We just adopted a 3 1/2 y/o Springer Spaniel/Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mix named Dakota. This dog had been in a foster home for approximately 2 months. The dog is great, but not very well trained. Our major concern is the food driven anxiety that he exhibits. We were fore-warned of this behavior but I guess we didn't fully understand what it meant. We also have an 11 y/o female Springer, Bandit, and we have had to feed them separately and especially have had to keep Dakota away from the partially eaten food bowl. I believe this dog has been this issue it's whole life and I don't know his past completely. The foster mom used an anti-barking device that used sound and was successfull at controling the barking, but I am interested it what causes this and what we can do to stop or at least control it
Thank you for your post regarding your dog and her food anxiety. I would ask you to elaborate a bit more on the exact behavior your dog has been displaying please so I can better understand the problem you and previous owners are/were trying to deal with. But for the moment, definitely do not continue the use of an anti-barking collar, particularly the shock collars (electric ones) as they tend to make any behavioural issue worse in the long run and only offer a mean short time fix.
