Q: We adopted a 15-month old Border Collie a month ago and had him neutered 3 weeks ago. His owners said they could not keep him due to lack of space and time for him. He was an only dog. He is very sweet until you go near him when he is eating. We have always free-fed him from the first day he got here, as he was terribly skinny. The previous owners said he didn't like to eat but when I mixed a little wet food in, he became a hearty eater and gained 5 pounds.

One day I walked into the kitchen. I was about 6 feet from him and had no idea he was eating until he turned around, lifted his lip and barked at me. The next time this happened, he turned and bared his full set of teeth. I was advised to walk towards him next time, ordering him firmly to stop, but that enraged him more and he started snapping in my face trying to bite. I had to boot him outside to end his fury. I've started ignoring him when I walk through the kitchen when he is eating and this seemed to help until tonight. I was unloading groceries through a door near his dish and I noticed he was getting tenser every time I walked by but he kept eating. I was advised that he should be allowed to get used to people in the kitchen while he eats. The last time I went to pass by him, he blocked my path and actually started walking towards me with his FULL set of teeth bared. I assume he was trying to back me into the corner or out of the room. Although it took every ounce in me to get my voice to work, I managed to firmly command him to lay down. After I said it the second time, he completely relaxed, walked over to me, threw himself on the ground with his tail tucked in his legs and his head resting on my feet.

I thought food guarding from owners was pretty rare? Has anyone had a similar experience? Can this behavior be extinguished for good with training? We will have children one day and I don't want to have to give him up 5 years down the road, if this behavior will continue to rear its ugly head.

A: If the questions on this board are any indication--and they probably are-food guarding from owners is not rare. The aggressiveness he has shown in this instance prompts me to recommend you have him evaluated by a dog trainer or behavior specialist in person, because there may be deeper problems. Also, let me give you a plan for this that should be safe for you to try.

First, no more free-feeding. That gives him something to guard all the time and is too dangerous. Also, I would feed him in other places, not just the kitchen. Let's take away a specific guarding attitude about that room. I'm glad you are not giving in to him because that can greatly complicate things. Let's see if you can get your message across without triggering this dangerous defensiveness. I expect he got it from having to defend his food from other animals. He'll never be reliable to have his food with other dogs wandering around the room but then I don't advise that in the first place. If you ever have another dog there, be sure to give each animal complete privacy from the other when they are eating. Food brings out survival instincts in many dogs.

He definitely needs to be able to calmly tolerate people in the room when he is eating. Don't even leave his food dish on the floor anymore. Then there's nothing to guard. Once the problem is solved, you may be able to start leaving it down until the next mealtime as long as its empty, but it's not that hard to just take it up off the floor.

Now, here we are at mealtime. Give Mr. Big-Britches a dish with nothing in it! Once he realizes his tough luck and looks at you, don't be in a hurry. Let him shift into another gear, wanting the food, knowing you are the source of it. Walk up and put just a little in the dish.

If you feel safer, hold the dish in your hand rather than putting it down, so he has to come to you for the food. If you're holding the dish, change your location after each bit. Because you're going to feed his whole meal in bits, each time wait until he realizes he is out of food and looks to you again. This way you are by-passing his survival instincts and those nasty habits he has established, and helping him see you near the food dish from a whole new perspective. You are now not a potential threat to his food, you are the giver of food!

Don't expect this to be a quick fix and since his reaction was so violent, I would go through the process every now and then for the rest of his life, as a brush-up. As obedience training progresses, you can also have him Sit or Down as you put his dish on the floor and he has to wait until you release him to get it. I would not do the common exercise of taking his food away just to prove to him that you can. This can cause the very problem you are seeing because it makes him see you as a threat to his food.

However, if a dog growls at me when I get near his food dish, I do remove the dish for 15 minutes. Then I give it back and see how he responds to my being there. I've only had one dog with this problem and he was a real monster toward other dogs around food--taught me a lot! With him, just taking the dish up three times showed him the pattern--growl, food is removed. Food comes back 15 minutes later--growl, food is removed. Third time, oops, I better not growl, better just eat this and behave myself! If you wait longer than 15 minutes or so between giving the food again, it will be harder for the dog to see the pattern and forget what did he do that caused you to remove the food.

However, don't try this one yet. My dog wouldn't have thought of actually biting me, so it was very safe for me to confront him and take his food away. You can't be sure yet with your dog of winning this battle, so don't set it up. That's our special edge with dogs, the ability to plan ahead and stack the deck in our own favor! That is in the dog's best interest too, because the clearer you make the message, the faster he will learn and with the least stress on him. He's been through a lot recently and he needs time to settle down.

Once he is calm about having people approach him when he is eating, have everyone in the household occasionally approach his dish during his meal and drop in something even nicer than what he has in the dish already. That will also help condition him that anyone approaching his dish is good news!

Additionally, I would think twice about treat-training this dog around other dogs. It might bring out the worst in him. Being a Border Collie, he can probably be taught a reward system for your praise--he seems to already value that-- petting and maybe a tennis ball game. Drop the ball from the vicinity of your face for him to catch in his mouth, always three to five times in a row. He'll love it and this will direct his eyes to your face.

At other times, give him lots of fetching games with tennis balls, keeping the throws low enough that he does not jump up and come down on just his hind legs--devastating potential for injuries there. The exercise will help him stay more mellow and his ball drive for catching the ball as a reward will be increased by the happy expression of his probably considerable prey drive in chasing the ball. Fetching the ball to you will increase lots of good stuff in his temperament too. It's a very healthy and productive game to play with a dog. I hope things go well.