Resource guarding against my 6 yr old.

[nitemares]

My Dumpty always had a problem resource guarding his food against my son, my son is 6 so i solved this problem temporarily by feeding him only when my son is either asleep or not home.

Just a little history, when i first got him at 12 wks he growled once at me while eating so I started, hand feeding and trading up and now this is not an issue with me at all. I don't take his food for fun, but i feed Whole prey raw and sometimes he gets a whole turkey and i have to take the rest away. anyways I personally don't have an issue.
My son is ADHD and can not sit still for hand feeding or gets too excited trading up which why i opted for feeding him when he's asleep. Now he's always been fine chewing on a raw bone around my son, but for the last couple of days he growls at my son for passing by while he's chewing on a bone. Is there anyway I can solve this issue? From what i read online, resource guarding is a forever issue is that true. do i just have to manage and live with it. (they are never unsupervised together, if i have to go to another room i either take the dog, or my son or crate the dog. I'd also like to solve this before my baby girl starts crawling (she's 4 months) or do i just take the safer road and crate when she's on the floor? he also let me take or maneuver his food when i'm holding her no issues if that makes any difference.

[nitemares]

Forgot to add that if he's in a crate chewing on a bone he gets even more "aggressive". Ie, no growl, louder bark, and snapping at the crate bars.

[llombardo]

The crating is the safest situation. I had one dog that growled over food when he came into the home, that was a 8-9 year old black lab. I took the bone away and told him no..it only took a couple times and he learned. He learned quicker when he got into a fight with my oldest girl(she is a feisty Samoyed X). That was the only fight and he never growled again. I have kids coming and going all the time I can't have a dog that does any kind of resource guarding. How old he is? I just seen your post about the crate...I think that you have some training to do, I just don't know how much Others will chime in.

[nitemares]

Thanks llombardo, I don't mind doing training, i just need to know how. like i mentioned my 6 yr old son is very hyper and excited and this is probably contributing to the issue. My son if they're playing together would take Dumpty's toys and give them back cause it's usually fetch. He never took his food away or anything like that, my son gives him treats all the time too, no problem.

[llombardo]

Originally Posted by nitemares

Thanks llombardo, I don't mind doing training, i just need to know how. like i mentioned my 6 yr old son is very hyper and excited and this is probably contributing to the issue. My son if they're playing together would take Dumpty's toys and give them back cause it's usually fetch. He never took his food away or anything like that, my son gives him treats all the time too, no problem.

It looks like our dogs are the same age Mine's birthday is 9/5/11(very rough estimate, but we go with it) I think that some people will recommend NILF. Since your son has a disability it will be something that should be started immediately. You don't want the dog to hurt him. Look up NILF(Nothing in Life For Free).

[nitemares]

We do NILIF, Our life is pretty much NILIF LOL
I started letting my son have very short training sessions with him and stop it as soon as he gets really hyper and excited a couple of weeks ago.

I just realised right now that Dumpty might be having another bout of Pano. He just started limping, could be the reason why he suddenly started growling at my son, it happened before right before his pano flared a couple of months ago.

that doesn't change the fact that i need help with his food RG issue.

[Lauri & The Gang]

Try this: Food Guarding

[nitemares]

Thanks Lauri
That's what I did, I just realised that "hand feeding" was misunderstood, but i actually used your method from your website

Hard to do with a jumpy 6 yr old boy, but maybe i should start doing it again and just let my son watch from far for a bit until he gets the concept and then maybe he could try it?

[kchapman]

If you follow Lauri's suggestions this should help tremendously (as long as done correctly)

Make sure you involve your kid in this training. (and ALL training) Your dog needs to learn to accept/respect your son, hyper or not. If he is always involved it will help. As I'm sure you know, make sure your son is being appropriate with your dog. Know the limits of both your dog and son.

The ideal situation would be to get your dog to take a step back when you approach with more food, once you have placed the high-value food, he is then allowed to return to eating. This is your dog showing respect, knowing that he does not own that food, you do. Remember NILIF! Always use this technique and it should take you far.

Good Luck!!

[nitemares]

Thanks Kchapman,
with me i do that, he has to Sit or Down depending on the order I give then he has to wait till i put the the food down then release him. Like I said, he never growls at me, it's just my son. I will try restart Lauri's method again with my son behind me until he's comfortable eating with my son in the same area, then i'll start letting my son throw him his other half of the food. would that be ok?
Adam has also started training him with treats, very short sessions everyday, they seem to get longer as my son started to realise that the fun stops when he gets edgy. fur kids and skin training is so similar LOL