Reply to Growling

Forum Index » Pets

Reply to "Growling"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Work with him now as this will become a problem if you do not fix it.  I would not take the bone away as you are reinforcing his aggressive behavior.  A growl is a warning, "hey don't come near my food", by taking it away you are showing him that he does need to protect it.  You need to retrain him and soon.  Try the following (be patient and diligent and always reinforce good behavior):

1) Literally feed him his food out of your hand, have everyone in the household do this.  Do not put the bowl down, but feed him the food manually.

2) When he is eating out of his bowl, get something out of the fridge that is WAY better than dog food (chicken, ham, beef, etc.).  Walk near him and just throw the treat down for him to leave his food and eat it.  Do this repeatedly.  Also do this when he is lying on the ground sleeping, or eating a bone.  When you do this, don't speak to him, just be close to him.  Gradually, if he is improving, move closer to him.  Eventually, you should be able to put your hand in his bowl while he is eating, but watch his cue and make sure he is ready for the closeness.

3) hand feed him treats, and when his teeth touch your fingers, scream ouch and pull your hand away.  You are teaching him bite inhibition and to be careful with his teeth.  This can mean the difference between a mauling and a nip later. Crucial step.

The idea of #2 above is to get the dog to connect human proximity with good stuff!  It's the "hey, here comes Mama and she is bringing something yummy" idea.  This takes time and diligence, but will help with food aggression.

If you are diligent, this should work.  Food aggression is often the result of an environment where the dog had to fight for his food.  You need to teach him that he does not have to fight for his food anymore.

Please work with him as even a lab (contrary to what many people think) can be mean and aggressive.  You do not want a dog to suddenly go after someone as they inadvertently got to close to him while eating or chewing a bone.

Good luck!
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics