{"id":7712,"date":"2026-04-17T07:16:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/?p=7712"},"modified":"2026-04-17T07:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:16:47","slug":"is-food-guarding-the-same-as-food-hoarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/?p=7712","title":{"rendered":"Is Food Guarding the Same as Food Hoarding?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Both focus on access to food. But that&#8217;s where the similarities end.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"is food guarding the same as food hoarding, photo credit Annette Shaff shutterstock com\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"720\" height=\"823\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/pFfLEFn7qbM5Z8Qth9.xaA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTEwOTc7Y2Y9d2VicA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/pet_guide_418\/93fa7986c8036e6a2e24a842db3e3ac9\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>is food guarding the same as food hoarding, photo credit Annette Shaff shutterstock com<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Is there really a difference between food hoarding and food guarding with dogs? I mean, they&#8217;re both intentional behaviors with a self-serving outcome, right? More food for me!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But there is a difference. Food guarding is triggered by a fear of losing out. Perhaps when multiple dogs are vying for their fair share during meal time or you&#8217;re dealing with a dog that&#8217;s lived a life of scarcity, and he fears his little bounty may suddenly disappear. It&#8217;s triggered by anxiety and can become aggressive towards other dogs and even humans, if he&#8217;s convinced that he needs to protect that bowl of kibble he&#8217;s noshing down on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">With food hoarding, your dog turns into a little pack rat that stashes everything from treats to kibble and even wet food around the house and yard. Unlike food or resource guarding, hoarding is instinctual and is kind of like having a fully stocked pantry for when that proverbial rainy day happens. Now, that &#8220;pantry&#8221; can be under your sofa cushions, mingled amongst his bedding or under a pile of dirt in the yard. His goal is \u2013 just like his ancestors \u2013 to maintain a food supply that he can retrieve when hunger strikes and his bowl is empty. It&#8217;s all about survival, baby!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">No surprise, this type of hoarding is called &#8220;larder&#8221; hoarding and will include just a couple of favorite hiding places that they can access quickly and easily. With what is considered &#8220;scatter&#8221; hoarding, your pet hides smaller stashes in multiple locations to eliminate any danger of other critters discovering the cache and making off with the entire booty. Strategic, but messy when bits of kibble keep cropping up under cushions, furniture, flower beds\u2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">And while there can be overlap with the gentler food hoarder becoming aggressive when protecting his &#8220;resource&#8221;, these two methods of preserving access to sustenance have different triggers and seriously different behaviors attached to each.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Solutions? Hoarding is innate to your dog and is really quite harmless. With food guarding, it can become dangerous when your dog interprets friendly interaction as threatening. And that can include children or unsuspecting adults. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.petguide.com\/pets\/dog-care-services\/training\/do-dogs-grow-out-of-resource-guarding-44632207\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Can you train your dog out of food guarding;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Can you train your dog out of food guarding&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Can you train your dog out of food guarding<\/a>? For the typical pet parent, it can be highly challenging to convince their dog that other dogs and humans are not attempting to steal their food. So, bring in a professional trainer to help desensitize him to the need to guard, and help you understand what triggers to avoid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Both focus on access to food. But that&#8217;s where the similarities end. is food guarding the same as food hoarding, photo credit Annette Shaff shutterstock com Is there really a difference between food hoarding and food guarding with dogs? I mean, they&#8217;re both intentional behaviors with a self-serving outcome, right? More food for me! But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2079,5412,10185,2502,2797,10187,1401,7246,5903,56,4968,269,10179,7158,10180,7007,324,5396,10188,1095,3815,10184,67,66,1241,10183,7383,10186,212,8158,10182,10181,9609,1870],"class_list":["post-7712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets-news","tag-access","tag-aggressive","tag-annette","tag-behaviors","tag-bowl","tag-comis","tag-credit","tag-cushions","tag-difference","tag-dogs","tag-focus","tag-food","tag-food-guarding","tag-guarding","tag-guarding-hoarding","tag-hoarding","tag-humans","tag-include","tag-intentional","tag-kibble","tag-multiple","tag-pantry","tag-pe-ts-fun","tag-pets-news","tag-photo","tag-resource","tag-serving","tag-shaff","tag-shutterstock","tag-similarities","tag-stashes","tag-triggered","tag-triggers","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pe-ts.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}