Food possessive

Hi all

Amy is coming up to 11 weeks and we are finding she is very possessive when it comes to food, she will growl if anything 4 legged comes near her when she is eating, could be her dinner or just chewing a bone.

Now, i dont know if she feels she HAS to react like this as the cats usually try to stick their heads in the bowls for "shares" so, she has a fair bit of "competition" in the house to deal with.

I often take away her bones and things when she is mid chew and she has never growled at me (or any other human)

What is the best way to approach this?

Your input appreciated as always

E.T.A. the cats dont always try their luck, they could just be walking past or be nearby or it could be D and she will still growl.

Hi VV here is a thread on a similar topic with useful suggestions ...http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=93600
In general don't scold her for growling, the growl is a warning and far better to growl than to snap without warning,
Taking things from her will make her more possessive, do a swap instead,
If she guards her dinner try putting only a small amount down at once than adding to it,
Teach her to 'leave' on command ,method in the thread above,

Great advice from Mini, as always.

Hope you can sort it out, Jules

...forgot to add the cats should really be kept away from the dogs when eating. If cats regularly eat dogfood instead of their own food it can lead to serious health complications. (Dog food lacks essential ingredients a cat must have like taurine,there is plenty of info about this on the net).

I always hand feed for a couple of weeks... I also hold on to the other end of a bone...

Mini's answer about keeping the cats away is a good one, but we used to have this with Bruce, Skye never bothered.
So I used to play swops, or sometimes I'd give a little low growl, which made him forget (because he'd look at me) but it sorted itself out in time. Now he doesn't bother about anything walking past. Good Luck

Thanks Mini,

Just to add the dogs are fed raw so the cats are not technically eating "dog food"