My dad’s puppy (only dog, 6 months old, not yet neutered) has apparently been very aggressive around his food bowl the last couple of days. According to Dad, it’s out of the blue, but I would bet there have been subtler signs which have been missed. I myself have not witnessed any of this behavior, and details are sketchy, but he has attempted to bite my father two or three times. I recommended that my father contact the puppy’s breeder and ask for her recommendation as I’m sure she knows of a good local trainer/behaviorist. I know there are a few posters here knowledgeable in behavior issues…what would be your advice? This is a really nice dog at all other times and I know my dad is a little disconcerted by this issue.
Neuter him, and make him sit each time he gets his bowl, and wait to eat. Give signal to eat then put it down and remove it saying wait. If necessary with gloves if he has tried to bite.
Variety is the spice of life, so I have a different approach. I’d try hand feeding him his food as a reward for responding to things asked of him, like sit, down, etc. I would do that for a couple of weeks, and then continue it intermittently. When he is eating out of the bowl, I’d walk by and add something better than whatever is in the bowl. You want him to look forward to a person approaching the bowl. I would have him sit and wait for the food, but I think that the game in which you say, “wait” and take the bowl away after he is eating is more likely to exacerbate the problem rather than help it.
ETA: I also think that this is completely unrelated to him not being neutered yet.
My sister used to have some australian shepherds. The herding lines, not the show ring lines. They were some of the most vicious dogs I’ve known. Why? Because she didn’t have time to continue herding lessons with them. They weren’t working. The females were the worst. I’m talking about vicious to the point of drawn blood on people, other dogs, dead cats. Cats. Not just one, but many.
I would highly recommend finding a GOOD trainer who can help deal with these issues now. It is a bad sign when puppies show aggression so early on.
The wait is no game, but I agree with emipou, this kind of aggression in a six month old dog is not good.
Not only that but the mini’s had some rather serious temperament issues right from day one. I’m guessing the breeders have not been able to address those issues as this puppy sounds typical of what I used to hear when they started showing up in the hands of agility competitors who wanted smaller competitive dogs.
[QUOTE=sketcher;7628732]
Not only that but the mini’s had some rather serious temperament issues right from day one. I’m guessing the breeders have not been able to address those issues as this puppy sounds typical of what I used to hear when they started showing up in the hands of agility competitors who wanted smaller competitive dogs.[/QUOTE]
Yes, which is what happens when you miniaturize dogs, they are not computer chips.
I don’t usually enter into these discussions, because I know my opinion is not a popular one. But I don’t get “food guarding”, “resource guarding” and whatever new terminology is out there, at all.
I grew up with German a Shepherds, and aggression to humans was not acceptable ever - in any way, shape or form. For ANY reason (I suppose unless they thought their life was in danger) or for protection of their people.
One of my last GSD’s died a few yrs ago. As a puppy, he snarled at small children. He was punished big time. After that, we set him up over & over until he wouldn’t even look at kids, much less consider snarling. No, I didn’t beat him, but he probably thought I was gonna kill him. He also was aggressive with our cats and food. Same thing, I sat on the floor with him for wks while he ate until he wouldn’t even make eye contact with the cats.
Harsh? Perhaps. But a 110 lb untrustworthy dog just wasn’t going to happen.
It all paid off. I took him to a horseshow at about 9 months old. He was on lead, heel position and in a blink of en eye a girl about 4 ran up, threw her arms around his neck & hugged him. I grabbed both by the scruff of the neck & yanked them apart. But he just froze & looked at me like “this is a trick I just know it”. (The mom in the meantime just kept walking).
I never trusted him around kids his entire life. He never made a bad move or even a bad look at one, but I just couldn’t trust him. He went in the kennel when kids were around. And he also happily co-existed with 4-6 cats, including at meal times :).
I have a mini aussie and she is quite smart. They will frequently try you to see what they can get away with. I would do the work for your food game as was posted above by Casey09. I also agree about not trying to remove the food as this will probably make it worse. Your dad may need to get a trainer to help him.
Cindy - What has changed is that many trainers have found that physically punishing a dog that growls results in a dog that no longer growls… and instead bites with no warning.
Rather than eliminating the growling the goal is to change the threshold at which the dog will growl (such that the dog no longer growls at children) but leave the warning system intact so when the dog does get overwhelmed the owner has a warning before a catastrophe occurs.
I work at a vet hospital… one of the worst patients I have is a biter that does NOT growl first.
You have to be careful when dealing with a resource guarder that you don’t reinforce their need to guard. If you take it away and punish them for guarding that tells them they need to guard more effectively. I like to trade for higher value things like little pieces of ham or cheese or hot dogs then immediately give it back so they learn that only good things come from giving up their food. Same with toys or bones or whatever they are guarding. Give them a piece of especially tasty food in exchange for whatever they are guarding then immediately give it back or throw it for them to retrieve if they are into fetch.
[QUOTE=CindyB59;7628867]
I don’t usually enter into these discussions, because I know my opinion is not a popular one. But I don’t get “food guarding”, “resource guarding” and whatever new terminology is out there, at all.
I grew up with German a Shepherds, and aggression to humans was not acceptable ever - in any way, shape or form. For ANY reason (I suppose unless they thought their life was in danger) or for protection of their people.
One of my last GSD’s died a few yrs ago. As a puppy, he snarled at small children. He was punished big time. After that, we set him up over & over until he wouldn’t even look at kids, much less consider snarling. No, I didn’t beat him, but he probably thought I was gonna kill him. He also was aggressive with our cats and food. Same thing, I sat on the floor with him for wks while he ate until he wouldn’t even make eye contact with the cats.
Harsh? Perhaps. But a 110 lb untrustworthy dog just wasn’t going to happen.
It all paid off. I took him to a horseshow at about 9 months old. He was on lead, heel position and in a blink of en eye a girl about 4 ran up, threw her arms around his neck & hugged him. I grabbed both by the scruff of the neck & yanked them apart. But he just froze & looked at me like “this is a trick I just know it”. (The mom in the meantime just kept walking).
I never trusted him around kids his entire life. He never made a bad move or even a bad look at one, but I just couldn’t trust him. He went in the kennel when kids were around. And he also happily co-existed with 4-6 cats, including at meal times :).[/QUOTE]
I’m glad you shared this. You are a good shepherd to your shepherds and both of yours (and your sons) are well behaved dogs and a pleasure to be around.
[QUOTE=Calamber;7628415]
Neuter him, and make him sit each time he gets his bowl, and wait to eat. Give signal to eat then put it down and remove it saying wait. If necessary with gloves if he has tried to bite.[/QUOTE]
That technique may work to prevent a dog from guarding a resource, but it’s going to reinforce the behavior in this dog that he needs to guard it because it’s going to be taken away. And I would never trust gloves to protect me from serious injury from a dog. Unless it’s a Chihuahua, then maybe.
I prefer the “nothing in life is free” technique to get over this. There’s no reason a dog needs to eat from a bowl. When I have the time, I’ll put my dog’s food in a plastic baggie that I keep with me. Everytime she sits or looks at me or does something I ask, she gets some of her kibble. By the end of the day she’s eaten her whole meal and gotten some great positive reinforcement for good behavior. And trading items becomes one of the good behaviors that you can reinforce, so you can work up to eventually taking the bowl away because the dog knows he’s going to get something better. This is the way I work with my personal dog, YMMV.
[QUOTE=In The Gate;7628935]
Cindy - What has changed is that many trainers have found that physically punishing a dog that growls results in a dog that no longer growls… and instead bites with no warning.
Rather than eliminating the growling the goal is to change the threshold at which the dog will growl (such that the dog no longer growls at children) but leave the warning system intact so when the dog does get overwhelmed the owner has a warning before a catastrophe occurs.
I work at a vet hospital… one of the worst patients I have is a biter that does NOT growl first.[/QUOTE]
This makes sense, luckily there was never a threat to bite. He was no problem with older kids or adults, just eye level ones. He wanted to be top dog his whole life, and never gave up defying me in small ways until he was too sick to care (heart disease). Example. On the down command, he’d go down to about 1" above the floor and just stare at me. If he had fingers, I was getting the middle one. Found out after I bought him his sire had a terrible temperament. At least one other puppy had the same issues & the people made the owner take it back because they had several small kids.
[QUOTE=twotrudoc;7629428]
I’m glad you shared this. You are a good shepherd to your shepherds and both of yours (and your sons) are well behaved dogs and a pleasure to be around.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. Except Junior the 8 lb terror. Actually, he minds too, just is a spoiled brat.
[QUOTE=twotrudoc;7629428]
I’m glad you shared this. You are a good shepherd to your shepherds and both of yours (and your sons) are well behaved dogs and a pleasure to be around.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. Except Junior the 8 lb terror. Actually, he minds too, just is a spoiled brat.
[QUOTE=independentlyawesome;7629603]
That technique may work to prevent a dog from guarding a resource, but it’s going to reinforce the behavior in this dog that he needs to guard it because it’s going to be taken away. And I would never trust gloves to protect me from serious injury from a dog. Unless it’s a Chihuahua, then maybe.
I prefer the “nothing in life is free” technique to get over this. There’s no reason a dog needs to eat from a bowl. When I have the time, I’ll put my dog’s food in a plastic baggie that I keep with me. Everytime she sits or looks at me or does something I ask, she gets some of her kibble. By the end of the day she’s eaten her whole meal and gotten some great positive reinforcement for good behavior. And trading items becomes one of the good behaviors that you can reinforce, so you can work up to eventually taking the bowl away because the dog knows he’s going to get something better. This is the way I work with my personal dog, YMMV.[/QUOTE]
I don’t reward a dog for not doing something like biting. My Jack Russell one time tried to bite me in the face for kissing him too hard on the head, this when he was a pup. He got a good yelling at and never did it again, he did not escalate, he does not plot, he is a dog, and I don’t train with treats. I have trained field trial beagles and hunting retrievers. The only treat they ever got was to do what they love to do. If you play treat games every time you want something out of your dog you are going to get a spoiled dog. If I want to take a glove, shoe, bowl, bone, another dog or kitten out of the dog’s mouth I want it to drop it now, not wait until I go to the treat box so it can “trade” it’s “resource” for mine. Gad what a bunch of New Age loonies.
And by the way, there are plenty of dogs that bite without growling, and they were never “trained” to do that.
[QUOTE=CindyB59;7629809]
Thanks. Except Junior the 8 lb terror. Actually, he minds too, just is a spoiled brat.[/QUOTE]
He loves me best - as long as you’re not around :lol:
[QUOTE=Calamber;7629838]
I don’t reward a dog for not doing something like biting. My Jack Russell one time tried to bite me in the face for kissing him too hard on the head, this when he was a pup. He got a good yelling at and never did it again, he did not escalate, he does not plot, he is a dog, and I don’t train with treats. I have trained field trial beagles and hunting retrievers. The only treat they ever got was to do what they love to do. If you play treat games every time you want something out of your dog you are going to get a spoiled dog. If I want to take a glove, shoe, bowl, bone, another dog or kitten out of the dog’s mouth I want it to drop it now, not wait until I go to the treat box so it can “trade” it’s “resource” for mine. Gad what a bunch of New Age loonies.
And by the way, there are plenty of dogs that bite without growling, and they were never “trained” to do that.[/QUOTE]
Funny, I have four performance titled corgis who have been trained only with positive reinforcement and largely using a clicker. I don’t think my internationally renowned agility instructor is a New Age loony. And since I married a hunting dog breeder, I known many hunting dog trainers as well and the vast majority of them now use positive reinforcement, including treats and even gasp a clicker at times.
The trade game is a stepping stone in teaching a solid “Drop it” or “Leave it”
I’ve had Corgis all my life and my Dad had heelers. Nearly all of them were food guarders from day one. It’s like in their DNA or something. This may be unpopular, but I’ve always nipped this in the bud by feeding off a fork. I think it works because they don’t get fed unless I say so and I’m in control of HOW they eat. One growl and the food bowl gets picked up and if they want to eat, it comes off a fork, which if they get aggressive, results in a prick in the mouth. Usually a week or two of feeding this way and they just stop.
