Our 8 week old puppy is a voracious eater and is growling and guarding his food. Should we correct him for this?

I would not correct an 8 week old puppy for food guarding but would set up the scenario so he didn’t feel the need to guard it. You can hand feed him or give him an empty bowl and add little bits of food by hand so he learns you are not going to take it away. He needs to understand the new rules of the house and this can be done gently through merely manipulating each situation. If you start correcting him for this, you will reinforce yourself as a bully and being unfair (which I know you don’t want).

I’d read the article Ed wrote on The Groundwork to Becoming your Puppy’s Pack Leader and I'd recommend the video Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

You may also want to look over the following:
I would read our biting puppies article. You can read this to get our definition of socializing.

For young puppies, we do all the training with food while playing little chase games with toys separately. I would read our article on training dogs with Markers.

I would then HIGHLY recommend The Power of Training Dogs with Food.

If you can let me know what your ultimate goal with the puppy will be, I can make further suggestions for you. I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes