Puppy Growling When Eating How To Stop?

[spice_1]

Hey guys, when I feed my 9 week old puppy raw chicken wings and try to move his chicken wing back to his feeding area he gives me a growl not sure if he will bite, how do I stop this? Thanks

[Pjrt]

Contain him in a pen or on a tether so he can't move his food. Then you don't have to mess with him when he's eating his food. I will never understand why many people seem to think it's a thing they have to expect the dog to not react when we mess with the food they are trying to eat. If he is eating with enthusiasm just put him in a space where he can't remove the food to somewhere you don't want it.

[Roova]

As well as the above you can practice walking past pup when he's eating and drop extra food on top and keep walking. Instead of feeling be has to protect his food from you be will instead look forward to you being near.

You can also practice avoiding resource guarding by always offering something better than what you took away. Alternately take what they have, offer plenty of yummy treats then give back what you took (presuming is safe for them to have).

If he's still a little funny with food don't let kids near him when he or they are eating. Good luck!

[persephone]

I agree with putting him somewhere he can eat in peace .

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

You could offer him a trade, eg see if he will drop the chicken for a sardine in olive oil...

Then lure him back to where you want him (with the sardine) and prevent him from relocating...

Susan Garrett plays a swapsies game with her resource guarders... she gives puppy a plain chicken neck and then offers to swap for a chicken neck dipped in salmon oil (she's in Canada so I guess salmon oil is easy to get).

When a puppy is completely comfortable with the idea that giving you his food means he gets something better, he's way more likely to do it.

I'm always interrupting my dog to put something better in her bowl or give her something from my hand.

I never pull her off her food. I don't have to. We do a lot of training around her dinner. Because that's the best reward I have and I can really only use it once - unless I hand feed all of it, and I do that sometimes.

So I got my recalls and stays going in front of her dinner and using her dinner as distraction proofing. If you can get your dog to recall by its dinner, that's a pretty good recall. In the house at least. And stay - build up duration, really slowly puddle of drool in front of dinner. Ie half a second stay the first time.

If dog can't hold a stay while I put the bowl down / food into the bowl, dog doesn't get dinner.

So there's a lot of stuff that some of my friends think is teasing where I play "its yer choice" with my dog and food. If she tries to steal the food, she doesn't get it. If she's good and waits - I put it in her mouth and she can "geddit"...

Once she's comfortable with the idea that she's going to get all the food or at least some of it, she's very willing to play the game and loves trying to figure out what she's got to do to get the treat. Better way to tire a dog than a long walk too. Mental exercise.

So you want to start with really easy games with a puppy but as the puppy gets better - you make a tiny bit of the game harder, ie work on duration or work on distance but not both at once. Or work on distractions (but not duration and distance).

Note I would not let the kids play these games with the dog.

PS if I really want to make it clear to dog when she's not doing what I want... I play these games with potato crisps, if she tries to steal - I eat the chip.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Mrs Rusty Bucket

[The Spotted Devil]

I've played swapsies with pups who resource guard (eg minced chicken for a chicken frame) but I NEVER lure it, my timing is good, I have lots of experience and I have strong observational skills. I only point that out because I would never recommend someone do this UNLESS they had the aforementioned skills OR had someone right there to show them how to do it. This should be a fun, low stress GAME for pup when done correctly and you see immediate improvement within a session.

The other option is just leave them in a quiet place and don't disturb them - which is what I do with my pups/dogs in the first instance. For goodness sake please don't take his meal away and give it back without understanding what you are doing. It can create way more problems than it solves. And by crikey I'd growl if you kept taking my dinner away!!!

Edited March 29, 2016 by The Spotted Devil

[persephone]

:) Playing swap is done here from the time pups start grabbing things - we do it with toys /food / everything, yes , so that if we need to , we can retrieve contraband /something dangerous.

it IS something which needs to be learned , and done correctly .

So, with this little pup - play with toys .. when he has a toy .. YOU have a treat . Tell him SWAP ? and as soon as he sees the treat and drops his toy -- give him the treat , pick up the toy .Admire the toy , tell the toy how wonderful it is - then get pup to sit ..and give it back to him -- maybe having a little play too . This only takes a minute or two .

Repeat often ... :) It's fun , and really useful !

That way , pup learns trust ...

[Willem]

if I feed our dog with food she can't carry away (kibble etc.) she normally wants someone close to her while she is eating. If I walk away and she is not finish eating she might interrupt her meal and will follow me...and I could take e.g. kibble out of the bowl without any growling...no guarding at all. However, if she gets a brisket or a turkey neck she takes it from the food bowl to the lawn and want's to be left alone - if I pat her she growls and takes the neck or the bone firmly into her mouth.

I never felt the need to correct this - the rule for us is: once it is in the bowl and she got the cue to eat it is hers. I can throw a turkey neck on the lawn and she won't touch it (well, as long as I'm with her) till she gets the clue - but then it is hers. The kids can pass her, if they come too close she will take the neck or the bone and will find another place where she can keep on chewing. The kids know that they can't interfere / play with her while she is eating.

So it is a form of food guarding, but as long as she only takes it and moves on to another place to eat it (which will be just another spot on the lawn) it is fine for me.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Willem

[tdierikx]

All my rescue pups were taught the command "give" using high value toys that they didn't normally get to play with. The object was to be have them spit out whatever was in their mouth on command... reward with the toy was given once they spat out whatever was in their mouth. Eventually there was no need for the toy reward, but a "good boy/girl" and a nice pat for doing what they were told.

My current 3 dogs will spit out anything they have when the command "give" is uttered... and that's no mean feat with 3 food obsessed dogs... *grin*

T.

[Kirislin]

All my rescue pups were taught the command "give" using high value toys that they didn't normally get to play with. The object was to be have them spit out whatever was in their mouth on command... reward with the toy was given once they spat out whatever was in their mouth. Eventually there was no need for the toy reward, but a "good boy/girl" and a nice pat for doing what they were told.

My current 3 dogs will spit out anything they have when the command "give" is uttered... and that's no mean feat with 3 food obsessed dogs... *grin*

T.

this is similar to how I taught all my whippets. I'm getting slack, I haven't done it with these puppies.

[Bushriver]

I don't understand why people think it's acceptable for dogs to resource guard? I understand it can be expected but not accepted. It is an unsafe behaviour that needs to be corrected by patient training. I would be working on it with swapping for treats etc but there is no way I'd just put them somewhere on their own and not deal with it. If a child threw a tantrum every dinner time you would address the situation not just put them in their own room to eat?

[Salukifan]

I don't understand why people think it's acceptable for dogs to resource guard? I understand it can be expected but not accepted. It is an unsafe behaviour that needs to be corrected by patient training. I would be working on it with swapping for treats etc but there is no way I'd just put them somewhere on their own and not deal with it. If a child threw a tantrum every dinner time you would address the situation not just put them in their own room to eat?

I don't find it wildly acceptable that dogs resource guard. However as it is natural, instinctive behaviour that for the most part is made WORSE by interference, I think most "training" attempts should be avoided.

My dogs are not children. This pup is not having a tantrum. Nor is it displaying dominance or any other such malarky as described by some "trainers".

Furthermore, the fact that one adult can "train" a dog not to growl at them does not mean the dog will be proofed for others or most importantly for children. You want to see unsafe behaviour? Assume you've fixed the problem!

So why not put the pup in a crate, increase its confidence that its food isn't going to be taken from it and let it eat in peace?

Standard rule is my house is that each dog is fed separately in its crate and it never has to exercise resource guarding behaviour about eating. N one growls, no one steals. It's all very calm. Knowing what you can "train" and what is behaviour that needs to be managed isn't copping out.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Haredown Whippets

[Rebanne]

I don't understand why people think it's acceptable for dogs to resource guard? I understand it can be expected but not accepted. It is an unsafe behaviour that needs to be corrected by patient training. I would be working on it with swapping for treats etc but there is no way I'd just put them somewhere on their own and not deal with it. If a child threw a tantrum every dinner time you would address the situation not just put them in their own room to eat?

I have no problem at all letting my dogs eat their meals in peace. Dogs aren't children. I would have no problem chucking a kid into their room if they threw a tantrum over anything.

[Bushriver]

I realise dogs aren't children, I simply meant there are behaviours that are unacceptable in a household from both children and animals and neither should be tolerated. "Training" may have been the wrong word. Perhaps desensitising would be better. The pup needs to be comfortable with people around him while he's eating. Not scared to growl, but no longer feels threatened. Pecking orders in a pack of dogs I feel is important. I feed mine together but in that order as I think it should be respected, but I also think all humans in the family needs to be given a place in that pecking order above all the dogs. That way everyone in my experience can happily eat together knowing they will all get their share.

[Bushriver]

And putting a child in their room for having a tantrum would be a form of dis alpine which is my point. You would set up a special room for them to eat on their own. They would be expected to eat with the family. I also think guarding is a natural behaviour but only while trying to establish or challenge the pecking order. It wouldn't be an ongoing issue in a dog pack.

[Willem]

I realise dogs aren't children, I simply meant there are behaviours that are unacceptable in a household from both children and animals and neither should be tolerated. "Training" may have been the wrong word. Perhaps desensitising would be better. The pup needs to be comfortable with people around him while he's eating. Not scared to growl, but no longer feels threatened. Pecking orders in a pack of dogs I feel is important. I feed mine together but in that order as I think it should be respected, but I also think all humans in the family needs to be given a place in that pecking order above all the dogs. That way everyone in my experience can happily eat together knowing they will all get their share.

...even the dog with the lowest rank might growl to express disagreement when risking loosing a bone or other valuable food to other pack members - it will likely surrender the food to a more dominant pack member, probably without further fighting - but what's the outcome?...the dog will just be stressed and will also be stressed when she is fed the next time.

...swapping games?...might work ...but what is if the kids approach the dog next time when she is chewing a bone and they have nothing to swap?

I think it is more important to establish clear rules around the feeding procedure that are valid for all pack members (dog and family members) - HW's approach seems to work well when you have more than 1 dog, for us the approach 'any food is hers once she got the cue to take it' works just fine; I know I could take it away from her to demonstrate that I'm the boss - but what would I gain by doing this?...and would she also accept such a behaviour from the kids?...again I would be able to train her to accept this behaviour from the kids, but there is Murphy's law and there is this one day where shit happens.

[Salukifan]

I realise dogs aren't children, I simply meant there are behaviours that are unacceptable in a household from both children and animals and neither should be tolerated. "Training" may have been the wrong word. Perhaps desensitising would be better. The pup needs to be comfortable with people around him while he's eating. Not scared to growl, but no longer feels threatened. Pecking orders in a pack of dogs I feel is important. I feed mine together but in that order as I think it should be respected, but I also think all humans in the family needs to be given a place in that pecking order above all the dogs. That way everyone in my experience can happily eat together knowing they will all get their share.

But resource guarding isn't about a pecking order or dominance and that is a very common misapprehension. Dogs at the bottom of the pecking order are just as likely to resource guard as the pack leader. When the 18 year old poodle in my house is guarding her treasures, the alpha dog backs away unless he's prepared to have conflict to get it and the only thing that would make him aggress is food. I make sure that such incidents do not happen because what she values (generally my clothing) is of no interest to him. Resource guarding is about protection of valued items, not fear. So teaching a dog to give you toys isn't going to help proof against food guarding if the dog values food more than toys.

It comes down to me to be about safety. The safest method of ensuring that there are no issues between family members (human or canine) about food is to supervise or separate when food is around. That goes double for when there are children around that are not "pack". I have one food resource guarder. I can take food from him. That doesn't stop him guarding from the other dogs.

ETA: Patricia McConnell does recommend the 'swap' method for dealing with excessive resource guarding. My concern would be that desensitisation to a certain set of circumstances isn't the same as extinguishing the instinct altogether.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Haredown Whippets

[*kirty*]

Resource guarding is absolutely not tolerated in my house. I'd never had a resource guarder until Mary came along. One day she found a bit of cat food on the floor and my daughter grabbed her collar to put her outside (she didn't know Mary had found food) and Mary spun round and bit Holly very hard on the arm. She had puncture marks and nasty bruising. I had not seen Mary resource guard until that moment. I immediately started working with her to address the issue and she is now fine. But I would never trust her with food around my kids. I teach my kids to never touch dogs when they are eating, and my dogs are left alone to eat, but I fully expect them to be safe should I ever need to take food away etc.

[Willem]

...agree 99% with HW (the missing 1% refers to the leading record misattributed to Aristotle :D )

@ kirty: ..you never trust, but fully expect to be safe...?...

Eta:

wrt ...."My concern would be that desensitisation to a certain set of circumstances isn't the same as extinguishing the instinct altogether..." ...it needs also to be considered that the value of the food will change depending on the hunger of the dog - a dominant dog might easily give up on food and leave it to a lower rank dog when he had enough. Conversely a lower ranked dog might fight fiercely if he is really hungry....these are all parameters that are difficult to address in these swapping games.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Willem

[Bushriver]

You would expect a starving dog to be more aggressive around food, however in your typical household this would never be the case. You may have a greedy dog or one that is ready for its dinner, but I have come to find that they learn they will be fed and there's plenty for everyone. Any special treats given or found are still to be given up or allowed to be touched by humans if needed, all mine will do so with a happily (they all have easy going temperaments though).