Mild Food Aggression In Puppy

[Jumabaar]

Our pup is 8 weeks old and has mild food aggression. If we give him his dish of food, and then try to put our hands near it, he growls and snaps. Is this normal in pups? I'd hate to see what he is like with a bone!! Should we just try and hold his bowl while he eats? Or hand feed him? Or throw some treats in there or something?

Just thought I would add- it is reasonably common in pups (nothing to ignore but you are certainly not alone!). When I was raising my litter one of the boys tried it around 5 weeks of age twice, I just kept giving him better treats than kibble while he was eating and he soon learned to accept me being round food. The other aspect to consider is how the breeder fed your pup- he might have had competition around his bowl so protected it from his litter mates and now needs to learn he doesn't need to protect it from you.

I know others in the thread have given you great advice but stay positive your pup is just working out boundaries, and working through this is great foundation for any future boundary pushing that happens. It sounds like you are already progressing well.

Edited August 9, 2011 by ~Woofen~

[Red Fox]

I'm not sure why people habe this obsessive need to pat their dogs whilst eating . Let him be! Feed him in the crate where he is secure and cannot be bothered. Taking food away from the pup and telling him off will likely reinforce his need to defend it.

[Aztec Gold]

So I read that link, and tonight I fed him mince, vegies and yoghurt all mixed up in a different dish, and put his bowl down empty, and made him sit while I put one spoon in and let him eat it while I was standing next to his dish. Then I repeated it, and when he was about halfway through his dinner I started putting spoon by spoon into his dish while he was eating from it, and no problems at all! Just a happy puppy with a happy tummy! I reckon I'll keep doing this for a bit, and eventually lead to me picking up his bowl and adding more and putting it back down. Thank you everyone

[Jumabaar]

I'm not sure why people habe this obsessive need to pat their dogs whilst eating . Let him be! Feed him in the crate where he is secure and cannot be bothered. Taking food away from the pup and telling him off will likely reinforce his need to defend it.

I don't pat my dogs when they are eating, but I have had to take bowls of food away from them (when the wrong dog has got the wrong food) etc. They all know if this happens they get rewarded appropriately so no need to defend it.

Also with bones- I have on many occasions grabbed a cooked bone out of a doggie mouth when on a walk, even on training grounds!!

I don't see it as a big deal and neither do my dogs. Most vets would recommend some form of food desensitisation at this age.

[lovemesideways]

So I read that link, and tonight I fed him mince, vegies and yoghurt all mixed up in a different dish, and put his bowl down empty, and made him sit while I put one spoon in and let him eat it while I was standing next to his dish. Then I repeated it, and when he was about halfway through his dinner I started putting spoon by spoon into his dish while he was eating from it, and no problems at all! Just a happy puppy with a happy tummy! I reckon I'll keep doing this for a bit, and eventually lead to me picking up his bowl and adding more and putting it back down. Thank you everyone

Sounds great. Be sure to come back on here if you have any issues! Best to sort these sort of things out while they're young and not set in there ways!

[Aztec Gold]

Sounds great. Be sure to come back on here if you have any issues! Best to sort these sort of things out while they're young and not set in there ways!

Aww thank you It's so lovely having people to talk to about things like this and who offer great advice

[TsarsMum]

I have learnt alot from this forum and taken alot of advise but one thing i think i should not have taken was about not being able to take pups food and give it back or pat pup while eating.

I did this with my first dog and after reading all the stuff on here i did not with my current and he ended up my resource guarder. He was not bad but i got help as soon as it started.

I wont make that mistake again.

I want to know that if my dog gets something like a cooked bone i can get it back with out the worry of been bitten.

I now can not trust him (as much as you can trust any dog) with being able to remove things he is not allowed.

Sounds like you are on track with your pup good luck.

[persephone]

I want to know that if my dog gets something like a cooked bone i can get it back with out the worry of been bitten.

I do it all teh time

I teach, from day one .. the 'swap' game ! :D

puppy is waddling around with a toy/stick- whatever ... I say 'SWAP" Take object..IMMEDIATELY shove in a treat .. praise puppy .. and give toy/stick back. repeat ,repeat, repeat ..... then , when toy swapping is perfect ..then practise when puppy has a chew toy or bone (that he has chewed for a while ... then move up to dinner etc Usually after a few practices, puppy will have no objection to swapping toys/food/bones ...and then it's a matter of doing this every day a couple of times to re enforce.I find it much easier than chasing dogs around trying to retrieve stolen items ;)

[Mason_Gibbs]

I trained my dog so if i say leave he will leave the food he is eating or drop a bone if he is busy with a bone. I pat him while he eats if i want - he wags his tail like mad if i do i had a resource guarder ( had 2 pups at the same time ) the 1 did not like me or the other dog near her when she ate, i did not want my new dog to be that way and lucky mason is fine. He would not dare growl at me.

[corvus]

Mason2009, did you know a tail wag can be an indicator of conflict? Doesn't always mean a dog is happy.

[Tassie]

http://www.compliantk9.com/rawImages/CK9%20Resource%20Guarding%20v1.pdf

Just found this, seems like a pretty good explanation on resource guarding. Have a read through that too

This is a good read!!

+1 - thanks for the link. Very clearly expressed.

To the OP - sounds like you're making great progress. I certainly endorse practising the swapsies game pretty regularly.

[Mason_Gibbs]

Mason2009, did you know a tail wag can be an indicator of conflict? Doesn't always mean a dog is happy.

Yep but isnt that tail wag a high held tail and pretty stiff?? I know my lab and he gets hysterically happy when he has food! I had a dog with issues before so im pretty aware of things

[best4koda]

I think you are on your way to solving the issue with the advice provided. It sounded to me that the pup just needed to learn the rules and that he is no longer competing for his food. Our current 12month old GSD did a bit of growling in the beginning as well. Even at one of our kids. That's not on in our house. We have always taught our Sheps that we are allowed to take the bowl. touch them (not annoy) and move around them while they eat. We have kids and I think this is essential to reduce child/dog incidents if possible. We teach to sit and stay while bowl is placed down and not to touch until told to. Ours know she will always get the food back and we teach the kids not to touch while they are eating. Just saying training to ensure a touch can happen without someone getting hurt is a good thing.

If the issue persists seek advice sooner rather then later.

[poodlefan]

I would feed this dog in a crate and I would never allow my kids to feed him or interfere with his food.

What an adult human can instil in a dog and how a dog will regard a child near its food bowl are not one and the same.

I'm not suggesting for a moment that your children are at risk but this pup has displayed a hard wired behaviour that can be managed, but in my opinion never extinguished.

Enforcing rules about your dog, your children and food never being in close proximity at the same time may prevent tears down the line. Same goes for visiting kids and meal times. Crate the dog.

The swap game is great but not every situation will see a higher value resource available to the dog. An ounce of prevention...

Personally, I'd be thinking about returning a pup that resource guarded if I had young kids.

Edited September 22, 2011 by poodlefan

[Aztec Gold]

He is fine now

Our eldest girl stands near him while he eats and pats him and he is absolutely fine! When he has a bone, we can walk up to him, tell him to drop it, and we can pick it up with no problems! The only thing is that he won't let the cat near his food LOL!!

[Ali]

Congrats,

Can offer one peice of advice, Even though you can approach pat and remoce bones and food from your dog....I would be encouraging or allowing your child to do it...Its just not worth the risk.. My pup never showed food agression around his food but did have slight growl when on his bone.

Fortunatly I nipped both in the butt early, but I see it as an insurence policy in case one day my child got close to the dog while he was eating or on a bone. But normally and always I keep my kids away from an eating animal.

again great progress on your pup, I'm sure you will have many more :D

[Kavik]

I never let my son near the dogs while they eat and certainly not pat them - not worth the risk.

[fuzzy82]

I'm not sure why people habe this obsessive need to pat their dogs whilst eating . Let him be! Feed him in the crate where he is secure and cannot be bothered. Taking food away from the pup and telling him off will likely reinforce his need to defend it.

I don't pat my dogs while eating, but I do want to be able to take things off them without getting attacked. And what if the dog ever has a bone and attacks anyone who comes out in the backyard? Or do you want to only ever be able to give the dog edible things while he's in his crate? Why set yourself up for inconvenience when it's so easily trained at an early age?

From the first day I got my puppy I had him on my lap while he ate and I touched him all over. I also taught him to drop things on cue in exchange for a treat. I no longer touch him while he's eating, but if I accidentally bump into him he's not gonna snap, and he will drop anything in his mouth on cue, even bones and dead fish etc, and I can go over and examine them and determine whether or not to let him have them back.

And it didn't take long to train, so why would I deliberately do nothing to prevent resource guarding and have to stay away from my dog whenever he has anything edible for the rest of his life?

The swap game is great but not every situation will see a higher value resource available to the dog. An ounce of prevention...

You wouldn't need to though, once the dog has learnt the cue and the game. "Give it up and get something better". The dog doesn't know that what you have isn't better, and if you keep training it by trading up, the dog should still give up bones and really high value things, because he has been conditioned to think that whenever he gives it up he will get something better.

Edited September 30, 2011 by fuzzy82

[Red Fox]

I never let my son near the dogs while they eat and certainly not pat them - not worth the risk.

I agree.

I'm not sure why people habe this obsessive need to pat their dogs whilst eating . Let him be! Feed him in the crate where he is secure and cannot be bothered. Taking food away from the pup and telling him off will likely reinforce his need to defend it.

I don't pat my dogs while eating, but I do want to be able to take things off them without getting attacked. And what if the dog ever has a bone and attacks anyone who comes out in the backyard? Or do you want to only ever be able to give the dog edible things while he's in his crate? Why set yourself up for inconvenience when it's so easily trained at an early age?

From the first day I got my puppy I had him on my lap while he ate and I touched him all over. I also taught him to drop things on cue in exchange for a treat. I no longer touch him while he's eating, but if I accidentally bump into him he's not gonna snap, and he will drop anything in his mouth on cue, even bones and dead fish etc, and I can go over and examine them and determine whether or not to let him have them back.

And it didn't take long to train, so why would I deliberately do nothing to prevent resource guarding and have to stay away from my dog whenever he has anything edible for the rest of his life?

The swap game is great but not every situation will see a higher value resource available to the dog. An ounce of prevention...

You wouldn't need to though, once the dog has learnt the cue and the game. "Give it up and get something better". The dog doesn't know that what you have isn't better, and if you keep training it by trading up, the dog should still give up bones and really high value things, because he has been conditioned to think that whenever he gives it up he will get something better.

Fuzzy, it's not that simple. I can take high value things from my dogs mouth, I can touch him whist he eats (though don't make a habit of it), I can climb into a crate or under the bed to retrieve a stolen item from him and he surrenders it like a pussy cat.

If anyone else tried it and they would lose a hand.

You can condition a dog through training but to expect that he would be 100% trustworthy around strangers and children (who are likely to be considered as lower rank) is unrealistic and not worth the risk.

[poodlefan]

Fuzzy:

You wouldn't need to though, once the dog has learnt the cue and the game. "Give it up and get something better". The dog doesn't know that what you have isn't better, and if you keep training it by trading up, the dog should still give up bones and really high value things, because he has been conditioned to think that whenever he gives it up he will get something better.

The dog has learnt that if the owner comes to take something, it will get a reward.

That behaviour does not always translate into the dog allowing anyone (and in particular children) to take food. It may not translate into a situation outside a normal meal (as a friend of mine found out the hard way).

Anyone who routinely allows their kids to interfere with a dog when eating is allowing an unsafe practice IMO and its a particularly risky behaviour to inculcate in a child who may well do the same thing to a strange dog.

"Leave dogs alone when they are eating" protects dogs and children. Anyone who thinks otherwise is placing dogs and children at risk. End of story.

Edited September 30, 2011 by poodlefan