FOOD AGRESSION AND A 5 MONTH OLD GSD - Page 1

Hello All ...  5 month old Male GSD showing food agression , Trainers ..... any suggestions ???? 

i have a 4 month old that's doing the same thing........what to do, what to do?

agression to its litter mates... not to humans.

What do you mean "what to do, what to do" Sitasmom?

CORRECT THEM for unwanted behavior. You say it's toward littermates....I thought that was normal. It never occurred to me that aggression toward littermates over food was worth a second thought. Are you saying you have puppies who aren't food aggressive to their littermates??   

To the OP: Try CORRECTING him. How long has this been going on? Is it new (testing you) or have you just never stopped him his whole life thus far? If the latter is the case, you have some work to do;-)

send them to me. i love dogs that show aggression over their food. i have a policia bitch that growls all the time she is eating and she is knocking the bottom out of her food bowl at the same time.

Wade if you don't want them I'll take them. I like that from day one.
Hank

I swear, these threads are so enlightening. I seriously thought that was NORMAL. I have never had a litter that wasn't highly food aggressive. They sound like little Tasmanian Devils when they eat, mauling each other the whole time. I always thought it was adorable. Then, they come in the house when they're older, try to attack me over their food, get the little "chat" about how that's not such a great plan, and we move on and live happily ever after. 

I believe it different in "cute" little 6,7.8 week old puppies and a 5 month old!
I have pups I held back from my last litter and they are highly food aggressive and YOU CAN NOT beet them off each other !!
So it also depends on the the "dog"/"puppy" and the experience with food aggression.(For the human experiencing it/dealing with it)

Why would you beat them off of each other? 

I never intervene with bitches w/pups or with pups and their littermates. 

When they are in "my world" in my house, I teach them what is acceptable and what is not.

I've 6 dogs that are fed @ the same time... 4 GSD's... Two eat in their crates the others have specific areas that they go to in the LR and kitchen to get their dish. Each does a Sit, WAIT til I place the dish on the floor and surrender it to them, and I can retrieve any dish or object from any of my dogs.... now how they'd feel about someone else, or a dog that's not part of the family being present I can't promise.  All my dogs eat like there's no tomorrow... I crack up at the Animal planet shelter stories who proclaim "This Dawg ain't eaten in days, cause that's the only reason one would chow down like that!!"...  well they've never been around my dogs  cause every meal is gone in like 3 minutes. Even youngsters who eat 3-4 times a day eat quickly and polish their bowls.  I had one rescue once who poked... but when I collared him and let the Alpha dog in my household finish his dish a couple of times he learned to eat when it was given.

Eating Agressively and Food agression are two different things completely.  Personally I want meal times to be peaceful, each dog in it's place and eating from their own dish... Now throw a chunk of meat into the yard when several are outside together playing and I suspect that things would take an  ugly turn.

OK to answer the beat them off of each other is because YOU could not separate them.
And yes in my life MY RULES goes HERE! , but and yes there are exceptions to the rules. ALL my dogs I can just snap my fingers at if I even see food aggression and "it" will stop, but a couple of 5 month old "very food aggressive" puppies IS a different story !
And it depends on a persons personal experience. As with what they can and can not take/accommodate and the drive of the dogs in question.
If someone had 1 puppy with "food aggression" is MUCH different then 4 puppy's with "food aggression"
And you also must take in to consideration of "the person" handling the dogs/puppies in question.
Some people do not have the skills/personality to deal with dog/puppies with such aggression and should NOT be treat as if they are inadequate because they were not prepared for the Task.
JMHO