Quote: susan tuck

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

Sefi always makes sense . I love his advice and read avidly everytime he posts . His advice is invaluable. It SO makes sense to move the dog from the bowl or food instead of removing the bowl/food from the dog.

Eric, I admire you finding what works for YOUR dog, and your calm approach to dealing with the issue. People who have said they would "beat him until he broke" are asses, more worried about their own ego and image than about dealing with the problem in a way the dog can understand.

Al, I've seen those fake hand tests that some shelters do. It makes me angry cause if the poor dog fails their stupid test, it's put to sleep. For them it's nothing but a liability issue. Some of them actually torment the dog with the stupid fake hand, keeping the dog from eating by moving the hand in the bowl constantly and if the dog so much as reacts by moving its mouth toward the hand, he's literally a dead dog.

 Quote: lee hanrahan

No, he isn't dominant in any other way. He is also submissive to both the other dogs.

I still feel it's a big deal - he will be in his crate with something 'good' (like a piece of pork ribs) and if I come near it's alright...I can say "good dog" it's alright - but sometimes he will just lunge at me barking and growling like he'd kill over it... I KNOW this is not good - but, like I said, the initial corrections made it much worse.....

BTW - I have no problem taking toys from his mouth, using treats to train or even giving all 3 of them a cookie at the same time. (but I don't push it!)

Sounds like you have a LOT of apprehension about him lunging and barking at you over food; don't think he doesn't know that. Your apprehension translates into a threat to him and puts him in a defensive state of mind. Leave him alone when he's eating, don't go near, don't talk to him either. If you feel the need to correct, do what Sefi said, or what Eric did.

 Quote: Mike Morrison

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

Not me, but I never say never . Maybe it's an immaturity thing, sensibilities not quite as they should be yet - Lear exhibits other forms of immaturity at 11 mos (like forgetting from day to day some things he's not supposed to do).

Sandy, I've thought of that, too...she didn't really have that "fear" stage that I ever noticed so maybe that's some of it happening now--or maybe she just got confused for a moment and overwhelmed. Her nerves are just so solid, nothing really bothers or scares her. I've actually been concerned that she's so sweet and good natured that she wouldn't exhibit much protective behavior, but if anyone comes in this house unwelcomed I have ZERO doubts about what she's capable of doing now

I usually feed her outside and have always hand fed parts of her food at nearly every meal. When it rains we feed in her crate so that's never been a problem. Also, most of the time I don't use any kind of bowl anymore for food unless I'm giving her the veggie/ground meat slop stuff. All she does is take it out anyway and run off into the grass or put it on the tile underneath her crate. She doesn't really like the bowls. Then she destroys the bowl if I don't immediately take it out. I think she does this just to irritate me

I'm learning more and more that alot of training is just repetition, conditioning, and creating good experiences that the dogs want to do because it's fun and good for them. Ed's tip on putting food in their crates as pups almost immediately trained Brenna to RUN to her crate when we told her to go to her crate because she knew she was going to get a treat for complying.

I would look to ways of avoiding the build-up to a negative reaction and try something new that the dog has no experience doing. You might short circuit some of his established behavior by doing that...

my .02

I want to thank you for your advice. I continued to correct him at every meal and he was really showing no improvemnt and than one day he just stopped the growling completely (about two weeks ago) I continued to touch him with no problem. Once he showed no signs of growling I then began to add some small peices of meat to his food halfway through his meal. He began looking up while eating and eating much slower. Now I can sit on the floor and put my hands in the bowl no problem (even without the treats) He still has aggression when he has something in his mouth that he is not supposed to have and you take it away. I was told to teach him the give command with bribery and he will eventually learn to drop the item. I do not see this working especially with food related items. any advice. thanks again, jamie

I'm glad you found a method that worked for you. This would not work with my dog but seemed to for yours. A great example of "Know your dog".