[kathyb]

My vet took in a 17 week old pup who was not being taken care of. This pup is only 17 weeks old and is very food aggressive. Is fine with people and other dogs as long as no food is around. It does not matter how much you feed him, if the bowl is there and has food in it, even though he is too full to eat anymore, he will go after you if you move the bowl.

 

[nysirk]

When we rescued our pup Dexter, we had set feeding times and only allow his bowl to be on the ground for ten-15 mins then put it back up (although he ate every last little crumb before the 10 mins was up) This helped alot with predicting potty training for us.You may want to try that instead of leaving the bowl down all the time.

Also when it is feeding time you may want to try having a handful of tiny tid bits of "super treats" Cooked chicken, hot dogs, when your pup is eating you can start to bring your hand to the bowl with a tid bit of hot dog/chicken and hand feed over the bowl, when he stops growling i would treat, praise,pet him (sides only), be careful at first if he nips at you, i would yell Outch/yelp like a puppy ignore him for ten seconds then start over, keep repeating this over and over until he starts accepting your hand coming near the bowl as a good thing your pup with start to associate a human hand coming near the bowl as a great reward instead of a threat that his food might be taken away. After some time when he starts to trust a hand going near his bowl, during feeding time i would practice taking the bowl away with food in it and giving it right back. Good luck

 

[kathyb]

If you go by this pup with a bowl in your hand he will go at the kennel door trying to get at it...

 

[GSDOwner2008]

I would hand feed him, that way he knows you are providing the food, not the bowl. After doing this for awhile you can let him eat, and during the middle, pull him back an inch or two, pet him, and then let him eat. When I say hand feed him for awhile, I don't mean just acouple of days, I'm talking weeks until his behavior has improved.

 

[WiscTiger]

kathyb, I think the pup may have been starved so he thinks any meal maybe his last for a while. First I would just ignore the acting up until he gets use to having food come to him a couple times a day, maybe even feed smaller amounts 3 or 4 times a day. Then in a few weeks I would take the bowl, sit outside his kennel and toss in the food a piece or few pieces at a time, talking to him the whole time. Then in a few days I would ask for a sit inbetween a few pieces of food. But I think the first hurddle will be for him to understand that he is going to get fed every day.

Val

 

[kathyb]

Thank you for all the help, I also have a few calls into behavior trainers.

 

[Lauri & The Gang]

It's not really aggression. It's resource guarding. Could be food, toys, people - anything the dog doesn't weant anyone else to get near.

Here's a link to the post I put in the raw feeding section on dealing with resource guarding:

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68798&page=1#Post68798

The trick is to teach the dog that WONDERFUL things happen when people come near him while he's eating.