Puppy Growling When Eating

[Bacchus]

With previous dogs, we have always taught good 'table' manners but our new 14 week Border Collie puppy just shocked me.

When I feed her dry food, I generally give her a pat when she starts and run my fingers down the side of her nose quickly. She normally just stops eating momentarily then goes back to it. I do this just as a quick check, we did it with our previous dogs and then could remain confident that they were happy eaters.

Tonight, my little puppy growled, a very throaty growl. When I removed her from the food saying 'No', she started to shake but continued a much louder growl. I'm not used to this. I have a 3 year old and puppy safety is something I'm extremely paranoid about.

She's a beautiful girl during the day, loves to play and all but I need to be able to trust her. How do I show her that this behaviour is wrong? I know that I probably pushed her outside of her comfort zone but I am used to having a Rottwieler who was as placid as a teddy bear. The alarm bells are ringing here.

Please help

[KOE]

I would teach her to sit before giving her tea then once she has it take it from her, if she growls tell her no and dont give it to her until she is sitting quiet.

Patience and peserverence will win out in the end.

[sheree_e4]

I am a carer and I find hand feeding puppies makes them realise that a hand near food is a good thing.

WEEK 1.only fed from hand no bowl.(pat with other hand while feeding)

WEEK 2. hand feed but with hand in bowl with pup taking food out of hand.(pat with other hand while feeding)

WEEK 3. food in bowl but hand is in the bowl while eating.pat aswell

By week 4 90% are happy to be patted while being fed.

those who arnt happy week 2 lasts longer.

Also I have a 23mth old daughter so my dogs (9yrs,5yrs and 22mths) have been taught that if a hand goes near or in the bowl they are to sit.

to teach this put some boring food in bowl,then have some really nice smelly food (cabanossi is great)let your pup start eating the boring stuff then walk up while she is eating and let her sniff the "yummy"food and ask her to sit reward when she is not touching the food then release (ok) to go back to eating whats in bowl repeat this over and over for a week then just put your hand on the bowl (food in pocket) and say sit when she does give her the nice food and then use the release again.eventually when you put your hand near her bowl she will automatically sit expecting a yummy reward.(I taught my dogs this in approx 2 mths to do it without fail while i was still pregnant.)

hope this helps

[Dogsfevr]

Personally im not a believer of touchy feely whilst they eat especially when they get no reward for sharing.

Your pup has no idea why you are touching,she isnt giving anything up nor is she getting anything except to start to feel threatened.

You need to start educating the dog on what you want not let her be a mind reader.

teach dog to sit,teach dog to share,teach her growling isnt good manners but you need to teach not think that running hands over will do that.

[cavNrott]

I would teach her to sit before giving her tea then once she has it take it from her, if she growls tell her no and dont give it to her until she is sitting quiet.

Patience and peserverence will win out in the end.

I disagree with removing a dogs food once you've given it to them. That proves to the dog that you can't be trusted not to steal its food.

Mydogs eat in peace. I don't think it's ever occurred to them that we will take their food away.

None of them object if we are right next to them or touch them while they are eating.

[Poodle wrangler]

This would worry me, too. But I'm not a trainer.

Supervising children 100% is great in theory, but you know how difficult that is.

Try using Triangle of Temptation (TOT) - it's posted at the top of the Training/ Obedience/ Dog sports subforum. It takes only about 5 minutes extra to do compared with feeding normally .

Do you use a crate? Perhaps it would be good for those times you cannot watch both pup and kid. My 3 year old loved to play in there more than the dog, though .

If the situation is ongoing, get some help asap, don't wait until it escalates. Trust your gut feeling. Not saying this is necessarily the case, but some dogs have more stable temperaments than others. An experienced person (behaviourist) would need to assess that. May well be he just needs some leadership and teaching from you

Edited September 14, 2007 by Poodle wrangler

[sas]

I'm with CavNrott about not removing the food. Leaders are fair, firm & assertive they are not bullies, I personal feel by taking the food away you are being a bully.

Sounds like pup could do with a good does of leadership to help it back on the right path again.

With a dog that is growly with it's food bowl, this is resource guarding, you may find your dog displays this attitude to other high value items such as toys and treats and so-forth.

If puppy was mine, I'd use Jan Fennels methods, she has a book called Dog Listener, you may like to invest in a copy.

I personaly would:

Not feed the dog until I had eaten or grab a human biscuit and pretend you're eating it out of the dog bowl (the dog is there watching you).

I'd also be doing the 5 minute ignore method which is covered in the book.

Give the dog a little bit of food in its' bowl, and as it's eating walk towards the dog throwing treats on the ground towards the dog, start off quite a way back, dogs hae a personal bubble, it's usually at about the 3 metre mark. This shows the dog that someone approaching it is a positive thing as it gets treats. I'm not sure about this method with your dog though as I would use this method for dogs who have had to fight for their food or have been food deprived in the past.

To me, it seems like this dogs just needs to be put back in its' place.

Edited September 14, 2007 by sas

[Bacchus]

hope this helps

It sure does - I brought her in last night after your post and both my son and I had her sit down before getting a yummy snack. She took the food beautifully so we'll be working on that over the next few weeks.

Thank you so much for your advice.

[sheree_e4]

No Worries - let us know how she progresses

[Bacchus]

No Worries - let us know how she progresses

It has been a couple of weeks now and I'm pleased to say that she is turning into the gorgeous dog I always hoped she would. She is growing so big and so very quickly.

She learnt very quickly how to sit (and almost to wait for her dinner ) but most importantly, is now patiently taking hand-treats from both myself and my 3 year old after she sits. She has stopped nipping him (playfully) as much and stopped barking at him too.

We've come full circle - thank you all so much (and especially you Sheree for your advice).

[sheree_e4]

Yay!! It is always great to hear happy endings or should that be beginings

Always happy to share my training tips , just glad they work for others too.

Edited September 22, 2007 by sheree_e4