I have really hard tempered dog. She is about 14 weeks old and I do a lot of training with her. She gets all kinds of treats, I give her toys when we are playing but not to keep in her run. She always sits before she eats and has no problem with me around her when she is eating. In fact this is usually when I brush her b/c she isn't interested in chewing on me or the brushes. lol

So we just came back from camping with her this week & my Mom had stopped by and left us a big ol' ham bone from the butcher shop. She has never had one so I took it to her for a treat, had her lay down and gave it to her. She chews constantly so I figured this was a great idea for her vs a bully stick or similar. I was praising her and petting her when this new evil growl showed up. Scary mean. Never heard it from her before. It got worse as I petted her so I thought crating her would be the right thing to do. Of course now I have to grab her & get the bone away...that's gonna piss her off even more. Yip, I thought she was gonna bite me with that barking but I got hold of her before she could maybe do that. Seriously...this is a small dog still, a pup we have had since 8 weeks & I was actually scared of her. It was that kinda sound

So I leave her in the crate for maybe 30 min, go back out to the kennel. Open up the crate 1st, give her a treat, play with her, she's fine, get the bone, make her lay down, give it to her and she goes elsewhere b/c obviously she thinks I will take away the bone. So anyways I want to show her I am not interested in the bone BUT I can't get close to her. So when I finally do she gets mean again so I crate her...wait a bit and put on her leash so she can't just take off. Make her down, give her the bone & she lies down 4 or 5 feet away. When I try to pet her the evil growl comes out and with every stroke it gets louder & meaner.

I have never seen this side of her. She is in her crate again right now b/c I didn't like that. I read another thread about them feeding and it being a problem but this isn't her dinner. It must be damn good! Actually I almost ate it. lol

Of course it is non stop "yuck" with her at this age. And if she ever had a chance to not be on a leash she would take off with a rock or stick knowing I want it out of her mouth...so I'm not sure what do do...

I guess if I don't give her the bone it won't be an issue again...or maybe it will down the road with something else?

Well... you could send her to me. Problem solved. LOL

Sometimes dogs find things they REALLY like.

You may be pushing the Obedience and sitting for food, etc a bit too much, with such a young dog. She hasn't been with you too incredibly long. She may just be afraid that you'll take the bone and never give it back. Trust may fix the problem. If she's not food aggressive in general, I wouldn't make such an issue of sitting to eat, etc. You may be causing the very problem you are trying to avoid.

So do you have the Puppy and Pack Structure DVDs? That is my first suggestion.

 Quote: jason welikoklad

Seriously...this is a small dog still, a pup we have had since 8 weeks & I was actually scared of her.

Being scared of her is not an option; I don't care how hard a pup she is; at 14 weeks old she NEEDS and WANTS a leader.

I'm not sure I understand where you are going with her....to me if I wanted to show her I'm not interested in the bone; I'd have given her the bone and left her alone...the petting and praise doesn't make sense to me...the bone was more than enough of a reward for laying down. Leaders don't fawn over the other pack members.

I'm getting the idea that your thinking she is hard is coloring how you are treating her. Hard, soft or in between; fair, clear, consistant leadership is what she needs. As far as the growling let me just say "don't pet a growling dog." Petting is a reward; growling is not a behavior you want to reward; well, growling at you, anyway

Jason, it takes time but demon Mila pups do grow into nice dogs. Your mantra for the next two years- Patience, tolerance and management and don't forget the puppy and pack structure DVDs.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Well... you could send her to me. Problem solved. LOL

Sometimes dogs find things they REALLY like.

You may be pushing the Obedience and sitting for food, etc a bit too much, with such a young dog. She hasn't been with you too incredibly long. She may just be afraid that you'll take the bone and never give it back. Trust may fix the problem. If she's not food aggressive in general, I wouldn't make such an issue of sitting to eat, etc. You may be causing the very problem you are trying to avoid.

Nothing to far, she guesses what I want before I ask. Sits, downs, whatever...no problem with any other item or bowl of food.

I'm positive she thinks she won't get it back though.

 Quote: sheila buckley

So do you have the Puppy and Pack Structure DVDs? That is my first suggestion.

 Quote: jason welikoklad

Seriously...this is a small dog still, a pup we have had since 8 weeks & I was actually scared of her.

Being scared of her is not an option; I don't care how hard a pup she is; at 14 weeks old she NEEDS and WANTS a leader.

I'm not sure I understand where you are going with her....to me if I wanted to show her I'm not interested in the bone; I'd have given her the bone and left her alone...the petting and praise doesn't make sense to me...the bone was more than enough of a reward for laying down. Leaders don't fawn over the other pack members.

I'm getting the idea that your thinking she is hard is coloring how you are treating her. Hard, soft or in between; fair, clear, consistant leadership is what she needs. As far as the growling let me just say "don't pet a growling dog." Petting is a reward; growling is not a behavior you want to reward; well, growling at you, anyway

Jason, it takes time but demon Mila pups do grow into nice dogs. Your mantra for the next two years- Patience, tolerance and management and don't forget the puppy and pack structure DVDs.

I didn't mean I AM scared of her...I meant it was a totally different dog. I stepped back & thought "wow...where did that come from?"

I wasn't rewarding her for laying down as such. I stopped petting the growling dog b/c it isn't acceptable to me. Originally I gave her the bone & was trying to hang out with her. Not sure about "fawning over"? That's my point...I'll give you a bone, and sit and spend some time with you etc...if you don't like it I won't give you a bone. It doesn't matter to me if she has the bone.

I have that dvd and 5 others...I've watched probably 60hrs of video at least...

My point is this wouldn't/won't be cool if she was an adult dog so what is the way to approach this? I'm well informed, she knows I'm the leader, I'm harder then she is. lol She has been fine with me all night w/o the bone around.

Take everything else out of the post. Cole's notes:

Gave dog bone. Dog gets mean. How do I fix?

Don't give dog bone.
She's too young for the other option.

This exact thing happened to me when Xander was about 16-20 weeks old. He had his very first fluffy bunny rabbit. It means nothing to them that YOU gave it to them. All they know is they have it now and they are not giving it up.

I was actually not bothering him (I never bother my dogs while they eat; I think you cause more problems than you fix by pestering them during this time). I simply was trying to take his picture while he enjoyed his first bunny (hey, this was a milestone!) and he must've thought I was going to take it.

He did his very best "Exorcist" impression and actually lunged forward and bit me. I don't get mad; I get even. I didn't back off of him for one second. Growling is one thing; lunging at me because I was LOOKING at your bunny is unacceptable. He got a very serious prong collar correction and he lost his bunny and went to bed a very hungry boy. I didn't say a word to him except pfui, corrected him like I meant it, grabbed the rabbit and he was put away.

He did not ever try to bite me again. This was not his first similar offense, but it was definitely more serious than his other attempts. You may not have to be quite so hard on Mila since this was her first offense, and she was only warning. However, it's a slippery slope if you don't deal with it now.

I do think our scenarios are different (and I'm not trying to criticize you) because I never bother my dogs while they eat and Xander had absolutely no reason/excuse for that for that reason. If you regularly are messing with her while she eats, in her mind, she was trying to head off the problem before you started b/c she was far busier w/her hambone than she is with kibble.

Make sense? On the one hand, try to enforce that her behavior is not acceptable, but OTOH, don't instigate when it's now being made obvious that she doesn't like it.

 Quote:

Gave dog bone. Dog gets mean. How do I fix?

Give your dog the bone and leave her alone! The Pack Leader should not give a bone or food and then mess with the dog, this will only make the dog not trust you.

Sorry Jason; I took your post very literally. Jenni said it much better.

I think for now you have two options; give her a bone and leave her alone or don't give anymore bones. You don't want to lose her trust over a situation that does not need to exist.