Normally if there were no children involved I would say OK just leave the dog alone but, I agree with Jennifer. IMO this can be fixed. You can try hand feeding but may I suggest starting with an empty bowl in front of him and then add a few pieces of food to his bowl with your hand and continue a few pieces at a time into his bowl until he finishes his meal. Do this for a week or two. He will start to associate your hand coming down to the bowl with being a good thing.

Sandy

I have always started with as pups and sat next to them while eating sometimes and given them a light rub down everyonce in a while, put my hand near or in their bowl but not taken it or touched their face.

I just think its good to get them used to the idea that it might happen one day and its no big deal.

With my adults I test them on it occasionally and have been known to do weird stuff in order to see where the threshold is.
I have yet to find it with any of My house dogs, the permanent ones I have raised myself.

BUT!
I dont have a working line GSD, which is different from a hound or husky or lab.

I wouldnt do this with a rescue or temporary wayward fuzzbutt.

Nico is food possesive bordering on aggressive with other dogs and once a cat, not a trace of it with humans though. I still take precautions to keep it that way, the each have a corner of the room to eat and I standin the middle of the triangle with pup eating at my feet and watching the other two.

I also sometimes have my son stand and eat a cookie out of their dish or a plate with dog food on it before they are fed.

This way they seem him eating their food before them and maybe it will help elevate his status among them

 Quote: mike j schoonbrood

If kids touching him are a concern for you then feed the dog in his crate or the kennel. Or teach them to not mess with the dog when he eats.

Just the thought of someone touching MY face or my head while I'm eating makes me wanna smack them.

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I picked up his bowl while he was busy with a leg quarter and then I made him sit and wait until i gave it back.

The more crap you do to try and make this go away the more risk you have of making it worse. The dog is defending his food from theft, messing with him or his food when he is eating is not a good idea, and continuing to do so will make the dog continue thinking someone is trying to take his food away. I'll be waiting for your next post: "My dog bit my hand when I reached for his food bowl."

If he growls because you walk by him, or growls when you take away or reach for a toy, then thats a whole different matter. But growling because you are touching him while he eats is not an issue as far as I'm concerned. That's handler error.

Totally agree with Mike.
Unless you are having bonding issues or the dog has not figured out that you are the "center of his world", and handfeeding is warranted, then I would feed in his crate and make sure everyone, especially the children, leave him alone.

I will share my experience with this issue, but it is more of a what not to do.

We received our female at 10 weeks of age. She growled at us being near her food from her very first meal. We hand fed her for a whole year and the issue did not go away. We mistakenly began giving her food and taking it away(mistake, mistake, mistake). She earned all her food by doing something--sit, stay, down. Things never got better, they got worse. She got to the point where she was so focused on protecting her food from us that she would not even eat the food she would only protect it.

This female was submissive to us in every other situation, easily trainable, high prey drive and motivation(for the breed), will work simply for our praise. She is the dominant dog among our animal pack and is very respected by the other dogs who would never dream of going near her food--we should have taken a clue from them.

At this point we happened upon the leerburg site. After reading multiple ebooks articles, listening to podcasts.... We recognized our mistake(if only we had learned earlier what the other dogs knew).

Our solution was that she is fed outside(she is a house dog 99% of the time) or in her crate if weather is bad. It took another whole year to undo the damage we had done, before her guard dropped enough that she will eat if we are in site. We have had no further issues. She earns her food every meal then it is hers to eat. She does not have to worry that we will be taking it away. She recovered from our stupidity and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have not done damage that could not be fixed.

I do hope this helps someone in a similar situation.

Shannon

I do feed my three dogs in front of their crates. I put the food down and open the gate and they eat. Nobody tries to each other's food as I'm there to keep the peace.

Once in a while I will feed them in the yard and each dog goes to its own corner to feed.

Today he ate out of my hand and was very gentle. At first he was excited so I had to make him sit and not take the food until I told him so. When I did he was gentle, this was a surprise. Very cool.

I will take all your advice and start putting it into practice.

As i said before something changed, but i believe it's fixable.

enrique

Enrique, good luck with him. I agree with you and with Mike lol.

I think, you should be able to be near your dog while he's eating, but as far as your kids, No. The dogs are off limits while they are eating.

I believe 100% not to mess with a dog's food when he's eating, unless you have to. Meaning, you accidentally drop something in there, or you need to add something else, like a pill or so.

I duno, maybe I am extremely lucky (thus far) my dog does not have kind of possessiveness. But since 9 weeks, my dog has and still does know she has to sit for her meal, or lay down or be calm, until I say she can eat. I have never pulled her food "just because" and probably never will, but I think it shouldn't be a danger to feed your dog. JMO.

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but as far as your kids, No. The dogs are off limits while they are eating.

Kids need training and pack structure too

 Quote: Mike J Schoonbrood

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but as far as your kids, No. The dogs are off limits while they are eating.

Kids need training and pack structure too

Ain't THAT the truth! I'm struggling with that right now, I have a 14 year old son. Dogs are so much easier!

 Quote: Cindy Easton Rhodes

 Quote: Mike J Schoonbrood

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but as far as your kids, No. The dogs are off limits while they are eating.

Kids need training and pack structure too

Ain't THAT the truth! I'm struggling with that right now, I have a 14 year old son. Dogs are so much easier!

Lol, how true, how very true! And yes Mike, that's I meant lol. Kids need to learn to respect dogs in general, but especially while eating.