I have a problem with my 8 month old gsd and I'm in desperate need of some guidance.

From a very young age, the dog has been growling when you touch him if he's eating or if he has a bone. We dealt with this using leash corrections (he has a prong collar and seems to be able to take a lot). I'm afraid we may have over-corrected though, because this week, he's started what I think is submissive urination.

Here's the scenario:
The dog is eating. I am hand feeding him and petting him lots in between. While I am petting him and talking in a soft voice, his ears go down and he does a low growl, no teeth. He slinks closer to me with his head down, still growling, avoiding eye contact and sort of pushes him self into my leg. If I pet him or touch him in any way, he pees. I am so confused by this because the whole thing begins with a growl and ends with submission urination. If I don't touch the dog or talk to him while he's eating, he's perfectly fine.

If he has a bone and I walk towards him, he immediately gets up and moves away from the bone, but still with ears down and growling. If I then approach him and pet him, he pees.

The dog obeys basic obedience commands very well (komm, platz, setz, bleib) and he hasn't shown signs of aggression in any other situations. He plays well with kids (always supervised and without food or toys) and other dogs.

Please, if there's anyone out here who has any ideas, I would be so grateful. Thanks.
Kelly

I have a question as to why you bother your dog at all when he is eating. I can tell you that if you touch my food I will put a fork in your hand. Then while you are screwing up his delicious meal you are correcting him, then insisting that he take it out of your hand. Just be glad that he didn't bite your fool head off and leave him alone when he is eating, and leave him alone while he is chewing his bone. I have never messed with a single dog that I have owned when it comes to food. I also have never had a food aggressive dog. Most people that I have dealt with who mess with thier dogs food have created problems. Put his delicious meal in his crate, or kennel and leave him alone.

I disagree with Mr Oehlsen's post. I do pet and hand feed my dogs/puppys when they are eating because accidents do happen. In fact I think it is wrong not too. What happens when your kid is walking around with his snack and he drops it and goes to pick it up and the dog now sees it as his and growls or bites your kid because he was not taught that was not acceptable?

I bought the food and I tell him when and under what conditions he is going to eat it. And if he growls or bites at me he will recieve a correction that fits the infraction. I have never had a problem with any of my dogs when I am around their food. With that said I DO NOT Take the food out of their mouths as that is not really fair to the dog. I do sit with dog and pet him while he eats and even put my hand in and around his bowl. I never take the food away while he is eating as I want this to be a positive experience.
It sounds like you are doing all those things so your problem sounds far from my limited knowlege. I just wanted you to know I do not think you are doing anything wrong by socializing your pup with human contact and presence.

I might try an e-collar with a low stimulation if the pup growls at me when he was eating so that he associates that behavior with an unpleasant experince. If he growls or gets worse you might have to feed him in his crate as well be extra cautious when he is around food he might mistake as his. The other folks on this board are alot more knowlegable than me and will give better advice. Good luck.

First of all , how many times is the pup being fed daily? and how much is he getting? what is the pups current weight?
Let's first rule out the simple reason that he's terribly hungry and you're interferring with his survival instincts by 'socializing' him at these already stressful times, BEFORE we jump to a shock collar to exacerbate the problem.

I would suggest you feed him alittle more then the required amount at minimum 2 times a day. Would be best if you get pop a substantial mid day snack in there too.

If you have no trouble with him taking treats from your hands when training, try to teach your pup to WAIT for it. Then when he's mastered this command with a few treats at NON hunger times, you can graduate to using it while you hand feed ALL his meals to him. No more food in bowl till he shows your fingers some respect!
In the dogs mind, he who controls the food controls life...you want that to be YOU in his eyes.
You should also be working on lots of leadership with this pup at other times. Do you walk around him when he's sleeping on the floor? Sit in another spot on the couch cause he's sleeping in the comfy one already? These things are all leadership training. Make him MOVE when he's in your path, make him get off YOUR comfy spot and move to the cold spot..then YOU get the comfy spot.... it seems like little things, but, they mean alot to a dog. Study pack structure and see who makes way for whom and when.