Does Your Dog Growl At You When You’re Eating? [Read This]

Does your dog friend growl at you when you are eating? Let’s see how you can face this condition successfully. Read this full article till the end to find some effective remedies.

Your dog may growl at you while you eat because of food aggression, lack of discipline, attention-seeking, begging for food, and hunger. This behavior can be avoided by keeping the dog away from the dining area, avoiding table scraps, positive reinforcement, and consulting a dog behaviorist.

Let’s discuss this deeply. Here I am going to clarify all the doubts in your head. What you have to do is, understand the possible reasons behind your dog’s behavior.

What makes your dog growl at you when you are eating?

1. Food aggression.

Food aggression is a wide topic. The dogs protect their food. When you approach your dog’s food, he will find it a threat. Then he will begin to growl.

Simply, this is food aggression. But here we are talking about your food. Your dog growls while you are eating. You will ask me the connection between food aggression and this particular issue.

Let me explain to you. Imagine you are starving. You open the refrigerator and take the milk bottle. Your dog is observing you.

He notices that the liquid is milk. Can you imagine what the dog thinks? He suspects that you are going to drink his portion of milk. This is normal.

Your dog lacks rational thinking. Due to this misunderstanding, he begins to growl at you. This is how food aggression connects with this issue.

2. Begging food.

Dogs love to eat tasty food. Don’t think they always feel ok with pet food. Imagine a little child, will he be satisfied with bread and butter?

He will ask for chocolates and ice creams. Your dog is also very childish. The dog will ask you to supply him with tasty food. When you are eating pizza, burgers, etc., your dog will growl at you.

He growls not because he is angry, just because he wants some food. Your dog notices everything. Let’s take a hypothetical situation.

You eat something delicious in front of a baby. The baby will probably cry. What if you eat vegetables in front of your dog? He will not care as he doesn’t eat vegetables.

This is what you should understand. They beg for the things that they like. Take this into your head.

3. Hunger.

The dog growls out of hunger. He growls to let you know that he is hungry. You should understand the signals of your dog.

I know you all have busy schedules. But don’t miss your dog’s meal. If he growls because of hunger, supply him with food as soon as possible.

How do you know he is growling because of hunger? It is quite simple. Let me explain. If he looks into your eyes with a look of pleading, he may be hungry.

Now you will ask me how you can understand it, just by looking at its face. It is completely up to you. If you are a good owner, you will understand the looks and gestures of your dog.

4. To get the attention.

When you concentrate on food, the dog notices that he is no longer a center of attraction. Then he starts to bark and growl. He does this to grab attention.

We all know dogs are great attention seekers. So they try to be in touch with you. They just do it with a pure heart. Therefore, don’t get angry with them.

Imagine you have your meal with family members. You all are chatting and laughing. Your dog is watching you. He also will want to join you.

How should you react when the dog growls at you when you are eating?

1. Ignore as long as you can.

Ignore and ignore. Your dog will keep on growling. If you want to stop him, show him that you don’t care about him. Then your dog will understand that there is no point in growling.

This is a very effective way to make your dog silent. Yeah, I know you can’t ignore him for a long time; at least try to ignore him until you finish eating.

If you give him attention while he is growling, he will not stop for a long time. Try this and see whether it is effective or not.

To be honest, your immediate reaction matters a lot. It decides the nature of your relationship with your dog in the future. So make sure you don’t behave insanely in front of your dog.

If you can’t ignore him, just try to make him calm by showing some love. But according to my view, the best immediate reaction would be ignoring.

2. Don’t call him by his name.

If you call him by his name, he will growl more and more. Avoid doing it. I will explain the reason behind it. Once your dog realizes you are paying attention to him, he will start to complain more and more.

As I have already said, paying attention won’t solve this problem.

By the way, read this to understand why does your dog bark right into your face.

How to keep your dog from growling when you are eating.

1. Put him in a room.

You may argue that this is cruel. But we are doing this to discipline the dog. Let me explain the procedure. Whenever your dog growls while you are eating, put him in a room.

Then he will understand that he did the wrong thing. He may realize that he will have to remain in a room as a punishment.

Don’t try this with puppies. Puppies can’t understand anything. So trying this on puppies can damage the relationship between you and the puppy.

Don’t lock them up for a long time. If you want to try this, keep this in mind. You can keep him inside for a maximum of 30 minutes. Don’t keep him for more than 30 minutes.

2. Positive reinforcement.

What is positive reinforcement? Simply, Positive reinforcement can explain as the best way to train your dog. You can give your furry friend rewards when he behaves well.

What are these rewards? It can be anything. Lots of dogs like to get treats and toys as rewards. How can you use this method to resolve your problem?

When your dog growls, ignore it and stay until he stops it. Once he stopped it, offer him rewards. As I have already said, you can give him anything he likes.

This method can change your dog’s behavior drastically. Believe me, you are going to see some real changes.

Note: You cannot offer treats as a rewarding method in this particular case. Because it only worsens the situation.

3. Keep him away from the dining area.

If your dog stays outdoors, you can do it without any effort. But what if your dog stays indoors? I have an answer. While you are eating, you can keep your dog inside the pen.

This will resolve your problem. Once you finish eating, you can make him free. As you put him in pen, he will not growl at you. Instead of that, he will bark and cry to get out of it. Likewise, you can control them very easily.

4. Avoid table scraps.

Have you thought about the root of this behavior? Most likely, this behavior is the result of table scraps.

Even if you did not give them table scraps while you were eating, one of your family members, including children, might have given them table scraps.

Over time, the dog has realized that she can manipulate you into giving table scraps while you eat.

5. Consult a dog behaviorist.

I want you to understand that if you don’t solve this behavioral problem right now, it will only get worse over time. It’s hard to guess where it ends, but it’s definitely going to end in something terrible.

So, if this seems beyond your control, consider consulting a specialized dog behaviorist in your area, and trust me. It’s completely worth it. These guys have plenty of experience, maybe over a couple of decades. So, they know what they are doing.

Things to be aware of.

Don’t yell at your dog.

Never do this. Don’t shout to your dog. It can damage the relationship between you and the dog. If you want to maintain a good relationship with your dog, be nice to him.

As I have already said, yelling his name won’t work. It will worsen the situation. So be patient with your dog as much as possible.

Don’t use painful training methods.

Cruelty can’t control animals. But kindness can control them. What are these painful methods of training? An aversive is a cruel way of practicing dogs.

Here they use something unpleasant as the aversive. It may be a sound, shock collar, prong collar, scolding, or physical correction.

These methods damage the personality of the dogs. Physically they undergo huge pain due to these methods.

Don’t feed your dog with sugary and salty food.

When you eat, the dog asks for food. Even Though he asks, don’t give him salty and sugary food. Let’s see why sugary and salty food are bad for them.

Sugar and salts are the reason for tummy-related deficiencies and obesity. Dark chocolate is something you should never give to your dog.

Caramel, candies, and chocolates also contain a lot of sugar. On the other hand, spicy food is also not good for your dog’s health. Think about your own life.

You don’t eat too much sugar as it is not good for your health. You don’t eat too much salt as it can increase pressure. You don’t eat spicy food as you feel a burning sensation in your tummy after eating them.

This happens to dogs. They also feel unwell after eating those foods.

Conclusion.

Growling and barking are normal. The dogs communicate through growling or barking. If he growls when you are eating, try the above steps. For sure you will be able to control your dog. You came to know about lots of important things today. Use them to build a good relationship with your dog.