one of my corgis is very protective of his food.
when he was 4 months old he bit me when i tried to take away a rawhide. he VERY quickly learned that under no circumstances is he allowed to bite me.
he still guards his food, but if i reach in while he is eating he will just hover over the bowl, and may growl a little, but i know he will not bite me.
i feed him in his crate, so there is no risk of anyone (human or canine) getting bitten while he is eating. i leave him alone, not because the guarding is acceptable, but because if i bother him, he eats too fast without chewing and then he gets sick.

I don't think this really was food guarding, but rather, was "leave my freakin feet alone while I eat!!!!". BUT, as Josh noted, if pushed, it could easily develop into food guarding behavior. Any form of *giving food* while puppy is eating, whether it's hand feeding or just dropping a few morsels into the dish as you walk by, is going to be a much better way to create a secure eater. We want pup to grow up to be a dog that thinks people+eating=good, not people+eating=threat to food source. What I do every now and then with my adult dogs (well, I don't anymore, now that they eat barf, but I used to) is, walk by, dropping a few bites into their bowl, then putting my hand in their bowl while they are eating, to mix in the tidbits that I dropped in. The tidbits were not just kibble, but usually some sliced turkey or cheese. My dogs will allow me to pick up their dishes while they are eating, to take bones and chews away from them, etc., with no growling or resentment at all.

While I don't equate dog behavior with wolf behavior, as I believe that they are different creatures completely, all canids share some behavioral characteristics. That being said, a leader does not hover around subordinates while they eat. The leader takes their fill, then casually walks away, leaving the rest for the subordinates, secure in their position as leader. One dominance exercise involves preparing a small tidbit for yourself, and placing it on the counter, where you mix the dog's food. Before giving the dog their food, you eat your morsel, making it appear that you are eating from their bowl. Then, you simply set their bowl down and walk away casually. This supposedly tells the dog "I've had my fill, this is what's left for you.".

I have to agree with both Josh and L here. I have directly seen what happened to a dog that was screwed in the head by an owner messing with his food too much...

Dog growled... owner takes food away EVERY MEAL for about 2 years. Guess what now... Dog has MAJOR food issues. Some trainer told her to take his food away if he growled and make him go without. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

My dog growled at me once in the first week he was here. The following nights I fed him from my hand instead of out of his bowl, then went to feeding him in the drop in the bowl fashion. He eats in his crate now and I can take any food from him without issue. He knows he will get back more than I took, but I don't continually mess with him either.

Corgipower, I have seen a lot of food guarding and odd food stashing behaviors with corgis. My best friend has raised them for about ten years and most all of them will flip their bowl or cover their bowl with something if they aren't eating it right away. One bitch in particular used to cover her bowl with anything she could find even though she was all alone in her run. They are funny little dogs.

p.s. if you stick your hand over my steak I am using the knife, not the fork <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I liked the "add good things to the bowl" and "hand feed a little" suggestions. This is what I did with my dog and what I suggested to several friends and neighbours over the years as well. I was lucky in that my dog never displayed any food aggression. I was just practicing a little preventative medicine.

P.S. I used to and still do hand feed raisins once in a while. My dog loves raisins and they're small so it helped teach him to be gentle when accepting food from the hand.

P.P.S. Touch my filet mignon and you'll experience first hand how sharp I keep all of my Henckels knives! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Take it easy on those raisins. Too many can be toxic. They're still not sure how grape/raisin toxicity works, as in what amount is harmful, and what it is about them that can be harmful. A lot of people feel that a few grapes or raisins every now and then can't hurt, but I prefer to be careful and not feed them at all. Here's a link for more info: http://www.scottymed.com/raisins.htm

Raisins....toxic????? I didn't know that.
He hasn't had them for a while, but I only gave him about 5-10.
He likes prunes too. Don't worry, I definately limit that to about 2. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
For obvious reasons. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Saw this quote somewhere, I can't remember.

"Start a movement, eat a prune." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

BTW, I like your quote....bring it back, ha ha. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

as for the grapes/raisins. i have heard from several people about toxicity. but i've asked about half a dozen vets and none of them know of this. i still don't risk it.

shepherdgirl--my favorite corgi/food issue is when they take one piece out of the bowl. they swat it around, bark at it, swat at it, stare at it, pick it up, fling it, bark at it. then they eat it. they start all over with the next piece. after maybe 5 pieces, they do it with the whole bowl. when morgan tried that on the track, though,.............

Here is a link to info from the pet education section of foster's and smith about grapes and rasins.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1939&articleid=2409

Interesting reading. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
However, 1kg = 2.2 lbs
1 oz. per 2.2 lbs (or 1kg) must be ingested to be toxic (approximately).
If my dog weighs 23kgs, then he has to ingest approx. 23 ozs. of raisins. Which is about 1.917lbs of raisins.
(According to the Troy scale of measurements)
That's a lot of raisins.
I don't doubt that some dogs have reactions to some foods, but he likes them so I think I'll still play catch with my 5-10 raisins once a week.
Thanks for the info though. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
BTW, a lady I work with has a golden that ate a 2lb. container of double chocolate fudge brownies with icing (and plastic wrap) and never had a reaction. I couldn't believe THAT!
I think we better stop the raisin thing though before we get too off topic. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />