serious food aggression in 9 month old beagle

[tyler923]

We just adopted a 9 month old beagle (neutered male) from a Beagle Rescue and he is very playful, very loving, however he has a very SERIOUS food aggression issue. The first time we fed him I wanted to check to see if he was food aggressive and he most certainly was. He growls, snaps and charges. We are trying to feed him by hand at first and then we put small amounts of food in his bowl, however he is still very aggressive and it is very concerning. I have two children, 10 & 13 and this is absolutely a behavior that will not be tolerated. We are not quite sure how to break him of this behavior. Any suggestions?? Cannot afford an in house trainer nor are we going to give up on him.

[have 2 kids]

I work with a rescue group and they should not have adopted out a food aggressive dog.   I would contact the rescue group and see what they recommend- sometimes the behavior can start do to changes.  This is a very serious issue, especially with children in the house.      

[zoe114]

Well, I decided that the mean (ok, very sweet but a food bully) needed to feel safe, so I put her food bowl away from the kitchen and into the bathroom where I used to feed her. I feed the others in the bedroom, this way she has her own space and taking it away from the kitchen has helped her become less agressive. Since I give the dogs their medication in the kitchen which it wrapped in food, I am trying to give the agressive the last bit of food. What is sad is that when the ast bit is given the other two run out of the kitchen for fear of the other one bitting them.  

[deadgamegrrl]

Hi!
I don't have a great solution to tyler923 other than continue hand feeding, and have all family members take turns feeding by hand.  Hopefully someone else has another idea.
Zoe, one of my bullies was food aggressive with other dogs only, and I ended up standing in the middle of the kitchen while all 3 dogs went to 'their' place where I put their bowls.  Everyone learned that they had to stay in their place w/their bowl.  I would stil play referee occasionally b/c my rescue wasn't too bright and would still wander sometimes into Ben's orbit but we ended up about 95% food-fight free.
What's funny is that Pumpkin still expects to be fed in 'her' spot almost 5 years after the other two have been gone, and she eats alone now as do my other two.  

[zoe114]

I don't have the answers, but am adding this to my watch list as I have a dog with the same issue. Her's started because my other dog stole her food when she was a puppy. I am hoping someone on here has the answer. My puppy is going after the older dog and it is causing him to go into seizures, not right away but not too long after.