it illegal in the household for anyone to spank or physically hurt him in any ways. He has never been spanked by anyone else in the family.

But to go back to the point, I'm really worried by the damage that Bagel caused on me. I'm afraid that my younger sister or other people might get hurt this way too. What are the things that I can do when this kind of situation happens again? I know avoiding anywhere that I know might have food laying around is a good start. But sometimes it's hard to predict if anyone has food. Is this kind of behavior normal for dogs, or should I be worried about my dog? Is it possile for me to train him so he doesnt react so aggressively?

He doesn't turn aggressive when it comes to his kibbles. He is a sweet dog at home and anywhere else, but when it comes to food, he just completely changes. Like my mom says, he turns into a hulk when someone interferes him with getting his precious high-value type of food. He doesn't guard his toys, or anything else but high value food. I need help!!!

[JudyN]

I'm sorry you got bitten - I've also been bitten by my food guarder in the past. It's good that you haven't tried to take things off him in the past, but I can quite imagine that that's difficult to do when it's someone else's picnic he's eating!

Have you worked on exchanges, 'leave', 'drop' and so on? This can help to an extent. I can get Jasper to leave empty burger boxes, tasty horse poo and so on, but wouldn't stand a chance if he found a rancid old bone.

I'm sure the experts will have much more advice but I would work on a few areas:

1) Introduce a muzzle. Do this gradually - I did it by smearing peanut butter in the end and holding it while he licked the peanut butter, then fastening it and taking it off straight away, then leaving it on for a matter of seconds while distracting him with some fun training... he now always wears it when we're out. This isn't so you can safely drag him away from food he has found, and won't stop him from ransacking a picnic, but it safeguards you and the public - if he stole someone else's food, they tried to take it back, and he bit them, it could mean a one-way trip to the vet Also, just the fact that you know you are safe means you can deal with situations more calmly and keep control without flipping him into aggression. Make sure the muzzle is one in which he can open his mouth and drink, and won't impede his breathing or panting. This does unfortunately mean that he can eat some things through it and can get in an awful mess if he enjoys horse poo!

2) Teach a really good recall. I use a whistle as an 'emergency' recall (or call 'sausage') and give a really delicious treat. Don't try it straight away when he's got his nose in something really nice, but build up very gradually. I have managed to call Jasper off a picnic.

3) Impulse control: check out this thread on 'It's Yer Choice' which can help a dog realise that grabbing any food available isn't always the best option: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7588

You do need to stress to your family that he must not be spanked, shouted at, etc. and that they must not take risks with him. If he swipes their sandwich, they must act as if they wanted him to have it all along...

Oh, also, when you walk him, you could make sure you have a tenner in your back pocket. Then if he raids another picnic you can apologise nicely, explain about his issues (if you've had him from a pup you may even want to fib and say he's a rescue who was starved and abused in the past, then they'll be much more sympathetic... ), and give them the tenner to pay for the food.

ETA: Am I right in thinking that beagles are very independent-minded? If so, doing lots of fun training and games such as clicker training may make him generally more responsive to you and therefore more likely to respond to commands. Just a thought...