Sophie the Leo pup is now just over 3 months old and is very sweet and adorable and GIANT-35lbs last week! However, she is very aggressive with food and I do not know how to handle it.
For those of you who don't know, we have 3 other dogs and we free feed from one bowl. I have NEVER had an issue with any of the dogs being aggressive or competing for food. If one is eating, the others will wait or stuff their noses in and take what they want, no problem. The same goes for table scraps and treats.
Sophie was getting fed separately, in her crate, but would not eat in there so I put her food by the other bowl. She not only snaps and growls at the other dogs (and cats!) when they go near her food, she won't let them near their own. If anyone else tries to eat, even if she's asleep, she'll get up and chase them away.
She is getting increasingly bad about it and bit Chicklet (who is 3.5 lbs) today! If I feed her treats by hand, she will bite me in her haste to get it. I am trying to teach her "easy" but am tired of being bitten- she broke the skin on the back of my hand. She does NOT growl or snap at me if I take her food dish or put my hand in it. Can anyone help? I do not want her to turn into a giant food aggressive dog so I need to nip this in the bud!