I have fed my pups by hand at times to make them realize that I was not going to take their food away. You want to make the pups trust you, not seem like you are hassling them. I understand your intent, because you have the small children that are around.

I would first make sure that they are in full trust mode with you, before I would allow your kids to be present when feeding.
Unless you have established pack structure with your pups and your kids, your pups are likely to view your small children as competition and would likely bite them, even if just a puppy, they have sharp puppy teeth. You have small kids that don't know better and you have two pups that also are babies and learning.

My point is that pack structure is key and these are young pups that have lots to learn. For your kids safety, until you have that structure understood, I would not allow any kids in the area for the time being.

Don't know why you'd think that just because your dogs are going to be 130 pounds that you have to be so hard on them while they are still babies. I have a harder time taking things off of my min pin than my GSD.

Take a look at the breed you chose. They are supposed to guard and supposed to be independent. There's only so much you can work against nature. And that's me taking into consideration your young children.

 Quote: David Jones

I should mention that I have 5 children 10 and under and so that is the reason I have been touching them while they are eating. There is a good chance that my 3 year old or my 1 year old could do the same thing and I would rather her or him not get bit.

People have electrical outlets, pools, lawnmowers with spinning blades, and many other things that could be potentially fatal to kids or adults.

What do you do in regards to those hazards? You just keep them out of harms way around those things, whatever that may be.

Even if there isn't a problem, and the dog is 100% trustworthy, I would still do whatever had to be done to keep the kids out of the dog's bowl while it is eating. Same with a pool, lawnmower, etc.

Do what you have to do to make the chance of your kid(s) getting in the food bowl down to nothing. Do not rely on an animal to carry that responsibility.

I'm not trying to be difficult here. There is only one 100% foolproof tactic for preventing kids from being bitten by dogs.....Keep the kids out of the dog's mouth.:wink:

I have 3 kids 5 and under and I tell you that there is nothing like crating (or keeping in separate closed rooms) during mealtimes. You will never top that piece of mind with any training ever. Especially with breeds that are bred to be protective!

Your dog will not respect you when (or even because!) you take his food or poke around with it. And sooner or later you will run into trouble with a big dog that doesn´t respect you. Around food or elswhere.

What you need to do is get your dogs respect with being fair and consistent (and that is inconsistant with poking around in a dogs bowl). If you have that and a "leave it" or "drop it" command proofed with different stuff, then you are in a good position to be able to take away something innapropriate the dog might have gotten his teeth on.

I also have a son who is 4. We have always fed our dogs after he goes to bed in the evening and in their own individual place. One eats in her crate, one in a pen, one in the dining room and one in the entry way.

I have always asked my dogs for a sit and an eye contact before I release them to eat, BUT once the food is down, it is theirs to eat. Think of it like someone putting your dinner on the table then putting their fingers in it and maybe they are going to take it away. The first time you may humour them but over time you are going to start getting mad because you just want to eat in peace.

I regularly give my dogs moose meat. Once time we got moose ribs and gave a slab to each dog. My female Leo thought it would be cool to attempt to swallow a rib bone (she has never done this before or since) my husband walked over, reached his hand down her throat and pulled the rib out. She never even flinched, but had a look like "hey, I had it under control" on her face. So do the groundwork and let the pups eat.

I appreciate everyone's advice, but in the end I decided to deal with the aggression I was getting from the boy. I never have received any aggression from the girl in any situation. As I have mentioned, this is the not first time the boy has challenged me and so in the end I decided that this was just another manifestation of a dominance issue.

About three days ago, after I had given him 10 minutes to eat, I went outside and as I stepped near him, he began to growl. I step toward him and he put himself between me and food and began barking and showing his teeth. I gave him to hard pops on the nose with the flat of my hand. The second one he let out a yelp and that was the end of it. He stepped away from the food, let me pick it up. I had him eat some out of my hand and then put it back in his bowl gave him some praise and let him finish his meal.

Since then, I have tested him twice and he immediately stepped away from the food and allowed me to pick it up, which I promptly and strongly praised, and then I fed him some while holding it in my hand, which he gently ate from as I gave him a bite and then pulled it away and then gave him a bite and then pulled it away.

So in the end, it was not a big deal. And now I don't have to fear approaching him while he has food, and I can tell it has gone a long way in other areas.

Thanks again for all your thoughts...I decided to go my own way in this case. But I did think about what you said.

While I appreciate that it is your dog and that you made the decision you wanted to, remember this dog is only 4 months old. When he matures he may not be so hasty to back down from his food. When he is more mature you may find that he will bite the hand that feeds him rather than back down.

I hope the future brings smooth sailing.

Let's know how all that works out. Will ya David?

Good luck.

Thanks for the well wishes. I have very strong relationships with my two dogs and I intend on continuing to build upon them. I am not a professional trainer and I may be wrong in how I approached it, but in the end, it was completely unacceptable for me to have my dog growl and bark at me, in any situation.

I trust that God will give me wisdom to continue to be a good caretaker of these dogs and that we will work well together as they ultimately guard my animals.

 Quote:

Originally Posted By: David Jones
I should mention that I have 5 children 10 and under and so that is the reason I have been touching them while they are eating. There is a good chance that my 3 year old or my 1 year old could do the same thing and I would rather her or him not get bit.

I had friends that shared your views on dealing with food aggression with their Doberman, sadly, their 18 month old was the one that suffered for it!