When a dog shows food aggression in the shelter, will he continue to show it in the home? And even if he does, will that mean his adoptive family will consider it a problem?

While every dog is an individual, a recent study published in Applied Animal Behavior Science suggests that around half of all dogs who show food aggression while in the shelter (designated as FA+) do not show that same behavior in their new homes.

Additionally, “Most adopters, including those whose dogs were reported FA+ in the home,
did not consider FA+ behavior to be a challenge to keeping the dog as a
pet.”

From the study abstract (paragraph breaks ours):

In conclusion, in this sample of shelter dogs, the observation of
FA+ behavior during a standardized dog behavior evaluation was
associated with FA+ behavior in the home following adoption, however, an
almost equal number of dogs observed to be FA+ on the behavior
evaluation did not show food aggression after adoption.

Failure to
observe FA+ behavior on the shelter test was associated with the absence
of FA+ behavior after adoption.

The detection of FA+ via a behavior
evaluation should be interpreted with caution, since a positive finding
in the shelter evaluation does not consistently indicate that the
behavior will occur in the home nor that a dog is unsuitable for
adoption.

Marder,
A.R., Shabelansky, A., Patronek, G.J., Dowling-Guyer, S. &
D’Arpino, S.S. “Food-related aggression in shelter dogs: A comparison of
behavior identified by a behavior evaluation in the shelter and owner
reports after adoption.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 148, 150-156 (2013).