How would you punish your dog when mistaken? - Page 1

My three years old GSD BOB was eating yesterday when my 8 years old Jack Russel Terror namely Milo passed by at approximately a 1 meter distant.

The 2 of them are so friendly they play together with no problems whatsoever, even my GSD allows him occasionally to join him his meals.

To my surprise yesterday BOB just as lightning flew & jumped over Milo & attacked him viciously & stopped once I shouted at him to stop.

I duly physically inspected Millo, but thanks god he was OK & uninjured.

Later on I was very confused how should I punish BOB for what he has done? Do you think that shouting is enough.

I usually shout at him & he lies down looking at the ground feeling shameful for he has done, but this is enough for minor problems & not for  major ones as this of yesterday.

Could you please tell me what should i do in the future if this is repeated?

Please also tell me what do you do if you were in my shoes?

I would feed them seperately, dogs have little understanding of scale when it comes to other dogs and the small dog could easily be injured badly by a bite that would barely leave a mark on another GSD.  Punishment would be pointles in this case, it is natural that Bob would not wish to share his meal with another dog and defend it, if there is a repeat of this, it is your fault not the dogs, you should not put him in this situation.

Margaret N-J

Kaffirdog-However if you read my post properly Milo was just passing by with enough distant apart from BOB's food he did not even tried to share the food with him. I always feed them separately.

actualy, please disregard my advice above. I think you might not do this properly.

I would  feed them 100% seperately all the time, every time. Either both or one in a crate, in different room with doors closed, or one indoors and one outdoors, until their meals are completely gona and the bowls are picked up and out of sight. Then you will never have to worry about correcting the behavior. As long as the dog doesn't act aggressively toward you or your family.
In my personal opinion (and it IS only that, my own opinion)... A dog's meal time should be his mealtime, his own space. I do not allow my dogs to be human aggressive,  and I am not one to take their food away or "tease" them, just to show them it's "my" food and I decide when they eat. I know many people do this and have their reasons for it. I think in some cases by doing that you create more food related problems.
Any of my family members could approach my dogs while they are eating, but they do not like other dogs around them when they eat, so I give them that time. It also keeps them from feeling stressed and thinking they have to scarf down their food and risk choking because they are afraid another dog will eat it first.
Well I apologize for rambling and getting off topic as I usually do
Best of Luck
Stacy

Stacy- To the contrary, you were straight to the point.

Thanks

I hope it works for you. It can be disheartening when you can no longer trust your dog around other dogs at feeding time.  That is why I began feeding everyone seperately. No chance of accidents.
My male, who is also three years started becoming food aggressive towards other dogs about a year ago so I know how it feels. 
Adi's method does work. It may not work the first, second or even 10th time, depending on the dog and level of correction you administer. As he said, you really, really have to mean business....I used that method  back about 15 or so years ago when I had 2 rottweilers. Feeding time was always uncomfortable for them afterwards though. I could see they were very tense. So I gave up and decided to let them enjoy their favorite time of day with no interruptions. Made us all a lot happier :-)
Stacy

Try not to be disapointed all my shepherds act like that when they are eating its normal behavior for them to guard the food from other dogs much more so than with Labradors or certain other breeds and less so than in RottiesTo try and correct beavior that is normal to a dog is at best an excercise in futility at worst extremely damaging to the relationship you have with the dog , At any given time We have 20-30 dogs on the property and I can assure you all of them are fed in crates or their kennel, to try and have them eat together would just set them up for failure and adding corrections would really give them a reason to feel threatened when they were eating. I have a big male Smokey that I run with, at the park any little Shih Tzu or Lhaso can chase him bite his ankles and he will never even look at them, hes cheesy and gentle around anyone but god forbid some of his kennel mates go near his food he goes all ''pulp fiction'' on them. I use the ''lack of opportunity  to make mistakes'' method, do not set up situations where things like that will occur..and they won't!

I use to play with me GSD's ears and mouth all the time when she was eating when she was a puppy.I didn't want her to react as your dog did, ever. Never had a problem. Then one time when she was about 4 years old I reached down to grab her water dish and fill it as she was eating. She growled at me for the first time ever in her life. In about 1/2 second I had grabbed her by the scruff of the neck with both hands, lifted her off the ground, and shook the absolute hell out of her until she wriggled free and ran out the door (about 5 seconds or so). I DID NOT CHOKE HER!!!! A week or so after that our Chihuahua walked by her as your other dog did to yours. Our GSD growled, realized what she had done, and ran away as fast as she could. Never had a problem with her protecting her food again. The growling thing might be "normal" for some dogs but our dogs are house/family dogs first and formost. I don't need them growling or biting because one of the grandkids gets a little to close to them for "some" reason while they are eating.