I am sure that this topic has been covered here, but for some reason when I did a search in this index, it didn't show.

I have two Great Pryenees that are about 14 weeks. I have started feeding them raw chicken. I have been feeding them kibble and have nearly every day put my hand in the bowl and pulled on their ears and hair and tail while they ate to try and condition them to feel comfortable.

But it has been about a week since I have started giving them chicken and today was the first time I tested them. I put my hand on the girl's mouth and she just tried eating faster but didn't growl. When I did the same to the boy, he growl and then turned to my hand. I immediately told him and popped him on the nose with my hand. But when I when back to go after the chicken he growled at me again. This time I gave him a very firm and low growling No and he backed off the chicken, sitting and the eventually lying down. I was then feeling comfortable to pick up the chicken, which he let me do without growling or threatening me.

I then walked away with the chicken and he followed me. When I turned around and stood in front of him, he sat and then lied down. I then walked back over to his bowl and put the chicken back in his bowl and walked away.

I'm sure I did everything wrong, but I want to know what to do right. What is the best way to take care of this NOW? These dogs will be 130 and 100 pounds for the boy and the girl respectively. I have to address this immediately but I don't know how.

Thanks for your help.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=33&Number=264177&Searchpage=1&Main=25272&Words=%26quot%3Bfood+aggression%26quot%3B&topic=0&Search=true#Post264177

Here is a good past thread to start with. Deals specifically with screwing around with the dog's food.

As a thought you could just put the food down and walk away. I imagine in the dog's mind you're being kind of a jerk. In reality you're creating a problem where there wasn't one.

I'm not sure who came up with the idea of messing with a dog's dish while they're eating. I imagine it's in the same book of tom foolery as the pennies in a can correction.

Don't mess with the dog's food! People do this all the time and end up causing food aggression.

There probably isn't fool proof way to get rid of this, its a very deep instinct that has been brought to the surface. Since they are so young you could probably try desensitize them to having you around at dinner time by walking up and add tasty stuff to the bowl while they eat, but its not a sure thing. Its probably better to just feed them and leave them alone. Crating them while they eat is good, too.

Given their age and that they are litter mates, they might start being competitive with each other pretty soon. Crating will also help prevent that.

My dad raised two bulldogs together and at around the age your guys are now one of them decided the other wasn't allowed to have or do anything. She couldn't eat, lay down, or play with toys. Crates solved that, too.

Feed the dogs separately, let them eat ALONE, and work on building a relationship with them or they will never trust you.

I don't bother my dog when he's eating, and he doesn't bother me when I'm eating I get very cranky when people bother me in the middle of dinner!

Oh, for a minute I thought I was in the weird behavior thread.

Plenty of time to deal with possessive issues if they come up, but let the hungry dogs eat in peace. It's theirs, you gave it to them.
I think messing about with a dogs food is one fine way of setting up issues around the food dish. Uhem like just walking by.
It just makes them insecure. Let the dogs eat.


I never got a A+ in anything.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I am not interested in creating a problem. I train and play with both of them everyday. I visit them several times a day outside and always am the last to see them at night and the first to see them in the morning. So I am working hard to toward developing a strong relationship with them.

I do feel that I should feel safe to take something from them. I don't plan on doing it everyday or even most days...but I don't like the idea of fearing them biting me.

I don't think it is a small coincidence that it is the boy that is doing this. He has also been the one who has nipped at me in retaliation when I have corrected him in the past. So I do see this as an example of something that was happening in other situations, though not as aggressively.

I have listened to everyone and am still thinking about it. But I would like someone to recommend a proper method to teach them not to food guard when I try to take something from them so if I decide to do it, I will do it in a way that is respectful of them while still achieving the goal of me not fearing them if I should need to take a high value food from them.

I guess in my mind I wasn't asking for permission to teach them this. I was just asking that if I want to teach them this, what is the best way? One could argue that most of what we teach them and ask them to do is arbitrary and unnecessary for the most part. But we do it so that we can have a good co-existence.

Thank you again.

I should mention that I have 5 children 10 and under and so that is the reason I have been touching them while they are eating. There is a good chance that my 3 year old or my 1 year old could do the same thing and I would rather her or him not get bit.

The best way to teach a dog to allow you to take anything from them is the give command. It creates the idea that when you say give whatever was in their mouth should be in your hand for a better reward. This is also a great foundation for the retrieve.

I use something that smells awesome like cheese, or warm chicken breast and simply trade the dog whatever he's got for what I've got.

 Quote: David Jones

I should mention that I have 5 children 10 and under and so that is the reason I have been touching them while they are eating. There is a good chance that my 3 year old or my 1 year old could do the same thing and I would rather her or him not get bit.

I can't speak to how you wish to live your life but one of the first few dog related lessons I was taught was to leave the dogs alone while eating. If you can't keep your kids from bothering the dogs while they're eating feed them in a crate or outside (the dogs not the kids).