GSD Growling (Food guarding)

Hello just a quick question for all you out there .

Well i have a 10 month old GSD and hes very good in general but when ever I give him Food whether it be his normaly daily food or a treat like a bone , when ever a walk past him when he has it he bares his teeth and growls at me . I no in general this is in there nature as he is protecting what is his , But is this Normal with me his owner .

Hope you can all give me some advice on this or how to overcome this problem .

There is NO WAY I would allow any of my dogs to guard food/toys/bones whatever. From a young age I handle their food whilst they are eating it and so they have no problem with it as they get older.

If I were you, I would hand-feed your dog for a while. Don't let him have anything down on the ground that he can guard. You decide when he plays with his toys etc and pick them up afterwards and put them away so he can't guard them.

With his feeding, I would hand-feed him all meals/treats etc for a while, making him sit and wait while you do this. You can then progress to giving him a smaller portion of his normal food, but you sit beside him whilst he eats and keep offering him something really tasty, such as chicken or cheese. Place this in his food dish with your hand. Don't get to this stage though until he has stopped guarding his food and growling at you.

Good luck.

I agree with all the above Mine are all Hand Fed to start with by every member of the Family

Ok thank you for your advice . I will give that a try

Totally agree with the advice, although I tell the children to let Hollie eat in peace - that's what we all want! - they are both able to take her food bowl away while she is eating and chews and toys too. They are above her in the pack as are Kev and I.

Hi, I think you need to go back to basics with your boy.

I note from a previous post you mention him biting/mouthing at you also.

This leads me to believe at 10mths he will be maturing, full of testosterone and thinking he is the "big I am" so to speak. I feel that your dog thinks he is above you in ranking in the pack status - an intelligent dog like a GSD doesn't take long to try to challenge authority. By him growling and showing teeth he is warning you away from his high value item ie: food.

Did this develop recently or has he always done it? What sort of training do you give him?

With regards to the food, you need to correct him verbally the instant he 'freezes' over it and shows dislike to you approaching. When he growls give him a firm "No", praise him if he stops. Have a really tasty titbit in your hand (something that he likes MORE than what he is eating when training for this) don't let him see it though, when he listens to your command and doesn't growl and allows you to lift his food/touch the bone then reward him with the titbit.

Whatever you do don't start yelling then snatch the item away, this will make him ten times worse next time.

Training for this is like any other training, he must learn not to growl and complain about you being near food, if he gets away with this, it will only be the tip of the iceberg with future problems with him.

Don't do it every time you pass him by though as this will make him worse and he will anticipate you are always going to take his treat away. Once he does not growl end the training session on a good note. I find the trick is the dog realizes you are not a threat to his food and he must allow you access, when doing so gets the occasional treat.

I have owned Rotts and GSDs and every one of mine got trained to allow me to take any item off them including food/bones etc. Some took longer than others, Ozzy was the worst being a dominant male, but he knows he is not allowed to grumble and happily now lets us take bones/treats and his dinner off him. All were trained using this method.

If he were mine I would do the NILIF programme, go right back to basic training. Don't allow him through doors before you, don't give him to him pestering for attention etc. He needs lots of training and stimulus if he is to respect you as leader.

Thank you very much Ozzysmom I will give this ago . I will keep you all informed on how im getting on

If you are worried if it gets worse, try www.apdt.co.uk or preferably www.apbc.org.uk

Also for help for owners, and cheaper try Mine! by Jean Donaldson. It's a bit behaviouristy but very good.

Basically it's a normal behaviour, interestingly even the lower ranking member in a pack will defend food from those higher. It's not really anything to do with rank but with normal behaviour which just happens to be unwanted in human society

I'd tend to do a bit of training with him at least once a day, make it fun, and get him to do simple things like sit for his lead on, sit for going out the door and so on. Reward him with a food reward or a game for this

I'm a great believer in training "in context" as much as possible. While I don't doubt the merits of "hand feeding", I just don't personally see the context being addressed by so doing. The context being, I presume, you fill the bowl, place it on the floor, dog eats, you can't go near it again until the dog decides otherwise?

That being the case, the context is the bowl and to a degree the location of where the dog is fed.

If it were me, for the next couple of weeks I'd place the lead on the dog at feeding time, let the dog eat so much from the bowl, gently, and with a cheerful tone, lead it away from the food, just hook the lead over the door-handle or something, or better still have someone else hold the lead for a moment, then you move to the bowl, pick it up, relocate it, and let the dog return to feeding after a minute. Slowly repeat the number of times that you "interrupt" the meal and lessen the distance that you move the dog away from the bowl, during each feed time as the days progress.

In my view, you need to show the dog that you are the giver of food and therefore determine when and how it's eaten. To have the dog in that position of authority can only lead to longer-term issues.