My Weimeraner pup tends to eat her food too fast. What can we do to slow her down?

Mr. Frawley,

17 week old Weimaraner
House with family of two adults and three children
Adult Bichon Frise (three years old)
Two adult cats (four & five years old)
Very large fenced in back yard

My wife and I recently purchased an 8 week old female Weimaraner back on May 19, 2005. During the first 2 weeks we had the puppy I purchased the Leerburg training video 120-D "Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months" and have been using most of your training techniques. I really have appreciate your training video as it has helped greatly in our puppies development and I plan on buying more of your training videos.

I have noticed since she arrived that she has a tendency to eat rather fast when feed. We increased her diet slightly from 3/4 cup to 1 cup three times per day (7am/12pm/5pm). We've been feeding the puppy Old Mother Hubbard's Wellness brand Super5 Mix Puppy food. Increasing the amount feed didn't slow down her eating fast any. So I placed a few balls in her food dish to physically slow her eating down. However this doesn't slow down her desire to eat fast it just makes it more difficult for her to reach the food in her dish.

So my first question is how do I slow down her eating?

She isn't a possessive eater "YET" as I have been petting her and putting my hands in her food dish while she eats since she arrived our house and she has not growled or nipped at me when doing so. I can see her ribs somewhat and can feel them but I don't feel she is too thin. I've heard and
read that it can be a bad thing to overfeed puppies, especially large breed dogs as it can cause too rapid of growth, which can lead to health issues down the road.

Any recommendations on feeding the 17 week old puppy?

Just yesterday the puppy showed her first sign of aggression towards people. The puppy was attempting to get at the trash bags beside the garage while my wife and kids were outside near by doing some yard work. My daughter told the puppy to stop and move away from the trash bags and the puppy growled at her. So my daughter told my wife what happened and my wife then told the puppy to get out of the trash and when my wife went to gently encourage her physically to get out of the area the puppy growled at my wife and bit her hand but didn't break the skin. My wife picked up the puppy and looked into the puppies face and shouted "NO BITE" and then put the puppy into her crate. We have not physically disciplined the puppy by striking her, as I want to avoid creating a timid and flinching dog as I want the puppy to become a family pet that can provide some degree of protection around the house but at the same time I want the dog to fully understand what the pecking order is in our family (pack).

How do you suggest we work on breaking the development of aggressive behavior especially towards people?

As I simply will not tolerate it, especially with children around. We have not any rough housing or wrestling with her from day one as we don't want her to develop any aggressive behavior. We have not seen the puppy react to the older dog in the house in any aggressive manner other than playing for toys once in a while but by no means has it ever been aggressive with any growling or serious biting.

Thank you very much for your help,
Donovan