Food Aggression Prevention. - Page 5

Okay. I hope I answer everything that was directed at me:

Beetree, Bosco has eaten alone. I have fed him in his crate unbothered, and I have fed him outside of the crate unbothered for the first three weeks of my having him, but when I go to leave him alone, he eats faster. He was eating quickly from day 1 whenever I would move, to or away from the bowl, so for the past two weeks, I was trying to work with him to prevent this from developing into aggression.

Joanro, Bosco is only four months old. He's not an adult.

Hundmutter, I do have two six year old little brothers, but their time with Bosco is minimal and supervised. They live with my mother a few miles away.

I didn't make this post because Bosco has food aggression. I wanted to know how I can prevent him from getting food aggression. My older German shepherd I got when she was younger and worked with her to prevent food aggression from the day I got her. I can now go to her food bowl and play in it if I want, and I can reach in her mouth to take out things she shouldn't be eating.

Bosco is submissive towards me. He sees me as the leader, and I can tell by his body language that this is the case. I just saw this as something that could potentially lead to a problem as he gets older where he could become aggressive around food, and I don't want this to happen.

I have no problems with Bosco. He's a wonderful addition to my household. I just wanted to nip this in the bud before it became an issue.

He is very food driven, though, and already eats quickly. So bloat is another concern I am having when it comes to this. I bought a food bowl over the weekend that helps slow down quick eaters.

'Joanro, Bosco is only four months old. He's not an adult.'

I went through all your posts and didn't see reference to his age. Therefore, I figured he must be at least a senior pup, or older for you to be concerned with food aggression. A twelve week old puppy is easy to mold his behavior. I still say that you can be 'creating' the problem by aggravating him while he eats.
Also, I have not been able find any reference to what breed bosco is. That can have some importance to the discussion.

Bolting food down can cause choking if one is feeding chicken quarters and the like. Feeding kibble with water over, not a problem. I have never had a dog bloat and all my dogs wolf down their food...its a 'normal' way for dogs to consume their food.
Kibble with grain'( corn,etc) will cause bloat. It's ingredients which cause bloat.

There's several ways to look at this:

1. See it as a power struggle and reassert your dominance. (Hans)

2. Place more structure and rules around food in order to regain control when food is present. Correct dog when he is aggressive.

3. Place more structure and rules around food in order to regain control when food is present. NILIF, impulse control exercises involving food.

4. See it as a trust issue and seek to regain trust with your dog through trading games.

5. Don't take food and eventually the dog will work out the lack of threat itself (Beetree and Q Man)

Kitkat:My point was o ly that having multiple dogs eating at the same time should not cause gulping or issues about food.
I may be wrong, but i really think dogs that have that problem, have been shorted on food somewhere along the line.​

Hans: There may be  environmental reason as you say, but this is most likely genetically based  propensity which may be modified with proper  training and socialization.  What is proper is the question here. 

Prager Hans 

Hundmutter: Hans: "Using only half the principles and villifying the other half is irresponsible ..." Me: Yes Hans that was exactly what you started out doing ^^^.

Absolutely not!!! I am not vilifying any of the 4 pillars of the training. If that is what you got out of my post then I have failed. What I am vilifying is omitting negative and do only positive . That is the crux of the problem which leads to  incorrect  relationship between handler and the dog and that then leads to development of often serious  behavioral problems.   I absolutely and adamantly claim that all 4 pillars must be used as necessary and when necessary which is not what positive  only PC advocates who call them self dog trainers  are doing.  That is what I am against one-sided training using only negative  punishment and positive reinforcement where they vilify negative reinforcement and positive punishment where I use and recommend to use  all 4.  But it is a free country ...... So there you go. 

Prager Hans 

Hundmutter:As for me proving 'your' point with the question about early people and dogs/wolves, actually it's quite the opposite. Of course the early hominids did not have words for what they did - or not as we know them today - but there is no doubt in my mind that the FIRST "tools out of the box" - indeed the ONLY ones that would have worked for those first 'taming' encounters - were 'positive' ones, i.e. "softly, softly catchee monkey canine." What negative reinforcement would solve running off & not returning ?

 

Hans: You need to actually read what I have said.   it is tedious to  repeat things because people do not read and go negative before they actually read what I have said. 

Why is it imperative to control a dog's method of getting his rightful food into his stomach ? Micromanagement is bs mindbending headgames.

Hundmutter: You jumped on the examples being used with the OP's dog, and said she ought to have been establishing leadership. I agreed with you about the need for leadership to be established but pointed out that the methods the OP had CHOSEN to go with (even though not working out for her) [and which you were immediately slagging off, as you always do], were what needed resolving, meaning in the short term, and she would probably be comfortable with. All else was extraneous until we got that bit sorted.

 I have jumped on your examples ? Let me explain to you something .  When I am responding to OP's questions,  I do not read other people's opinions ( that includes yours)  because I do not want to be diverted from what I want to say. Thus I have  had no clue what you were saying and I was just giving my opinion which had nothing to do with yours.   Thus I just presented my recommendation(JMO) as the OP asked for advice .  Adding food to bowl is legitimate method but if you would actually read what I  was saying, then you would know that I have said that +(positive)  method only  will solve the problem itself but it will not resolve the underlaying issue and that may lead  to additional often dangerous problems which then trainers exploit by more and more advices which they get handsomely paid for. ( I am not talking about you now) .   The correct way IMO(!!!) is to solve the cause of the problem and I have describet how I would do that. OP can then do what ever she wants. I do not care. 

 

 I had to  actually go back to OP and read it again and I have read  something about "touching them( the dogs)  while they ate and fiddling my fingers in their bowl"  which is probably the most dangerous thing anyone can do with a  unfamiliar  dog  which  is not bonded with a handler - as it was then documented by the op by saying :"but there's not much improvement with this situation with Bosco. He nipped at me yesterday when I tried to touch him as he ate."

 That is what I was responding to! 

In any case there  is nothing  which "needed resolving".  All we can do is to be elated that the OP did not lose her face. Even adding food to a dish  may be dangerous with some dogs!!!!!!!! Now if you want to hear :"slagging off"  since you really did not hear any yet   I'll give example of it now. To do such think as sticking  hands into  virtually strange dog GSD( rescue?) or any dog is hazardous to your health and if the dog trainer does not scream NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! especially after the  person was already on receiving end of a dog's warning bite is totally irresponsible and  negligent and even criminal if such trainer is in any position of expert authority. 

 

Prager Hans 

  

Joanro:"Why is it imperative to control a dog's method of getting his rightful food into his stomach ? Micromanagement is bs mindbending headgames."

 I agree with you there. But the the point I would like to make is that dog growling or even biting a handler/owner around is food,  is  a reflection of their relationship. I personally - same as you I do not handle dog's food after I present it to the dog but I can if I want to or need to.   For example if the dog grabs something bad I do not want him to eat I should be able to take it away from such dog. Now if the dog like OP example dog will bite me around it's food then I most likely may not be able to take anything bad he wants to eat out of his mouth.  And that is just one little example of how this reflects on relationship of the handler/owner  with his  dog. 

 Prager Hans