Food guarding

[Texasdoggy]

I have a seven week old English mastiff male! He is 100% sure that I am the alpha male. I brought him home 4 days ago and today while I was at work my wife fed him his dinner and my son who is 4 tried to get the pups foot out of his food bowl and he snapped at his hand but didn't bite him. He hasn't showed any guarding of his toys or anything else, yet. I can put my hand in his food while he is eating no problem. So should I work with him on it or just tell the kids to leave him alone while he's eating?

 

[Mongo]

Im not too familar with training "food aggressive" dogs but I do know you should teach him that its not exceptable to snap at the kids.... and not just tell the kids to leave him alone, because one day it could happen to one of your childrens friends who didnt know better.

Hope some else has better advise... also look online for training tips.

 

[Jasmine]

Don't know if it is the best solution but you may want to try to put a leash on the dog while its eating and maybe have ur son try it again and snap the leash so he'll learn.

 

[Lady Clementine]

this may sound totally opposite of the above, and i would recommend it much more strongly if your son was a little older...and only you know your son and whether he is "responsible" enough to try this. but here's my take on it...your dog will respect the controller of the food...so if you can find a way to SAFELY have your son dole out the food to the pup, the pup should come to respect your son as alpha to himself. Again, only you know your son and if this would work. But if you can have your son put a small handful of food in the pup's bowl, let the pup eat, then look to your son to hand out the next handful that might do the trick. or piece by piece, or even just a scoop...and don't forget a healthy dose of praise for good behavior never hurts either otherwise, i'd suggest using the leash method as your pup is a little on the young side to train the "sit stay" before any food will be handed out.

personally, i'll work with my dogs of all ages periodically to let me take their bowl away while they're eating, reach into their bowl and remove food or add tidbits while they're eating, etc just to make sure that they are not inclined toward any food guarding. Similarly, if they have a particularly captivating chew toy or a squeak they really love, i'll ask them to give it to me randomly. this reinforces my position as the "leader" and the one in charge of everything in my house, and since i will take the toy/treat and then give it right back, it also helps them to see that it's not a threat and they're not losing out on anything. this is also really handy if your dog ever gets hold of something they shouldn't have- my shepherd once got hold of a giant piece of cooked chicken at a bbq and could have been seriously injured by splintering bones had she not been trained this way. she surrendered the chicken immediately. my hope is that if someone other than me takes their toy away, that it will not result in any aggressive behavior. I also keep a very close eye out to make sure that my dogs are never teased- in my experience it's teasing a dog with something they want (playing "keep away"), that causes some pretty serious aggressive behaviors like snapping, grabbing etc. just something to keep in mind

 

[Cody]

I have to agree with Lady Clementine.
When we got our first Corso our son was 4 years old. His "job" was to feed the dogs.
He would get their bowls, tell them to sit stay (trained with hand signals)if they didn't respond I would help him "enforce" the command, then he would scoop the food, place on the floor and give them the eat command.
He does the same with our dogs now. Both the Boxer and our Corso respect an listen to him. He has taken a big role in training, and can walk our dog alone at 5.5.
It is just getting them involved and having the dog respect them. I say involve your son more with working with your pup, it will create a fantastic bond between them.

 

[mastiffluva]

I have had two mastiffs (at different times) and four other dogs. My first one food guarded. I didn't think much of it in the begging but as she got older it became more of a problem. Anybody (person or dog) who went near her while she had food (her bowl or even a treat) she guarded and became protective of her food. Unfortunately when she was about 7 months old and about 100 pounds, one of my Bichons who was about 12 pounds walked near her food and she went after him doing significant damage (he required emergency surgery). I gave her to a dog only household. My second mastiff I handled differently. I showed her that anytime anyone goes near her food or treat, she will get something better. If a dog eats her food in front of her, she will cold some kind of special food and her dish refilled. If they eat her treat because maybe it dropped on the floor, she will get something better. She is now 155 pounds, 1 year old and lets any of my four dogs eat her food with no problem. She just sits and waits for her bowl to be refilled with something better. I also have the other dogs go outside so she can finish her dinner. Any kind of guarding is no good, whether it be toys or food. My mastiffs were also 7 weeks old when I got them. Guarding has to be stopped now. Good luck.