Growling over food...good or bad? - Page 3

           Pirate said, " Their a dog, the sooner you understand that and treat them as such the sooner you will learn how to handle them."............Love this...very true.....



           Kyle said, " If you do it right the first time its usually over and a non issue. Now that they have punked you once and had success they wil go at it twice as hard because they had success once. "..............Like this too....IMO good advice.....


                     Deanna...: )

                  

Growling at me, never ok for any reason. There is no cause for a dog to growl and their own handler in a fair situation.

Why would you take your dog's food? Maybe no good reason at all. But my first real working quality GSD growled at my daughter for picking up a crayon she dropped near him while he chewed a bone. Suffice it to say that sh*t does not fly in my house. Do I take my dogs' food regularly? Nope. I do it on occasion to my young dogs, just so I know I CAN. I never take it from my adult dogs because I know it is, and will always be, a non-issue.

My youngest is a resource guarder. NEVER to myself or any person in our family. She does not tolerate the other dogs anywhere near her food nor does she tolerate a strange person attempting to take something that's hers. Do I discourage her in this? No, not really. I like that she's a little demon so I don't put her in positions where her attitude will get her (or me) in trouble. Keep in mind that I got her to be a sport dog, and I want her to think she's the hottest thing on four paws. The average pet owned by an average to soft owner should not get away with nearly so much.

Here are two aspects of the protectiveness of the food.
GENETICS
Dog's ability and propensity  to be aggressive around food and to be a voracious eater is an excellent trait ! It shows the dogs natural ability to defend its own which is a matter of survival. 
I always look for dogs who are aggressive and voracious eaters and defenders of their food.  If your are selecting a dog for breeding which is not too interested in a food you then are producing maybe PC dogs but dole non vigorous dogs. That is detrimental to the quality of the natural breed of GSD as a working dog. All old breeders I know of in Czech would always prefer pups which are voracious and aggressive eaters.  
 TRAINING
to train the dog not to be aggressive to me or other family members ( children) around food  is supper easy. Best is to start with the pup. When pup eats boring granulated dog food,  approach the dish and throw there some really good tidbit of roasted  meat. Let your kids do it under controlled conditions but teach the kids not to approach strange dog eating. If you do it often then the dog will let you come to the dish and even take it away.
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com

My dogs are shut in darkened rooms with their fresh kills.  The door can not be opened during feeding if I wish to continue to live.  I did sneak a peek one time.  What I saw horrified and chilled me to the bone to such a degree that I often never speak of it for fear of bringing the demons of bad luck upon me.   Dripping blood, barred teeth, and foaming mouths and a growl that sounds like it comes all the way from Hell below does strange things to a man's mind. 

...very interesting.

Prager so my understanding from what you said is that it is a good trait for my pup to be growling over food he enjoys? What are your thoughts in regards to grabbing him by the scruff and giving him a shake and a firm NO? I also like your approach towards the issue (placing exciting food in the bowl while he eats boring food).

It is important, very important, that I get the balance right as I do not want to break this dog!

Thanks once again everybody for the advice you have given me.

Sting you really made me laugh. You should be writing scary movies.

P.S

Here is the Puppy in question and pedigree! from a previous post.

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/forum/72817.html?pagen=1#72848

The growling beast!! lol Ears are up now...

I have 2 different friends whose small children suffered facial bites from family pets. One a small terrier and the other a lab. Both required plastic surgery. The child bitten by the lab had several surgeries over the years and has permanent scarring as an adult.

This was always a concern for me. I always did pretty much as Hans described.and started the pups at the earliest age. Hand in the bowl, stirring food around, picking up pieces and hand feeding.

A dog that would growl at me would never be allowed around my kids or now grand kids. There are just too many things that children can do and not understand possible consequences.

My best shepherd ever growled at me over chicken bones at three months of age.  We established pack order early, and he was the best dog ever.  Never growled at my children over bones or anything else.  He had the most courage of any dog I've ever had or seen.

Grabbing the pup by the scarf is OK that is virtually what dominant dog does to sub dominant dog. You are just mimicking it. The important thing is to do it with restrain and only as long until the dog acknowledges that he submits. You must use only necessary strength You can ad growling no to it too. I would and do use both . Positive as described in above post and negative as described here. . Keep in mind that if you yell at the pup while shaking it  NO!!!! You MF!!! ?>@#$!!!()**&^%$??!! That that is what the perp is going to likely yell when your pup grows into let say police dog. Is he then going to submit? Be careful what you ask for. I use foreign commands and corrections in foreign language.
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com

P.S. sting very funny!!!!

I started with my dogs when they were young/ puppies very much the same as Hans has described.  Dropping food into the bowl as they are eating and associating my hands near their food bowl and the occassional strokes as something pleasant.

Another thing I do with my dogs/ puppies is make them lie down on a mat/ small rug and give them a chew/ rawhide.  If they pick up and move elsewhere I'll say "ahh" and place the chew back on the designated area.  This way I feel I am teaching them to follow certain rules and they get their treats back..  Do that consistently afew times, they will soon get the idea and run to their mats when they see me holding a chew :)

Now I have no problems saying "no" and taking anything out from their mouth if they pick up any disgarded bones/ food in the public places.  (although I still have the issues with "outing"  the ball! lol)