My dog did it again. -_-

    • Gold Top Dog

    My dog did it again. -_-

    BUT, this time I took the advice from what was given the first times. I still think I did it wrong. Or I shouldn't have backed off at all.
     
    He grabbed the bread from the table, no one was paying attention and when I caught him, he ran behind the couch to continue eating. I was grabbed his colar to hold him as I took the bread away, he growled again, but I grabbed the bread, let him go, threw it away came back and took him outside which is his punishment. He stays indoors and though he likes to play out there, he doesn't like being out for too long.
     
    For those asking in my other topic, my replies seemed to have gotten ignored. I call him by... well he, but while typing I have the tendacy to use it. Don't really know why. His name is Panda, and I currently live in Houston, Texas.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Oh and I took his food outside with his water. I will let him back in a moment. I don't know if I handled this correctly.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I just let him back in.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Hi Zelgamer...I am sorry you are having these troubles.  I am not sure what type of advice to give you on this but wanted to welcome you to the forum.  It seems like you got some good advice in your last thread and it didn't seem to me that you got ignored.  But maybe I am reading a different thread. 
     
    How old is your dog?  Has it had any sort of puppy classes or obedience training?  Those might be some places to get some more help as well.
     
    Also, I don't know whether this is actually good advice or not, but we were having some resource guarding with Izzy when she was a puppy.  She would growl if you got too close while she was eating or when you would try to take any sort of food or bone from her.  I started hand feeding her about half of her meal for a few days one piece at a time and then would give her the rest.  I didn't want her to get so used to me hand feeding that that was the only way she would eat, but I wanted to make it clear that I was the boss and that I am the one who provides the food for her.  I know there are differing opinions on this so I don't know that it is the best method by any means, but it worked for us. 
     
    Another suggestion, would be to crate your dog while you are eating if he can't behave and steals food off of the table.  Or even keep him in another room. 
     
    We would love to see pics of your Panda!
    • Gold Top Dog
    I would love to show pics of Panda. ^_^
     
    He is an awesome dog, but yeah... ;_;
     
    Anywho, right now he is behind me as I am typing this. He is lying down sleeping. He is 8 months old. Well, nine now. So he is an old puppy. He has alot of growing to do, but right now he is up to my knee. I think he will grow up to the halfway point of my thighs.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Oh, also, I think I will stay right by him when he decides to eat and pet him. I heard that helps, also crating him or putting him in my room is good to. He didn't do it while we were eating though. He did it while I was in my room with my door open. I stepped out to do my occasional checkup and there he was on the floor with a whole loaf of bread.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I have an 8 month old puppy now too.  We just finished an obdience class in April...it made a world of difference in her behavior over all.  It would probably be a great thing for you and Panda to do together. 
     
    Also, I would probably keep Panda in a crate or another room for the entire time you have food on the table if you cannot watch him.  That way he is never even given the opportunity to get anything he isn't suppossed to have!  [:)]  It is sort of the same theory as when you are potty training, if you can't keep your eye on them constantly, they should be in their crate.  8 months might seem old but he is still a puppy and curious and probably into everything!  I know mine is, worst now than ever! 
    • Gold Top Dog
    How much are crates? Are they expensive?
    • Gold Top Dog
    You can get them at all different places for all sorts of different prices.  I am not sure where you live, but you might check our host [linkhttp://www.dog.com]www.dog.com[/link].  I got a similiar one at Walmart for about the same price as dog.com has it. 
     
    I have a number of them with the biggest one being under $30 I believe.  I have small dogs though as well.  The one we use for Izzy is one of the wire ones.  We also have a plastic one for when we travel.  We conditioned her to it by giving her a puppy kong or any other sort of mind working treat ball when she got in.  At first she HATED it, but now as soon as she sees me pull out a certain kind of treat, she automatically runs to get in her crate.  I don't even have to bribe her to get in it anymore now.  It is a safe place for a dog to be when you are not home or can't watch them.  Izzy is a chewer and one of the handful of times I left her out while I was gone (only 10 minutes) she ate the blinds on the front window.  I told DH he was lucky she didn't eat through the power cord to the TV!!!  There are a lot of people who use crates for their dogs.  You might find more info about it in the training section of the forum, as well as about resource guarding. 
     
    Also, I was going to add, when Izzy was in her puppy class, we were doing clicker training which requires lots of treats, at first at least.  I felt like she was eating too much each day so I started feeding her her dinner instead of treats.  So not only was I hand feeding her food to her, she was also working for it.  There is something called NILIF which I don't know much about, but it stands for Nothing in life is free and I think a lot of people use it for this type of behavior as well.  You could do a search for it or look for it in the training section of the forum and probably find more specific info about it.
    • Gold Top Dog
    This was very informative. Thank you! ^_^
    • Gold Top Dog
    Oh, also, I think I will stay right by him when he decides to eat and pet him.

     
     I'm not sure this is a good idea right now, you may get the same reaction you did tonight.  This is very dangerous behavior that you don't want to "test". 
     
    Is he aggressive if you touch him food while he's eating from him bowl or JUST if he steals something?  These are handled differently. 
    • Gold Top Dog
    I think feeding him by hand for a bit of each meal is a very good idea. I've always done this with my dogs and everyone exclaims about how gentle their mouths are.

    If you do want to get a crate, remember that you have to train him to use it. You can't just put him in there and expect him to be perfectly okay with it. It takes time to teach a dog to be comfortable with a crate. My son didn't understand that and put his dog (my dog's sister) in a crate and she broke her two top canine teeth off trying to get out.

    I think clicker training is great and that is a good thing to use to crate train, and lots of other things, too.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Often you can find FREE crates on the yahoo group FREECYCLE.
     
    Again, you need to teach the leave it and drop it commands.  My dogs are usually fed before we put our dinner on.  That means most of them are in their crates eating.  However, with ANY of my dogs I can leave fresh from the grill steaks on the table and know that they aren't gonna bother them because they have been taught that if it isn't in their bowl, it's MINE.  And that includes the knuckle bones that I GIVE to them.  They are still MINE to take back as I see fit.  And, keep in mind, I have german shepherds....big dogs, with big teeth and powerful jaws, but by golly when I need to reach into a crate and remove a bone, usually they just pick it up and drop it in my hand so I don't have to reach so far.
     
    My dogs are far from perfect...in fact the other day when the satelite installer was here I was rather embarrassed that they wouldn't STOP barking at this man climbing around on my roof.  They were really being little poops.  But, when it comes to leave it or drop it or come, they respond in a heartbeat.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Often you can find FREE crates on the yahoo group FREECYCLE.

    I was thinking the same thing I also know there is a group on yahoo called cheapcycle where they do sell stuff just cheap[;)] Not sure if it's just for this area or not but something to look into. Now with Sasha our GSD we can leave food out an she wouldn't touch it either unless told to but thats not so with Jake....lol. If it's within reach he feels its fair to eat or chew up or just tote around with him but he's not aggressive at all if you take it away from him. Both our dogs are very gentle when taking food I have taight them to take stuuf from my mouth an surely don't want them doing that rough. I may end up without a nose.....lol. G'luck with your pup!

    • Gold Top Dog
    Why would you pet him when he is eating, let him alone while he is eating.