That's such a silly "test"!!

I encourage my dogs to bite prey items (any object waved in their face); if you stuck a plastic hand in their face they'd be thrilled and would play vigorous tug with it!

Yet neither of them is the slightest bit food aggressive around people
My male actually likes to bring his meaty bones right up to me and munch while lying ON my feet. It's so cute.

Al: it's not about "messing" with the dog when it's eating.
No one's recommending that you stick your hand in the dog's food or take the food away or interfere in any way when he's eating.
It's just nice to have a dog that won't get all reactive and aggressive every time you walk by him when he's eating and won't rip you up for touching him when he's eating.


Eric, I applaud you for your dedication and skill as a trainer! What you accomplished with Bruno is impressive.
If I ever have to deal with an adult dog with food guarding issues I'll follow your advice, for sure.

I still think that life is 1000 times easier when you nip this behaviour in the bud on a small puppy.
It's a huge relief to be able to walk around my dogs, pet them, talk to them, whatever, when they're eating and have them be perfectly calm and happy about it.
They're all house dogs and it would be a pain in the butt to have to lock them up in kennels every time I want to feed them something or give them a bone to gnaw on.

Besides, it pays off if the dog is eating something it shouldn't be eating (ie. picks up a rotting carcass in the woods ) and you have to grab it out of their mouth.

 Quote: Al Curbow

Lee, why do you feel the need to mess with him while he's eating?

I don't - and that's why I never noticed his food aggression. But I was taught to not let a dog guard anything and it was my natural reaction to correct his behaviour.

Again, this is why I said that even if I was to 'fix' the problem, he will be fed in a crate or dog run from now on (because I have two other dogs and 3 cats) so what does it matter?

I asked my husband if our other two were food aggressive and he said no so I ask when the last time he checked that.... I'm don't feel the need to take RMBs out of their mouths!

 Quote: yuko blum

Besides, it pays off if the dog is eating something it shouldn't be eating (ie. picks up a rotting carcass in the woods ) and you have to grab it out of their mouth.

NO joke!!

As a city dog, Oscar has had many opportunities to "scavange" for food scraps and trash that people have discarded on sidewalks, in alleys and bushes or just missed the trash cans. If I see it first I can tell him to leave it, but if I don't... I can't tell you how many things he's snarfed up - and I've pulled out. He knows that sucking up a dry old pizza crust only ends with my hand half way down his throat but he never fails to do it again, and again (he is a hound :grin.

Most of the time it's just nasty half-eaten food (which I won't let him eat), but occassionaly it's NOT food at all - he went for a broken jar of baby food one day and actually would have swallowed a square inch shard of glass if I hadn't been right on top of him and scooped it out. All those "saves" have probably instilled a healthy respect for my hands reaching around freely inside his mouth - and it's a good thing for us both!

~Natalya

Yuko, i'm sure we're miles apart on how we view dogs and training. Lee said her dog has zero other issues with any other type of guarding behaviour and that the dog is fine, so why not just feed the dog in the crate? Oh yeah, if your dog has something in his/her mouth and you have to "grab it out", it's an obedience problem,
AL

Now Al, I agree with you guys about it not being worth fighting a dog over food guarding issues when he's so set in his ways.
(I stated that in my very first post). But Jamie, the original poster, is dealing with a PUPPY.

I think Lee is making the right choice with her dog. Everything else is great with him, so no need to fight him over the food issue since it would clearly be a MAJOR fight with him.

I just don't see why you would ignore the issue when you see it in a young puppy without trying to do something about it. Isn't it worth it in the end if you end up with a dog that's calm around its food?
If it doesn't work, then yeah, feed him in his crate. I just don't see anything wrong in trying to teach basic manners to a pet house dog. What's the harm in trying?
Best case scenario: Jamie will end up with a non food aggressive dog (as I did) and will not have to tiptoe around him when he's eating, or lock him into a crate every time he wants to give him a bone. The dog will learn to feel comfortable having his owner petting him as he eats.
Worst case scenario: the training/conditioning doesn't work and the dog has to be fed in a crate for the rest of its life.


As far as getting the dog to drop something on command: yes, my young male drops everything reliably now, even high value prey items. He certainly didn't as a 7 or 8-month-old puppy though, and I certainly did NOT expect him to!

Al, would your pups (4, 5, 6, to 12 months old) drop a juicy rabbit carcass on command? All I can say to that is WOW, I certainly hope you didn't achieve that by overloading them with compulsion. I know I wouldn't want some less experienced forum members getting the wrong idea on what to expect from a PUPPY.

I guess we do have different ideas on how to raise puppies.

Jamie can decide for herself how she wants to proceed with her puppy.

I wish her luck.

Edited by Yuko Blum (05/25/2007 08:15 PM)
Edit reason: lost my temper, censored myself

hi,
the most common mistake that iknow owner do with food agresive dogs is to corect tham on the food and traying to take the food from the dog which alot of time ends up with more agresive and dammage to pack structre.

the right way is to corect the dog with aleash (not from the collar)AWAY FROM the food when you think on taking the dog from the bawl and not the opisite.
this attidtue may kill most of the food agressions iknow of.
that way you minimze the fight and allways ends up as awinner.

im sory if ireapted somthing that allready said its just my english so lame so if iread the whole thread it will take me all day and ihave about 5 more article and threads iwant to read today.

sefi.s
israel

Sefi, If I'm reading this correctly you are saying don't grab the dish, move the dog away. Makes sense to me!

 Quote: Jamie M. Minchew

I have tried adding food to his dish but that does not work.

What have you tried adding - something he likes better than what he has in the bowl?

This topic is so timely!

My dog did something today she's never done. She growled and came after me over her food. She has NEVER been food aggressive over anything and will eat out of your hand and let you put your hands on her and in her mouth all the time while eating. I've purposely hand fed her since she was a baby and she's very, very gentle with her mouth.

What triggered it was a weird set of events.

As I was handing her a chicken quarter the neighbors next door in the backyard made a big noise of laughter and yelling. She got confused somehow and I guess thought I was one of the neighbors. Her hackles went up, she dropped the chicken, and she came at me barking. It happened so fast I didn't have to time to get scared although the adrenaline rush after the fact was amazing---God help the poor SOB that breaks in my house!!!!!

I yelled at her, grabbed her collar and muzzle and said "no!" and said her name several times and there was a "light" that came on and she was herself again...weird and scary!! She really disappeared for a few seconds and then was herself again. I should also note that she's never been afraid of anything, even lightning/thunder.

I left her for a couple of minutes to calm down and then went and stood by her as she ate and rubbed her back and patted her as she ate and she was back to normal...she has never been aggressive with anyone except a city worker in a city park and we were the only ones there. I got the feeling she sensed something about him...but even then, she just growled very softly as he went by. That's the only aggression she's ever shown any human and has never tried to bite or nip anyone.

Has anyone else ever had their dog get confused like that?

 Quote: mike morrison

Has anyone else ever had their dog get confused like that?

Yes! Oscar is just the same as your girl - has NO agression about food, toys or what have you, if it's one of US touching it (or touching him, as in patting him while he's eating). He gets marrow bones once in a while and I've taught him to keep it on a big towel we spread out on the floor (to save my rugs!), in doing so, I was always touching and moving the bones, letting him know that my regular interruption was normal and nothing to get nervous about.

One day, he was licking away at a bone in our living room while we sat on the couch behind him. All of a sudden he started growling and REALLY obsessing over the bone franticly. We talked to him calmly and just watched him - it was obvious WE weren't the cause of his upset, but it wasn't clear why he was suddenly not himself. 2 minutes later, there was a knock at our door. We live on the 3rd floor of an apartment building and he had evidently HEARD someone coming in the downstairs door and up the stairs, even though we mere humans didn't pick up on any of that (what with the tv on and all...). As soon as we realized there was someone at the door, we calmly made him leave his bone, picked it up and put it away for later. We then had an opportunity to put him in a sit stay while we opened the door and let our freind in (who Oscar knows and was happy to see...). It all makes sense in retrospect - strange noise triggered his instinctive defense reaction in regards to the bone.

Sometimes they do need a minute to "snap out of something". On one other occasion, after returning to a room I had left Oscar in (a room at a vacation house he was NOT familiar with) I was greeted by a HUGE bark and a lunge up to my chest - he didn't touch me though. I was so stunned that he did this to ME, I didn't even react, just stood there, bewildered. Seconds after his feet landed back on the floor he immediately sat down with a very surprised and almost embarrassed look on his face. OOOPS, Sorry MOM! If he could have apologized on the spot, he would have. But like you Mike, BOY was my adrenaline rushing after that!!

These are the times we have to remember - they're just dogs.

~Natalya