Got bitten - food issues again (updated at post 48)

Is it neccessary to get your dogs to let you near their food? Tilly growls like mad & gobbles up her food too fast if you try to touch.
I have tried putting the food in my hand & my hand with food in the bowl - and this is fine but yesterday I stroked her with the other hand and she bit me.
I read that you should train them to let you near their food. Why?

Well generally I would expect to leave a dog to eat in peace BUT for various reasons it is sensible that your dog accepts being touched or having food removed; for example - do you have children, or plan to have children or do you have friends who have children? If so, although you would tell the children not to go near the dog when eating, they might still do so and you would not want your dog to bite a child just because they got too close while she was eating.

Even without the threat to children, there are times when you might need to interupt her feed (say perhaps you knocked something dangerous off a worktop into her bowl)

But all this needs to be worked up to gradually. The dog has to trust you and slowly accept that you being around her food is not a bad thing (and in fact is a good thing).

How old is Tilly and have you had her since a pup or is she a rescue?

I agree with Hali, mostly dogs should be left alone, but there are very occasionally times when you may need to touch or pick up their bowl.

Trust is the key thing but also recognising it's perfectly natural for dogs to guard their food, just as we would

A good way is to simply add things to the bowl (not every day as that could be annoying, but maybe every few days just drop in an extra tasty treat. This is with a "normal" dog who is not showing aggression; if one was already showing aggression (even freezing, which is often the first sign of a problem which is not always noticed) it would be better to start off at more of a distance eg a few feet or more away...depends....

Wys
x

Thanks for that - she's a pup we''ve only had her 2 weeks so I guess we need to build up trust.

I agree with the above posts - if she is still a pup then this should not be too hard. When I first got Cox (adult gsd) he growled at me over a bone. He got a quiet word in his ear and he hasn't done it again. But also over the next few weeks I did the adding extra tasty treats to food thing, and giving extra when eating bones. He will now let me near his food, stroke him etc no problem and I am confident I could take food away if I wanted to, but have not done this as no need to and I don't think that should be done routinely.

The other thing you can try is to feed her every single morsel of her food by hand and not use the food bowl for a couple of weeks. Then add the food to the food bowl a little at a time, before going back to normal and just adding the odd bit from time to time.

You could hand feed her the meal to teach her that you provide the food and that she doesn't dictate the terms. You should be able to remove her food from her at any time although doing it constantly would be teasing.

Adding tasty bits while she is eating is a good idea.

If you are worried try John Rogersons Food bowl exercise (I can PM you if you are interested.) I have found that it works very well.

Never try and take the food away - you will make her worse.

At the moment it will.

Ultimately you should be able to do it without a problem.

Exactly how old is she? I always train my dogs from pups to allow me to take their food away if necessary, as well as toys, bones, chews etc. You never know when you may need to, but I don't do it routinely as there is no need.

When they are pups, I tend to feed part of their meal by hand and also give them extra special tasty treats (tastier than their dog food - usually cooked chicken or beef) while they are eating. It has always worked for me and I can take any of my dogs food away at any time if necessary.

Thanks - I will persevere then - giving half & adding extras sounds good.
We don't have young children - but I can see the point about the possibility of needing to take food away in an emergency of whatever.
(she is 12 weeks old & we've had her 2 weeks)