Thanks for all the advise from all posters.

I did say that i wasent sure it was the best idea to take it off her, but then again im not so sure on the theory of when the dog has something i shouldnt take it off them. I do not expect me or my son to feel threatend by my dog just because she is eating. I certainly dont feel the need to scream and shout when someone approaches me while im eating a cream cake! She was obviously very much on edge and it probably didnt help the situation that she had it took off her. As i said my son was sitting on the settee playing on his ds, the dog went on the settee after he was there, he went to stroke her, not to take it off her, and as she has never had a problem with this before when eating (rawhides) im sure he saw no problem. She has been known on many occasions to prop her bones up on our laps! This was totally out of character!

As i said i did swap her with a choc drop and she let me take the pigs ear and then i gave it back. I didnt have anything of higher value than the pigs ear so it didnt work that well. I have never had this problem, she has always been fine when eating, when she ate her dinner tonight i made a point of going near her, i also moved the bowl and she didnt flinch. I think i will have to reinforce with her that we are no threat to her food by using the ideas suggested, making sure i pop goodies in her dinner when she is eating, and swapping treats to help her be at ease. Not sure whether to give the pigs ears a miss for a while or get some so as to work on the problem, as it seems to only be them she has the issue with.

Hi

We are also havng this issue at the moment with my youngest son (whos 3) and my cocker spaniel (15weeks)

At dinner times im standing with my son letting him drop treats into Brackens bowl. Then we move onto placing it directly pas his face and into his bowl. We have only been doing it for a few days but so far i can see definate improvement.

I think its just a confidence thing....to make sure he knows hes a giver and not a taker. Once they learn to trust that this is the case they should be fine.

Hope it all works out ok

Apparently I read that a well-mannered dog will never take anything away from another dog if it is in that dog's mouth or between its front paws. If you just take something away from your dog like that it thinks you have incredibly bad manners and feels justified to growl to reprimand you.

I always do the swapsy thing where I swap something higher value for what my dogs ahve and never had them growl at me or be possessive.

I do wonder if it was the fact that your dog was elevated on the sette that made a difference that she growled? Felt more confident being higher up? I am only thinking this because Parker was growling at Cherry once when he was on the settee and she was on the floor and he had a treat. Never heard him do this before as he submits to her being the bossy one! (as well as me of course!).

I think that as an owner of a dog i should be able to take something out of my dogs mouth, what if she got hold of something like a chicken bone and i needed to get it out of her mouth??

The initial growling and barking came when my son attempted to touch her, then when i walked towards her she growled and barked at me. At no point did either me or my son try and take it off her. This is why i want to nip it in the bud, it was totally out of character.

I am going to do more of the swaping things from now on. The point you make on the settee is an intresting one as when she was in her basket after this happend, she did seem to be a lot less possesive. I did actually originally ive her the treat in her bed but she took it up onto the settee where my son sat

Getting her to give up something that might hurt her that you didn't give her is a whole different ball game to giving & then taking food or treats from a dog & it is this that should be the swap for a higher value treat.

The dog on the settee has nothing to do with her"assuming"elevation in the"pack". We are not part of the dog's"Pack" & they do not see themselves better/higher than humans. This is a CM/JAn Fennell/domination theory & based on their interpretation of flawed studies of captive born & bred wolves

Anyone who still thinks that dogs need"to know who is boss"is well out of step with reality

In a dog(& not a wolf pack) it is very rare that all the members will be the offspring of the oldest members & so it does not function like a wolf or wild dog pack. My dogs are aware that I am in control of everything good(food, toys, treats etc)but they do not think of me as the pack leader. They have their own hierachy of which I am not part.

You need to show your dog that you are the provider & not the taker & as such are no threat to anything that have that has been supplied by you. Teaching your dog to drop/leave etc things that she should not have is an obedience(with a small o)issue & can be trained for by teaching the leave &/or drop by motivation & reward.

Approaching a dog that has something you have given it is not the same as someone coming near you if you have a cream bun-it's more like you being given a high value gift & then having it forcibly snatched from you-I'm sure you would not simply sit there & say or do nothing at all

I would not give a high value treat & allow the dog to be stroked, hold the treat whilst she chews it & then do a swap or give up for a reward to remove the treat, but simply to take the treat away or remove food is really, as others have written)very bad manners in the dog pack !

Absolute rubbish and a sure way to get bitten---stupid especially if there is a child in the house.

She needs to learn to trust you and either put her somewhere she feels safe with special things or if you really feel you have to get it off her the do the swap.

For general information growling or snapping over treats etc in order to keep them has nothing to do with where you stand in the heirachy and everything to do with trying to hang on to things!

rune

last night all 5 of ours had a chew, all in the living room(so everyone close quarters), all growling at each other, perfectly normal!

one thing i DO do with my pups, is to hold the item whilst they chew it, (so at first they dont actually "get" it) i hold it & makes it easier for them to chew.
al my dos want to sit next to me with their chews cos they think i will protect them from the others!

Oh God, please don't listen to this post.

Listen to this one instead.

My husband did the same thing your relative did RubyBeagle. He ended up being bitten hard on the leg and us having to spend a year and a half training him to trust us around his food. He's not perfect, but it's getting better.

All we did was show him that when we approach him and his high value food, we're never going to take it from him, we're going to give him something else as well. We started by throwing things into his dinner bowl and walking off. Now we can hand feed him while he eats, but he still snatches and is quite frantic about it, so we usually just leave him alone.

Swapping is absolutely fine imo, as long as you are careful and it is something of greater value.

It sounds to me that you are taking an eminently sensible approach. Ruby needs to be able to be relaxed about you taking things from her and obviously you are going to have to help her get to that point and you've been given some excellent advice on this thread.

As my kids were only 6 & 4 when I got Pepper I felt it was very important that she wasn't going to be possessive over food. Obviously this went in tandem with training the kids how to behave around a dog.

It seems to me most of the posters who advise leaving dogs alone have an adult only environment that is much easier to control.

J.

Rome isn't built in a day---it takes time to teach a dog that it can trust you, then you have to reinstate trust with other people---kids included.

In Ruby's case the trust has been broken and unless and until it is repaired it is far better to put her somewhere safe with things she might feel able to guard.

In fact an adult coming into the situation has probably made her feel that she can certainly challenge the child again when it doesn't have adult backing.

To begin with it is easier and more user friendly to tell the child to leave the dog alone when it is eating!

Basic rule in my house when Tassle was small and had friends round, if the friends couldn't do it (and you can always tell!), then the dogs went away.

rune