Food agression?

I have two questions for you. Does your dog have this behavior with his food bowl too? Do you use a crate?

There's a thread open called "should dogs be bothered while eating" I think it's in gen. questions and answers or anything & everything.... It has some useful general tips on preventing resource guarding and I think it would be good to implement these ideas in case this behaviour spreads to other itmes (chews, the food bowl)
 
My suggestion would be to teach "back" or an instant "down" so you can stop the dog lunging for food and keep him there while you pick it up to take away the conflict.  If he's going to be given the treat anyway in time he will come to see that trying to guard it from you was a waste of time.
 
There are also other threads open touching on food guarding, try doing a forum search.

Can someone find that thread and post link here?

http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=245914

ORIGINAL: flagrate

I have two questions for you. Does your dog have this behavior with his food bowl too? Do you use a crate?

I haven't noticed it with the food bowl yet he shares one with my older Pomeranian. I do use a crate for bedtime and for time outs. I honestly didn't know what to do when he bit me, I just walked away. Thanks Chuffy I will try to teach him "back" command. One problem is he gets over eager and the second I even show a treat he goes crazy and starts snapping  and biting and won't listen to me at all. He is fine with toys and him and Missi share them equally, so far its just with treats.
Thank you for the link I'm headed there now! []

2 Rotten - I posted a similar suggestion in the other thread about resource guarding...  I think, based on the description that the pup goes bezerk each time there is a treat involved, that this may not be resource guarding - it may be a rude puppy who needs to learn to wait patiently for treats and the leave it and take it commands...  Missroxy - try this, it works!!

I tried it a few times tonight, and this is what happened:

I put the treat in my hand and closed it and Kenshin went crazy. He starting biting my hand and pushing with his nose for about 2min as I repeated "leave it", and after about 2 min he finally stopped biting and kind of stood there so I opened my hand and said "take it" I did this a few times and nearing the end it was a bit better. My question about this learning method is, how often do I do this with him (once everyday or every other day)? For how long each time should I do this?

And I definatly think your correct about it not being food aggression. I think he is just  "rude" . I've never noticed it till now, but that explains alot. I always thought he was just being aggressive, but he NEVER listens to me no matter what I say. He won't listen to my husband either.  I have been trying for a month now to get him to be gentle to my other pomeranian, but its not working. Nothing is working with him. I was a little sad today when I realized that the only trainers where I live are shutting down there business in April and they told me they aren't having anymore classes before then. I can't even find anything in my local paper or phone book. I did buy a book called "Pomeranians" and it had a few tips on how to house train them and take care of them in general. But he ignores everything. I would have really loved to get him in puppy classes for him and me, but I searched online and the closest one was 4 hours away. Can anyone give me advice or suggest a dvd or book about how to teach a puppy manners  when they literally wont listen to anything? Or know of a trainer where I live? I live in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. Any help is or advice is greatly appreciated [sm=happy.gif]

Great suggestions given. Another, I would teach the "leave it" with a leash. Attach a leash & lay it on the floor near your foot. Put a treat on the floor a couple feet away from your dog & say "leave it". When your dog goes for the treat step on the leash so he can't get to it, then again say "leave it. If he listens to this catch by the leash (by stopping trying to get the treat) praise well & let him get the treat. Start counting seconds each time you do this. Rotate the amount of time you make him wait to get the treat (5 seconds, 10, 15, 10, 5) I would keep working on this command, it would snuff out the snatching.

In terms of how much to train with a puppy - I would train several times a day and keep each session to about 5 minutes...  switch up what you are doing, work on sit, recall, etc., each time you reward a behavior, make sure that only polite puppies get the treat and rude puppies get ignored (remember that when the pup is going nuts, even telling the puppy no, or trying to hold the puppy to calm him/her will seem to the dog that you are playing the game)... 
 
For treat giving, even before you teach the dog to leave whatever you don't want him or her to touch, you can teach the dog not to go crazy and maul you while taking treats.  Just wait until the second the pup backs away, then treat.  Over time (probably weeks) you can increase the amount of time and space that the pup need to back away to be given the treat.  The goal is that every time you have a treat in your hand the dog steps back, sits down and looks at you (without being given any commands) and waits for you to release the dog to take the treat.  This won't happen in one day, it takes work, but I promise that if Wesley (my mouthy, crazy excitable 2 year old lab X border collie) can get it, so can most every dog!