I just have a question on food aggression...

We have a 12 week old (maybe 13 weeks now) Australian Shepherd puppy. A few days ago I fed him (we feed him in his crate) but I forgot to take the leash off him. I went to take it off and he kinda growled at me, nothing major but I did notice, so I put the food in my hand and he ate it out of my hand. Well, this morning I walked him and he decided to eat a piece of pine bark nugget and some grass (before I could stop him). I put him back in his crate and he vomitted within about 5 min. My wife and I went to clean it up and he was eating it (which is not a suprise) but when my wife grabbed him to move him so we could clean it up, he growled ALOT and when I grabbed him out of the crate he was growling VERY strong...in fact, I thought he was going to try and bite me. Is this typical for such a young pup and should we be concerned?

Also, do all pups like to eat grass and/or anything else they can and will grass or small bits of pine bark hurt him?

Thanks for any help!

Anyone? Beuler?

Hey Marc.
I'm just a curious as you are as to everyone else's view on this situation.

Personally, my pekingese did this type of stuff at 12 weeks of age. From my understanding this is not normal for a pup that young. I scruffed my puppy until she squealed. When I let go of her she went airborn at my face (I was sitting on the floor with her). I snatched her out of the air by the neck and slammed her to the ground and held her until she stopped squealing and struggling. I really thought I had choked her unconscious. When I let go of her she turned her head and cowered in submission.

This sounds really severe, but I really felt it was necessary. I have a young daughter. I didn't care that it was a foofoo dog. The possibility of the behavior escalating into a bite is unacceptable to me. This did not ruin my relationship with the dog either. She still loves me. Actually, I'm the only one in the family she really "listens" to.

After the choking her out episode, I figured she had a food aggression problem so I fed her out of my hands for a good long time. I had my daughter giving her commands and feeding her her food by hand. This went on for several months before we let her eat out of a bowl.

The dog is now about four years old. I currently don't have to be very severe with her. But sometimes I still put my hands near her when she's eating to see if she's aggressive again. If there's any indication that she's getting defensive (even if her body posture stiffens up, not just growling) I go back to feeding her by hand and more regular obedience exercises for a few days/weeks. We do obedience every day, but it just gets more intense or more often.

Hope that helps and hope someone else chimes in.

roz.

My Beagle did this when we got him at 12wks. He is going on 16 years old now and STILL shows aggression from time to time. Usually it depends on what he's eating...kibble, he'll let me take it...bone, treat, cheese, and I'll lose a finger. We have tried the smack across the nose, bitter apple, pinning him to the floor, taking it away from him, and I think many years ago when he really bit into me I threw his butt into a corner like a bowling ball. It's not something we have been totally able to stop throughout the years, but he does get his arse whipped when he tries it. We have just learned to feed him separately from the other dogs and leave him alone. He's a stubborn ol' fart, loveable, but a p.i.t.a. sometimes.

Our new Border Collie pup (5mths) growled at me recently when I tried to take away his food. Gave him a very stern NO!, popped him on the nose and took the bowl away. Meanwhile, I am working with him on "Leave it/Drop it" and overwhelmingly praising him when he obeys. Seems to have stopped the growling and aggression.

I'd try to train the Beagle but he's deaf now so we'll just let him finish out his years in his quiet world with a full belly. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

ps - "Bueller?" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks guys....er, and girls!

He seems to have chilled out a bit now and doesn't seem quite as aggressive. I know one thing, if he did bite...it would be hard for me not to pin his ass to the ground.

Have you guys had experience with pups eating grass, bark and so forth? I just have no idea if this is really bad for him or if I should just let it go.

Thanks!

Yes, both my pups (Golden Retriever and Border Collie) eat grass and bark mulch. The BC started the bad habit and convinved the other one to join in on the fun. The grass they like to rip out by the roots, chomp on it a bit, then spit it out. I have read that there are nutrients in grass that they like/need but it's not harmful to them. My yard looks like a mine field. They chomp on the mulch too but we pull it out of their mouths before they get too far into it. Would think the splinters would hurt as they are going down( <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> ouch!) Again, this is where I'm using the drop it/leave it training, rewarding with praise and a treat, and replacing the bad behavior with a toy to chew. Not easy to do when they have free roam of the back yard, but it's getting better.

Sounds like our dogs could be littermates!

LOL!!

Yea, our pup LOVES to eat the grass. I read somewhere (maybe here at leerburg) that you can feed them carrots and that gives them the nutrients they crave in grass. Kinda strange... He does the same thing, he pulls it up by the root, spits most of it out and repeats until there is nothing but dirt. Rubs his nose in the dirt and then moves on. LOL

I have tried to do that too (replace the bad behavior with something good) but like you said, it's hard when he is on a tie out in the yard. He is inside so much that I tie him out in the yard when I cannot go out there with him because he loves the sun so much. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The puppy that used to food guard that I had was the one I found in a dump. Used to fighting for scraps, she was EXTREMELY food possessive. What I did was just go up to her and once she growled, grabbed her by the scruff, shook her till she whined, and took the food from her, just to show her it's mine. It's mine to give to her and to take away. I put it back and do it over and over again till she got the idea. Sometimes I also place my hand in the food bowl with her nose. She never did it with me again, but continued to do so with other people, so I got them to pass by her, wait till she growls, and then take the food away...etc...so on and so forth. Eventually she dropped the habit and would allow me to do anything to her, including extract her puppy teeth which did not fall off (there was no vet there that could do that for me in that place), no biting, only slight resistance.

I don't like being rough but there's no point being around a puppy who doesn't know who's boss. Even adult dogs take pains to show pups who's in charge.

eeeeh. . . I didn't like the idea of repeatedly taking food, rawhide, or whatever away from the dog. I could see where that might back fire and cause the dog to be paranoid that I (or any human) was going to take its stuff whenever I went near. And it would have been bad if she learned that she needs to bite faster instead of to not react aggressively. We just made every effort not to leave her with anything she would get possessive over (in her case it was strictly food items). And all goodies came from me or my child.

For the most part she does not act aggressive anymore when it comes to food. She now goes through her whole repetoire of stupid dog tricks if she even suspects you may have food - for her or not. This weekend she was at my mom's house and she followed the kids around doing tricks all weekend long.

As for eating grass and bark, I don't see where that would hurt your dog. Just be careful - my friend's am bulldog ate a 2x4 (I kid you not) and the splinters caused internal bleeding, which caused a very expensive ER trip.

Glad it's not escalating for you.

roz.

It would be difficult to be afraid to take items away from your dog. What would you do if he's chewing on an electric cord, a jug of bleach, or something equally dangerous? You teach him you take it away and he's not going to be able to do anything about it--BUT you always give it back, if it's okay, just to show him it's fair. You just have to be faster than him so he knows you'll always win, so he might as well just give up. It's a discipline as well as a safety precaution. Sad to say, I like to lord over my dogs. Ironically, it's the only way they get more freedom.