Background
Most behavior problems are caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Genetic factors may cause a dog to have a tendency to respond to a given circumstance in a certain way (i.e., with aggression, fear, friendliness). Environmental factors may have either a positive or negative impact on a dog’s tendencies. Dogs likely behave aggressively around food-related items because they really enjoy a particular item and don’t want others to have it, because there is a history of conflict (ie, being punished) related to the item, or because they come from a background where food was a scarce resource and aggression enabled them to get enough food.
Summaries of studies which refer to food and/or possessive aggression can be found in our
research library