Puppy raw meat question

[Eni]

Hi

I am new to the forum and I have a question about feeding puppy raw meat and bones.

I will be getting a cocker spaniel puppy in a few weeks and I wanted to know if feeding raw meat and bones occasionally could cause the dog to resource guard the food and become aggressive?  I had a labrador puppy a long time ago and he would become extremely aggressive and dangerous when eating anything raw, to the point that he nearly killed my cat just by walking a little closer to him and nearly ripped our hands off.

I could put my hands in his bowl if he was eating kibble , it only happened with raw meat.  

Thanks for any advice

 

Eni

 

 

[twodoggies2001]

I have been feeding my dogs raw from the time they came home to the present day.  I can honestly say that neither of them show any aggression whatsoever.  Frankly, I  think that theory is utter nonsense.  I can go up to their bowls while they are eating and put my hands in easy biting reach and they just step aside.

 

On a lighter note, perhaps he was telling you that he enjoyed raw much more and wanted you away thinking you may remove it.  He knew that the raw was much better for him lol.  I know I wouldn't be happy about eating processed food day in and day out.

 

 

[karen15]

feeding raw meat and bones won't cause resource guarding. I've always fed both with no behaviour issues. I'd suggest reading about resource guarding and training so you recognise the triggers and have appropriate responses.

[Eni]

Thank you. That's what I thought as well but everyone around me blamed it on raw meat. I will slowly introduce some raw and see what happens.  I remember my dog looked so much better, no stinky poo or bad dog smell, shiny coat.  

[The Spotted Devil]

A puppy or dog may resource guard food that is of a high value, particularly if they feel under threat. I always use some super high value food as training treats - so the pup understands I am the SOURCE of amazing food not the person who is going to take it away. Don’t annoy pups when they are eating OR allow other animals to compete with them. If you tried to take a lamb chop off my dinner plate I’d probably growl at you too!!!

[juice]

Agreed, he probably saw the food as much higher value than his kibble, so could well have been that.

Don't forget to stick to what breeder is feeding to start with while it settles in and change slowly.

[twodoggies2001]

2 hours ago, juice said:

Agreed, he probably saw the food as much higher value than his kibble, so could well have been that.

Don't forget to stick to what breeder is feeding to start with while it settles in and change slowly.

With each of our new puppies, we went straight to raw but only on one protein at a time for the first couple of weeks or so.  We didn't have any problems with this. 

[The Spotted Devil]

Whilst I wean onto mostly raw with some dry, I recommend my puppy buyers feed 85% quality dry diet plus 15% raw meaty bones, training treats plus fun stuff like sardines, yoghurt etc. Why? Because a balanced diet is so critical for corrrct growth from 8 weeks to 12 months. You only get ONE chance to grow a puppy right. 

[PANDI-GIRL]

I fed my dog a whole chicken wing yesterday  & she woke me at 1 am  & had to go to the toilet,  the whole stool was white  , after that she went back to sleep.

Strange, must have been to much bone.

[RuralPug]

14 hours ago, PANDI-GIRL said:

I fed my dog a whole chicken wing yesterday  & she woke me at 1 am  & had to go to the toilet,  the whole stool was white  , after that she went back to sleep.

Strange, must have been to much bone.

That does seem odd. Perhaps her digestive tract just wasn't used to it?

My small dogs get several chicken necks, or a turkey neck or a chicken wing daily or almost daily for one meal and raw meat/fish and the odd bit of loaf or kibble or veg plus various additives for the other meal and I very rarely get white poos (which usually does indicate too much bone).

My medium and larger dogs get chicken frames but also lamb or beef meaty bones, and more kibble than the littlies, and they will occasionally show too much bone in their stools - usually my fault - but it doesn't usually change the time of their bowel habits, though.