Growling over food...good or bad? - Page 4

I don't think growling over food has much to do with dominance or whether you are the leader or not. More insecure dogs growl and resource guard in my opinion. And I think that when dogs are dealing with food and each other, it is certainly theirs when they have it in their mouth! Even subordinate dogs are going to defend the bone they have in their mouths from others and it makes no sense to them when we as humans wrench their little mouths open, yelling "drop it, you must respect me!"
Several people have given really good ideas about associating pleasant things, like more food, with hands near food bowls, things like that. And teaching the dog to back off the food, or drop it as well. Think about teaching, not correcting...
What is the resource guarder afraid of? That you will take the food. What are you teaching when you beat them up for being afraid that you will take the food and expressing that by growling? Not only do you take the food, but you also are dangerous and unpredictable around food! Now they have to bite instead of just growl.
Sometimes, if the resource guarding instinct is not really strong, you can deal with it with a couple swift hard corrections. Good luck though, when dealing with a strong genetic resource guarder. You may be creating a dog that while it backs off from you, may explode even worse at others in the family. I have had client after client come to me with a high drive puppy that at 8 months is going after them way worse than before because they alpha rolled it at 3 months.
Shade

I would think that growling over food is bad...Very bad.  That bowl is mine, and you eat out of it because I allow you to eat out of it.

I can take dishes away from either dog, or add food to them, or whatever, without so much as a stiffening up.  This is due to the fact that I have rules regarding feeding, including a sit/stay of varying length before the food is given.  I have my kids sometimes feed the two dogs, as well, because the dogs must also respect them.

I have not trained a dog for any type of bitework or sport, I should point out, and have only had dogs as housepets, but I will not have a dog that will bite someone that gets too close to their bowl.  It's asking for trouble.  From a young puppy, I'll stay close while they are eating, add yummy tidbits to the bowl while they eat, and sometimes, hand a goody to them, right under their nose, in their bowl.  Is there a reason for me to mess with the food?  No, not really.  But it's good for the dog to understand right from the beginning that if he's got something he shouldn't, or if there is a reason I need to pick up the dish, then I am going to take it, and there will be no lip about it.

I have never been the type, though, to take everything from a dog and never give him anything in return.  I found the best way to break inappropriate chewing was to take away the object that they can't chew and immediately give something they can.  Then they have no reason to guard it from me, though both of my dogs will sometimes guard their stuff from another dog, and sometimes each other.

Crys

I dont want my dogs to growl at me when eating, but i don`t think it`s a leadership thing or dominance, you can have the worlds sweatest submissive dog growling like a bear for his food.
I think it`s a trust issue, if the dog trust you around his food why would he growl at you, he knows youre not going to steal it or try to take it away.
I let my dogs eat in peace but if i have to i can take it, they trust me they know when i come close i`m not interested in there food.
With the youngest he growled when he was young, whenever i walked past im i gave him something even nicer, now when i pas my dogs they stop eating and look at me because they knwo when i come close it`s only for the good.
If you take the bowl away every time for practise the dog will become suspicies when you come, you might take his food.
If you look at youre own dogs you will see that even a lowrank dog will try to protect what is his.
It`s easy  to make them foodagressive.
So for me it is based on trust, and learning the dog he can trust you.

play with your dog when he eats... always stick you hands in there when they are eating.... good things will happen

 Quote: Our second dog (no longer have him) working line : at 4 months old he growled once over a bone, I just turned him around on his back with out hurting him and that was it, never did it again. He was my first workingline for schutzhund, I rehomed him as he didn't have enough drive...

You will start to see a pattern here. LOL What happens when you insist on touching the dogs food like a goofball and the dog lights you up seven ways to Sunday ? I have no food issues with my dogs and every single person I have had to deal with that had food issues every single one of them had some form of control issue where they just HAD to touch the dogs food, insisting that small children might be mauled. Not that they had any, but none the less, the child could be mauled somehow.

What do you do when that really nice working prospect just doesn't back down ? LOL All this advice is just going to help you fuck up a perfectly good working animal that just wants to eat its meal in peace. You may never own a dog like this, but I have worked with some dogs that were not all that and a bag of chips that because of silly shit like messing with the food, will absolutely bite the ever loving crap out of you over food.

Changer,
Very good post.

Jim

i have a couple that growl all the time they eat. i walk around them and ofcourse they never even act like they might.bite me. the grow is a warning to others.i like it.