food guarding

Hi Jaye,  Below I cut and copied a post from the behavior section where I had asked about resource guarding...  It has a link to an old thread that describes ways to deal with it and mentions a great book on the subject...  Basically this will show you how to non-confrontationally show the dog in tiny baby steps that having you around his food and stuff is a good thing...  the important part is to not move too quickly, if there is ever a growl or he freezes up at one level go back to the step before and just wait until he is comfortable before moving on...  We are in the process of doing this with Wesley (who guards stuff, not food)... 
 

A full blown protocol for dogs who resource guard can be found in "Mine!  A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" by Jean Donaldson.  Also, below is a link to an old thread, where a poster more generally describes the kind of protocol I was referring to.  If this is a problem you are having, and you weren't just curious, I hope this helps, definitely ask if you have any questions, a lot of people on the forum have a lot of experience with this...

[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=9469&mpage=1&key=resource%2Cguarding♽]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=9469&mpage=1&key=resource%2Cguarding♽[/link]

wow thats really info thanks, im gonna try those steps.

Youve GOT to put and end to this.... Good luck!

ok here are some things that the foster mom, a professional bark-buster dog trainer, said:
 
about food guarding she said he can be trained to not be guarding with adults but he will always guard with children because he views them as siblings and will never respect them and its too risky to even attempt it.
 
about potty training:  she said you should never let the dog tell you when  he needs to go outside to potty because thats letting the dog be in charge.  but instead you should take him out every hour or so.
 
personally i would really rather the dog knew how to tell me when he had to go
 
what do you think about her view on not even trying to teach the dog to not be food guarding with children?
 

It sounds to me like she uses the older dominance based training methods.  Personally I think any animal under MY roof is gonna behave around ANY human in my home regardless of their size or age   And I'm a total softie with my dogs. but disrespecting family members ain't happening here.

My dogs tell me when they need to go out.  I'm not a mind reader and I'm already Alpha, so I don't need to play that game.  I agree with you on that one.

I've seen a couple threads lately on resource guarding....hope you can find them cuz I'm not that great at explaining and I'm not a trainer....I'm always afraid I'll forget one crucial step and have someone do things incorrectly!

Hi,
We had the same problem when we adopted (from a shelter) a 5 month old lab/pit
mix. She was really terrible, growling, not waiting for her food to be put down, once
knocked the food bowl out of my hands and it went flying. We called a trainer and she
suggested  a log range  program that really worked. For two weeks you feed her out of
your hand (make a bowl with your hands) of course this only works with dry dog food. For the next two  weeks you move her bowl all around the house. Feed her in the living room one day, the kitchen the next, the bedroom the next, so it's never in one area she can "guard" And of course the empty bowl is not left on the floor between feedings.
And you can always do  it for 3 weeks instead of two. Then (and this is the fun part)
take something really tasty, like a piece of hot dog or chicken, something that smells good, and, while she's eating in the living room or hallway or wherever her dish is now,
slowly hold the tasty piece of meat towards her and when she turns her head just drop the  piece in the food bowl. So she sees this as a treat and not that you are trying to take her food. Even if it missed the bowl, the idea is the same. Theoretically at some point you should be able to take her bowl away from her when she's eating and give
it right back, I can't remember if we continued that far.  She had a few relapses when we woudl feed her out of our hand for a  few days or move her bowl around, but she's
been really good. When I feed her I'll give her a little pat or two on her back near her
butt, just to show I can, but I don't abuse it. It's her meal and it's important to her. And we still sometimes move her bowl around, especially when we have another dog
visiting.
Sorry  to be so long. Pam (Mocha Jean the Beauty Queeens' mom)

ok, this lady also says to NEVER feed a dog from your hands, you should drop the food on the ground for them to get it.  because feeding from your hands teaches them that they can just take food from you and might try to get it out of your hands when you are eating something.
 
anyone agree with that or is this lady just doing everything wrong??

I feed Theo from my hand every morning.  I feed all my dogs their treats in an open palm.  No one thinks that they can just walk up and talk ANYTHING from me without being invited.  Now and then I'll eat lunch on the couch.  Of course one or two or more will wander over to see what I've got and all I have to do is say "mine" and they scram.  Most mornings when I'm feeding Theo, I have at least two of the others under my desk but they all absolutely know that they can take nothing from my hand without being invited.

so yeah, I kinda think this gal is stuck in the past.

great, cause i really prefer hand feeding anyways )

Heres another thread going on about the same thing, so you may get some extra tips from this one...
 
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=9469]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=9469[/link]

Every trainer/behaviorist I have consulted on this issue and many of the books I have read say that handfeeding is a positive thing...  If there is any concern about a dog thinking he can just snatch something from your hand, teach a "wait" until you open up your hand to the dog and say "take it."  As pushy as Wesley is - he does not snatch things from me - he does the opposite, he tries to offer up all his tricks (he sits, lays down, rolls over, gives his paw etc.) in the hopes that this will entice me to give him whatever I am about to feed him.  I wait him out or just give the command I want and THEN he gets the food.  I make him work for it...
 
As far as the fact that the dog will always guard from kids - certainly I would never let kids bother or get too close to a dog who is eating, regardless of the dog...  But, I don't think it is true that the dog will always actively guard against kids, and you can probably get most dogs to a place where if your kid drops some food and the dog and kid both go for it, the dog will not growl or bite the kid.  The way I have seen it described in books (and please look it up to make sure I am right, or hopefully someone will come along to confirm or deny) is that the primary care giver starts the program and goes through all steps, then any other adults in the house do the same.  So, each person has to do the whole thing, step by step...  after all the adults are done, the adult can start accomapying the kids, one at a time, through the steps (I would modify as necessary for the age of children - a teenager can probably do the whole protocol; for younger kids, maybe they stand by mom when she drops the treats, maybe kid tosses the treats or whatever) - point being I think you can get a dog comfortable with kids around food so that you can get to a point where you don't have to separate them into different rooms, but as I am sure you would never do, I would never let a kid bother a dog who is eating or be unsupervised around a dog who is eating...  Hopefully someone who knows more than I do will come along on this one - we don't have kids yet, so I sort of skimmed over that part - but that is what I remember...