I think Jason is more worried about this behavior escalating as the dog gets older. A real concern.
6, 7 ,8 months from now it could be a toy, a stick, or something really dangerous for the dog to have. He doesn't want to fight an almost fully sized dog to a bloody stand off. And he can not lose a confrontation like that, so it could get ugly. Shrug, who needs it? Now is the time to take charge of the issues.

Myself Jason, I don't mess about with the dogs food. If I give it to them, it's his/hers. However, during the day as I work and interact with the dogs and especially pups there is a lot for them to learn, remember and respond to.
At the young age of your dog the first thing for him to learn for me would be his name. After that it would be the word no, nay or the word of your choosing. There's various methodologies for that lesson but what ever you use remember she IS a baby. Patience.
After no, the next word is leave it. Very important command throughout a dogs life, not just for your convenience but for the safety of the dog. For me it rates right up there with the recall.

Work those commands into the daily/hourly lessons. Remember every outting, every interaction is a educational opportunity for you and your dog. Use the time wisely, being pack leader is more then being the badest sob in the house. A pack leader 'shows' the way, and rarely with force.

Let the dog have it's food without any grief or threat of losing it.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

Lots of good advice in the above posts! I would also add that a drag line comes in handy. Short one inside and long one for outside. I don't really like having a dog tethered to me for several reasons, but do want to be able to guide or correct them if need be.

Best of luck,
Debbie

Am I the only one who thinks give the dog a bone and leave it alone or don't give it a bone at all is a rather stiff solution? Maybe with the caveat: at this age, give it a bone and leave it alone or don't give it at all, but he was merely trying to pet his pup when it went "evil" on him. I understand the importance of building the bond with a puppy, but I've always been one to condition my pets to be tolerable of certain things so that if a guest or a child were to ever do these things to my dog, they wouldn't get bitten and I wouldn't get sued.

For example, this might sound a bit cruel, but I've always done this to every dog that I own...I will pull on my dogs' tails and train them to not be bothered by it. That way if a child were to ever pull on its tail, it would hopefully be tolerable of it. Now I'm also not going to put myself in a circumstance where I'm leaving my dog alone with a child, but IMO, it doesn't hurt to go the extra mile with things like this. The other thing I always do is pet my dogs when they're eating. Never had an issue with it like Jason did with his pup, but my dog would certainly get a correction if it snapped at me over food.

I also understand that even with doing these things, my dog may still behave differently to a stranger than with me--the pack leader--when it comes to tail pulling or food interaction, but I still feel like doing this little extra conditioning may help save me some trouble down the road if something were to ever happen....

Jason - Do you pet your pup when you give her other treats, or is this interaction with her bone the first time you started doing this?

No Sharon,
I'm not sure there's many people here that will put up with a dog keeping/guarding against them on any object. Be it food or otherwise.
Myself, I prefer to take a long range view. If the reaction is fear based, it'll show up as time goes on. If it's dominance/procession based it needs to be dealt with incrementally at any rate if you're not going to walk all over the spirit of the dog. So what's the point in rushing it? The dog is barely 3 1/2 months old.

The thing is, it's something to work on, not shut down or re-enforce. Start with the small things first, don't start with something as golden as food.

To the point of bonding. It's a nice sentiment from the owners intent, but it obviously isn't the way for it to happen.
My advise is to start with the little things and work up.

Work with the dog you have in front of you. Stay flexable, don't get caught in a mind set.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

I really thought I'd made the caveat that my advice was based on the age of the dog, and the length of time with the owner.

Because the puppy isn't doing this with other items, it seems more sensible to work on trust, and see if that isn't the issue. If it continues as the dog ages, I'd advocate a completely different approach.

So last night I gave her the bone and left her for a little over an hour. When I came back to see her she came up to me with the bone in her mouth, set it down in front of me, laid on my feet & rolled over for a belly rub. lol

I guess we just need to work on the trust. I think if we do this regular maybe she won't think twice.

Yep.
You have to remember, she's young, she hasn't known you long, and she competed with her littermates over access to food and other resources.

Show her there is no competition, and you likely will not have a problem.

That doesn't mean you have to tolerate inappropriate aggression. If you continue to give her space while she eats, giving her adequate time to eat, and she still behaves aggressively, there are ways to deal with it.
But it may very well not come to that, and I like to take the path of least resistance with puppies.

See, that wasn't hard was it Jason? Feels good. No?

Now to start with the 'leave it' for easily forgotten things in the daily routine.
Make it fun, make it easy. Enjoy yourself, it'll (almost) all go as quickly.
Stay flexable and be patient.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

 Quote: randy allen

See, that wasn't hard was it Jason? Feels good. No?
Randy

Yes. Smart-a$$.

I am so with you on this, having done both ways (about HV food-guarding) in my past. Trust is a wonderful big umbrella over all kinds of behaviors.

Giving a dog (puppy!) this young a bone and then messing with her (petting, touching, "hanging out", etc) is a set up ... you (and I mean the general "you" ) are setting him/her up for failure.

Work on pack structure and building trust first by being the best leader you can be for her (this takes months, not weeks). Leaving her alone with high value treats is a part of building trust with her ... in this way you're proving to her that you are not interested in, and will not mess with her prize. All this keeping in mind:

1) if she lunges/growls at you just for looking or walking by, that requires an *age appropriate* correct ... I like/use Jennie's method, especially for younger dogs.

2}Developing a great relationship with your dog (via pack structure, obedience, and building trust ... and the occasional correction when necessary) is often enough to avoid food aggression/possessive issues later on ...

This is the point in time that I personally begin working on desensitizing a dog to activity around high value treats when necessary, such as when there are kids/cats/young animals involved. (and other dogs in my case because I'm picky... I recently posted a video that shows 2 of my boys "sharing" a pig together, and I've handled all food issues in the manner I've described)

**In short, just give the dog a bone and then go about your business and pretend that she and it are nonexistent ... cuddle later