puppy growls over bones

[Tiggeroo]

We have a four month old Corgi puppy. He's a sweetheart and is doing great on his obedience. But recently I bought he spent a week at my sisters with her three crazy dogs. He came back getting a bit aggressive over treats. He snapped at another dog in a pet store who went near his treat. I bought him some raw beef bones. He growled when you went near him with it. We took it off of him. Now we give it to him, if he growls we take it from him. In a few minutes we give it back. We do this several times until he lets us take it freely and walk all around him. He is good for awhile and then he growls about it again. Any tips?

 

[LuvOrlando]

Congratulations with your new Corgie, they are just too cute. I don't know if it will work for you but i can tell you what I did. I trained 2 dogs and since I knew I wanted certain manners I paid very close attention to food training. For really hard to learn lessons my secret weapon was cooked hot dogs cut up into snacks and deli ham as a treat.

The first thing I did was teach my animals 'No', and that a loud 'gasp' meant the same thing. From the very beginning I would lay beside them when they ate their food and habitually pull it away, pretending to eat it myself, then pass it back with praise. Same went for treats & toys. I did this a lot. I also made it a point to sit on the floor and eat my own food down there. First it was easily managed stuff like a sandwich and the dog was told to 'sit' while i ate, and given his own treats as he sat with me. When i was done I would make sure to leave a little nibble of bread or something on the floor and give the command, "OK now" when it was ok for them to have what they found. Over time the foods I ate on the floor became less easy to manage but the dog knew not to touch. Eventually i reached a point where i could walk out of the room with the stuff on the floor and when I came back the dogs would still be just sitting there staring at it, but not touching. Both of my dogs were, and the one I have now still is, so well behaved that my kids and their friends can lay out a pizza and chips on the floor in the basement during a movie and nothing will get touched. Don't get me wrong, the dog is there and staring but he knows it's not for him & will wait patiently for the "OK now" command.

For me this was important because when I trained the dogs we knew kids would eventually come and I didn't want dogs that would nip kids or pull stuff out of their hands. My dogs never did this but they've been to homes where dogs do and it's terrible. My in-laws Golden would habitually pull whatever my kids were holding right out of their hands and eat it, they've been nipped too and its terrible. Her dogs have even grabbed stuff off the counters and table. To me the work up front is so much better than trying to fix trouble later on.

 

[Royalbear]

Take him away from the bone. Our trainer taught us to handle the bone as if were ours before giving it to him. Pretend to eat it--get your smells on it. Then, if he growls when you go to get the bone, give him a leash correction and walk him away from the bone. Handle the bone again so that he knows it is yours and you are just letting him use it. Consistency is the key. Every time you give him a bone, leash correct him if he growls when you are near.

Good luck.

 

[kirbydog48]

This is called resource guarding and if left unchecked, can turn into a big problem. I think you are on the right track. I would really try to desensitize him as often as possible. I'd put my hands into his food bowl while he's eating and if he doesn't growl, give him a treat (needs to know that hands near his stuff is a positive thing). I think at this age just keep doing it and reinforce when he doesn't growl. Be consistent.

 

[Hannathy]

Yeah get him over that real quick!!! do you interrupt his food? From Day 1 with mine I would interfere with her food. You know give her the bowl but put my hand into it and take a piece or just interrupt her eating. She also doesn't eat until she has been told it is OK.

It is my food and I let her have some not the other way around.


If you start early you can be in charge. Our cat has the dog trained to not eat his food until he is done and walks away. It is so funny that the dog-70 lbs- lays there staring longingly at the cat while he eats his canned food but won't go near until the cat walks away. And sometimes she doesn't even get any if the cat eats it all. ( I think he does this on purpose, to be catty)
Sometimes she will lay there crying because the cat is eating but doesn't try to eat or push the cat out of the way and will look at us and whine as if to say make him move. And the best part is the cat did this himself! He trained the puppy unmercifully.

 

[Scott'sAuntJill]

Please do not correct your puppy for growling. You do want to help him understand that he has to give up even treasures to you when asked, but a growl is actually a good thing. It lets us non-dog talkers know the dog is uncomfortable. Taking away the warning can lead to much worse.

Until you and your puppy are more comfortable with someone being near him when he has treats or food, I would suggest not actually putting your hands in the food bowl. If you can, hand feed him everything - meals included. If that won't work with your schedule and lifestyle, as you walk past when he is eating just casually drop something extra-yummy in the bowl and keep moving. Work up to standing near him when he's eating and drop some goodies in the bowl. If you want him to give you a treasured toy or treat (like that meaty bone), trade him for it. He is resource guarding (the growl) because he's worried that he's going to lose something good. Trade him for it with something else he enjoys.

The suggestions to have him "work" to get his meal or treat are also good ones. It reinforces that you are the source of good and fun things and that you control access to them. I foster for a German Shepherd rescue and have had to deal with resource guarding that has been left unchecked and allowed to escalate. It can be resolved even with an adult dog, but it would be sooo much easier (and safer) if someone had dealt with it correctly during puppyhood. Congratulations on your new puppy - I love Corgis. Great, smart, funny, fun dogs!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Take him away from the bone. Our trainer taught us to handle the bone as if were ours before giving it to him. Pretend to eat it--get your smells on it. Then, if he growls when you go to get the bone, give him a leash correction and walk him away from the bone. Handle the bone again so that he knows it is yours and you are just letting him use it. Consistency is the key. Every time you give him a bone, leash correct him if he growls when you are near.

Good luck.

Yep.

I use "body blocking" and I inch the dog away from the "thing". It forces the dog to give it up to YOU.

I stand next to the bone, bowl, toy, stick, etc... and inch my way over it until the dog "gives it up". If the dog challenges me then I give a harsher correction.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Hmm, a variety of interesting answers.

Bones are a "high ticket" item that many, if not most, dogs are willing to fight for or over. Even "good" dogs.

If it were my dog and he was in training, I'd lose the bones for now. I'd also keep him away from unruly dogs he'll learn bad habits from. Better to let him learn good habits from good, well behaved dogs.

Later on, if and as my dog was successful in his training, I'd gradually introduce bones (if I wanted to go down that path, which honestly, I don't) but I'd set him up under circumstances which will invite success, not failure. In other words, if you're going to give him a bone, let him have his bone and let him enjoy it - with no other people, pets or children around, etc. It's inviting problems to give him bones under any other circumstances.

I have seen a very bad circumstance occur involving a dog, a bone, and a child (none of whom were mine, but good friends). The child was bitten, required surgery, and the dog was euthanized. The sad part was that all of it could have been avoided if the circumstances were different.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Hmm, a variety of interesting answers.

Bones are a "high ticket" item that many, if not most, dogs are willing to fight for or over. Even "good" dogs.

If it were my dog and he was in training, I'd lose the bones for now. I'd also keep him away from unruly dogs he'll learn bad habits from. Better to let him learn good habits from good, well behaved dogs.

Later on, if and as my dog was successful in his training, I'd gradually introduce bones (if I wanted to go down that path, which honestly, I don't) but I'd set him up under circumstances which will invite success, not failure. In other words, if you're going to give him a bone, let him have his bone and let him enjoy it - with no other people, pets or children around, etc. It's inviting problems to give him bones under any other circumstances.

I have seen a very bad circumstance occur involving a dog, a bone, and a child (none of whom were mine, but good friends). The child was bitten, required surgery, and the dog was euthanized. The sad part was that all of it could have been avoided if the circumstances were different.

Good point. A bone is something I would not train with either.

I have to use the technique on my border collie occasionally. She can get possessive sometimes over her food and that is because the other dog is a pig and will hawk her. She will push her bowl and hide it. We have found her bowl full of food under couches, dog beds, electrical cords, etc.

 

[luvwinnie]

I'm sorry I didn't have time to read all the replies, but please be sure to NEVER PUNISH for growling...what could happen is you end up with a dog who doesn't growl...but just bites because now he's learned not to "warn". Some great videos/books I would suggest are by Jean Donaldson (especially Culture Clash) and Ian Dunbar.

 

[Hannathy]

Hmm, a variety of interesting answers.

Bones are a "high ticket" item that many, if not most, dogs are willing to fight for or over. Even "good" dogs.

If it were my dog and he was in training, I'd lose the bones for now. I'd also keep him away from unruly dogs he'll learn bad habits from. Better to let him learn good habits from good, well behaved dogs.

Later on, if and as my dog was successful in his training, I'd gradually introduce bones (if I wanted to go down that path, which honestly, I don't) but I'd set him up under circumstances which will invite success, not failure. In other words, if you're going to give him a bone, let him have his bone and let him enjoy it - with no other people, pets or children around, etc. It's inviting problems to give him bones under any other circumstances.

I have seen a very bad circumstance occur involving a dog, a bone, and a child (none of whom were mine, but good friends). The child was bitten, required surgery, and the dog was euthanized. The sad part was that all of it could have been avoided if the circumstances were different.

See I disagree. I don't care what the dog has as pack leader it is mine and he does not get to growl or keep it from me. I would not put up with a dog who growls over food. Dogs can't differentiate, well in this case it is OK but in others it isn't. They think black and white and food aggression is not a gray area for me. Like I said Our cat is ahead of the dog in the pack and if the cat wants to eat at the dogs food he does and the dog lets him and waits.

 

[susan514]

My DD had a Doberman who was the most loveable and biggest wuss there ever was. The only time this dog would growl was when he got a rawhide bone. She talked to the Vet and he suggested that there was something in the bone causing this behavior. She stopped giving him the bones and no more growling. She could take anything away from him and he never reacted like he did with that bone.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

See I disagree. I don't care what the dog has as pack leader it is mine and he does not get to growl or keep it from me. I would not put up with a dog who growls over food. Dogs can't differentiate, well in this case it is OK but in others it isn't. They think black and white and food aggression is not a gray area for me. Like I said Our cat is ahead of the dog in the pack and if the cat wants to eat at the dogs food he does and the dog lets him and waits.

I might agree with you with a dog, but we are talking about a four month old puppy - who does not have the conditioning or prowess of a full grown, well trained dog. That takes time.

Anyone can bully a dog into doing what you want it to do.

The bigger challenge is to get a dog to change its thinking so it does what you want it to do - willingly.

Big difference. And huge challenge. Because a dog that just does what you want it to do will do what he wants to do the minute your back is turned. And that could be a problem for an unsuspecting child visiting your home some day.

 

[Dax]

See I disagree. I don't care what the dog has as pack leader it is mine and he does not get to growl or keep it from me. I would not put up with a dog who growls over food. Dogs can't differentiate, well in this case it is OK but in others it isn't. They think black and white and food aggression is not a gray area for me. Like I said Our cat is ahead of the dog in the pack and if the cat wants to eat at the dogs food he does and the dog lets him and waits.

This is how it is in my house...my 4 cats are above all 4 dogs...My poor dog at the bottom of the pack really gets all the punishment from the cats..including humping..

 

[frostywolf]

Please, please do not just take the advice of random people over the internet! Any aggression issue should be addressed and tailored to your specific circumstance by a professional trainer/behaviorist. I strongly recommend seeking the services of an experienced trainer that does not use force/aversive to work on this.

Some of the advice in this thread has been good, but much of it, especially done by an inexperienced trainer can cause a worsening of the behavior.

For instance, as others have mentioned, punishing or correcting a warning growl can result in a dog that bites without warning, which is incredibly dangerous. I also would not just take the bone away whenever the dog growls. Growls and warnings are a part of a dog's natural communication system. One outcome (that no one wants to see happen) of this is that the dog learns that growling is not sufficient to leave him and his bone alone, so he may up the ante and air snap, or worse, full on bite.

Every dog is different, and there is no one right solution to something like this. So while the above methods may work for some dogs, with other dogs you will regret it. A good trainer will start on methods that build a positive association between people being near bones/food etc. They will start slow, not with the items the dog guards to reinforce appropriate behavior.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My DD had a Doberman who was the most loveable and biggest wuss there ever was. The only time this dog would growl was when he got a rawhide bone. She talked to the Vet and he suggested that there was something in the bone causing this behavior. She stopped giving him the bones and no more growling. She could take anything away from him and he never reacted like he did with that bone.

Very, very true.

And it's not that there's something in the bone. It's just that the bone itself is an extremely high value item to a dog.

At one time we gave our dogs bones but for a lot of reasons we stopped. For one thing, bones are nasty. They smell and collect germs.

But also, the first time we brought a puppy home that we had children in the house our vet, as part of his teaching with us, insisted on no bones because a) splinters can come off and lodge in the digestive track causing bleeding and other problems and b) they can cause aggression issues and we were already going to have our hands full as it was. He was right. And I never knew how right until our friends had the problem that they did.

We in fact did have some food possession/growling issues over the food bowl very early on that we had to work with. It's not uncommon with kids, dogs and other pets in the home, etc. But we worked it out succesfully using common sense involving both the kids and the dog. I only heard that growl once - ever.

Good training takes time and repetition, good experiences, trust on both sides, and success. Then it becomes the norm.

My dog is very happy with treats other than bones.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Please, please do not just take the advice of random people over the internet! Any aggression issue should be addressed and tailored to your specific circumstance by a professional trainer/behaviorist. I strongly recommend seeking the services of an experienced trainer that does not use force/aversive to work on this.

Some of the advice in this thread has been good, but much of it, especially done by an inexperienced trainer can cause a worsening of the behavior.

For instance, as others have mentioned, punishing or correcting a warning growl can result in a dog that bites without warning, which is incredibly dangerous. I also would not just take the bone away whenever the dog growls. Growls and warnings are a part of a dog's natural communication system. One outcome (that no one wants to see happen) of this is that the dog learns that growling is not sufficient to leave him and his bone alone, so he may up the ante and air snap, or worse, full on bite.

Every dog is different, and there is no one right solution to something like this. So while the above methods may work for some dogs, with other dogs you will regret it. A good trainer will start on methods that build a positive association between people being near bones/food etc. They will start slow, not with the items the dog guards to reinforce appropriate behavior.

While I agree with what you are saying, sometimes it's necessary to put the good information out there to combat the bad information.

While I do enjoy Cesar Millan, I think he's given people the sense that training is easy. It is easy for people like him who have a lifetime of dog experience, and not only experience but a special finesse with dogs. It's almost instinctual for him. Not everyone has that. Training, for most people, takes a lot of time and effort, and there's not always an easy fix. Further, I'd always say that starting things off on the right foot is a lot better than trying to fix things when they go wrong. Why it's best to do lots of homework before bringing a dog home. I'm a bigger fan of Brian Kilcommons, btw. He was more realistic about training and common sense in training, IMO.