Hello everyone.

My girlfriend and I acquired a female puppy who is now 13 weeks old. I believe we are doing the correct thing by touching her paws and tail while she is eating so when she matures this won't be an issue with children. Well today while she was eating her dinner I gently pet her paw and she snapped at me. This is expected (I guess) but would like to know if there is anyway to stop it now before she grows into the large girl she will soon be.

Thank you very much.

Others may disagree with me, but I am of the opinion that it serves no constructive purpose to irritate a dog while it is eating. If properly raised, a pup should not develop food guarding behaviors in the first place; there is generally no need to do this sort of thing. A better practice would be to drop a few morsels into her dish as you walk by periodically, while she is eating. This sends her the message that people coming near her while she eats are not a threat to her food source, but rather, quite the opposite.

In addition, child-dog interactions should be supervised. I doubt that you plan on letting little kids hover around her while she eats anyway, right?

Just my opinion. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thank you L,

That is sound advise. You are right, we do not plan on having children get to close to Elka while she is eating, however my girlfriend is a teacher and the other day one of her students stopped by and approached our dog while she ate. We did stop him from going near the dog but thought maybe there was a way to avoid a mishap in he future.

I'll give your recommendation a shot in the morning...thank you.

Here I go being anthropomorphic again...

If I was eating a good steak, and someone kept putting their hand over it when I was trying to eat, how long would it take before I stabbed them with the fork?,,,Hmmmmm... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I'm not saying food aggression is a good thing, or can not be worked on or changed, but pushing the issue sometimes makes it worse.

Your pup is just that, a baby. A few short weeks ago, she was in a litter of other pups that were all pushing to see who would eat first, stand here, be boss, etc. The growling is probably a learned behavior that she will outgrow unless you make issue of it

JMO... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

To build on what L said, why not try giving the first part of the bowl of food by hand before you set it down. I did this and it worked nicely, but I'd suggest that you not do it at every meal so that the dog doesn't expect to be hand fed to get it's appetite going :rolleyes: .

I understand L. and Josh's responses,(Josh, I will never get between you and a steak <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ), however, my dogs have always been exposed to my kids, and now my grandkids. They know NOT to disturb the dogs while eating, but I have always proofed this by feeding puppies with the bowel in my lap. They get the meal in 2-3 small incraments. When the first little bit is eaten, I place the next bit of food in the bowel with my hand. The dog soon recognizes a hand coming towards the bowl as a supplier, not competition. When I am VERY sure the dog understands this concept, I will let my children/grandchildren(under VERY close supervision) then feed the dog in a similar manner. Although the kids/gkids know not to bother the dogs while eating, it's amazing to see them stop eatiing and look at the kids with their tails wagging, waiting for more food.
Now for the disclaimer <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ! Not all dogs have the temperment(I use that word loosley) to do this. I have working terriers, who can be very tough little dogs, but rarely around people. You must understand the individual dog. I have had a few dogs in the past that even I left alone when they ate. Could I have forced myself on them? Of course, but understanding their temperments, I new it would only stress them out.

Hey Mike,
Good advice here from everyone, but you do not want a food aggresive pup or dog as far as I'm concerned!
I had a Rottie pup (8 months old) that the Company bought for me who was food aggressive when people approached the bowl or even walked into the room, down right ugly snarling and he was not a kennel dog prior to the purchase no litter mates to fight with over the food, I did the corrections as an obedience exercise.
I would place the food down and let the pup start to eat I then would pet the pup calmly and reassure him that there where no threats here, if the pup snarled or got ugly <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I used just a very stern phooe no slapping or yoking the pup away from the bowl this will only put the pup into avoidance and cause a problem down the road <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> . I picked the bowl up and made the pup sit away from the bowl site keeping his attention on me. Praise <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> on the good sit not the snarling. I then would put the bowl down again and then released the pup to go eat. I did this everytime he guarded the food or acted aggressive. If he was to worked up I kept the bowl up for awhile. He got the point after having to wait to eat. I did this for about a week or so and he got the idea, if he showed signs again of guarding again I just repeated the exercise.
I have several children from 7 too 17 he would snarl even when they where several feet away doing something not even related to him or his bowl.Keep it fun for the pup be consistant with this exercise always resort to the basics if need be. A solid foundation in your training and socializing the pup to activities in the house while eatting will get them familiar, and let them know there is no threat there.
Remember the pup has to mature and grow just like a child and they learn through repetion and hands on experiences. Keep it a good one <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Anyway this is only an option and my opinion nothing is set in stone.
Enjoy your new pup <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> , and MAKE IT FUN FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY!
Be Safe!

Lewis/Argo and Riley

I would not tolerate food aggression. If you have to worry and watch every time your dog is eating.... You cannot predict what will happen in the future and if you don't accustom your dog to accepting handling as well as people being close to him during his meals, one day it could unintentionally backfire.
Several suggestions were made on how to make your dog feel you're a good thing at meal time so I won't elaborate.
I used several of these suggestions myself and they worked just fine. I don't bug him while he's eating now, but in his first year he learned that ALL food is mine and I can take it away or add good things whenever I feel like it. He has NO food aggression and even the neighbourhood kids can feed him treats without fear.

I'm just curious. Did anybody here say that they WOULD tolerate food aggression?

I suppose I should have stated that "IMHO food aggression IS something to be concerned about and to try and fix it sooner rather than later". It's something that would bother me should I have a young pup that already displayed that type of aggression. I did not mean to imply that other people did or would tolerate food aggression in certain situations.
:rolleyes: Jeez.