Way post meal (1/2 to and hour) food bowl guarding - Page 1

My male shepherd, approximately 15 months old will guard his food bowl long after he has finished eating (1/2 hour to an hour). I have never taking away his food bowl mid-way through eating or messed with him while eating. Keep in mind that he will bite me if I attempt to take away the bowl, long after he has finished eating. Any ideas on how to fix this issue?

Taking away his food bowl, giving it back, messing with him while he's eating and handling his food is prescisely what you should have done from infancy. You wouldn't have this problem if you did. There are some definite dominance issues here, he does not see you as the pack leader. Does he have any dominance issues in other areas? Please share. Don't have time to write now, I'll be back.

Start feeding him out of your hand. Then he will find out whose food it is. There are other things you should do to establish your dominance. He needs to know you are the boss. Regards, Jack

I have tried feeding him out of my hand, for around, but it did not seem to help. He returned right back to his old behavior. He is "ok" the rest of the time, not overprotective over his ball or a sleeve. Only his empty food bowl. He does not charge to try to get our of the door first or anything like that. The other thing he likes to do that I would like to change is sleeping under the bed. He has a bad habit of sleeping under the bed and will bite you upon approach, any ideas there? I have pulled him out with a leash but it din't really help. What are some of the best ways to establish myself as the leader?

Until I figured it out, I would drag his butt from out under my bed and throw his tail out in the yard. I cannot phanthom the thought of dragging my tired body to bed, to lay it down and a "monster"(just teasing humor) with "teeth", coming out from under the bed, biting me as I "approached" the bed. Not going to happen! (shaking my head from left to right on that one)

Sleeping in the room needs to stop. I agree with handfeeding, but also going thru doors first, making him sit. You need more obedience on this dog. You should be able to call him to you from the food bowl and have him come to you. Put him in a down and then you go put the food bowl up. There are other ways to work with establishing pack order. Google NLIF program dogs, you'll find many links on it.

Feed in from your hand only and make him sleep in the crate in your laundry room or another room other than yours. It will only get worse if this behavior is not stopped immediately. No longer give him free roam of the house, only keep him on a leash in the room with you so you are in constant control, and after his obedience is desireable (which will take some time) then start allowing him a little more freedom. Good Luck! Kari

Hi Jack! Please do NOT be offended in any way, I have no reason whatsoever to attack you. But it seems to me the dog has already established himself as the alpha-male. He makes his dominance over you pretty clear: "Don't take MY bowl, growl!, Don't approach MY bed, growl!..." What Stephen suggests, would be the right thing to do with the young puppy, show him where his place is, but this calibre (of which I guess you are already afraid of, correct me if I'm wrong), needs another approach. He is a very smart dog, knows you don't dare challenge him, he defends his food (the bowl comes with the food), which is good, he defends his territory, which is fine... but YOU are the boss! If you have a club in your vicinity, go get a good trainer, he will help you solve this problem in NO time. Would take me several pages to give written advice, which most of the time is not adequate (one needs to look at the behaviour of the dog whilst acting). From what I hear, you will be messing things up even more and ruin your relationship with the dog if you start doing a lot of confusing stuff.

Thank you all for your advice. And no you are not hurting my manhood my telling my he is the Alpha, I do not disagree. The problem is he is very manipulative. I rained on his parade when he was a puppy for the bad behaviors I listed above. He grew to fear and avoid me and became very submissive, not roll over on his back submissive but ears down submissive. So I laid off, in hindsight a bad mistake and I probably should have just waited him out, for him to adjust rahter than feeling sad for him. He would avoid me all of the time, and it wore me down. So I gave in and started treating him "too well"

I know there are a lot of full time dog behaviorists out there, that do this for a living, and I ask you this question. Would snoring, talking in one's sleep, going to the bathroom or refrigerator at night trigger a bite from an animal like this? Not wanting to pile on Jack here, I have no reason, like Jantie also said, to do so. I have never heard of this and it peaks my interest. Could something trigger a dog bite, while you are peacefully sleeping? Stephen