Bohda is about 14 weeks old, almost 15 weeks and has recently started to get a bit protective of her food and a soft chew she gets a few times a week (growling and trying to wrap her paws around it so you can't take it).  We've never taken food from her or teased her, and I've read that this "can" happen.  So for us it appears it might be starting.. We may have done something wrong? Not sure, but either way we need to do something different for our sanity and protection but mainly HERS...  We would like her to feel safe and secure here..  So what do we as puppy parents need to change??  How can we work through this??

I'm sorry if this sounds short or is worded wrong..I've had an hour of sleep and I'm really, really tired!  My 7 yo got a buckle fracture on this thigh bone yesterday at school and is now in a full leg splint from toe to upper thigh awaiting to see on Monday if he will get his full leg cast... And boy can I tell you, he is almost to heavy for me to carry to bathroom and I can't imagine what it will be like when he gets his cast...just thinking about it makes me more tired...and here is my beautiful Bohda, not understanding and wanting to play, play, play today and I just keep looking at her like she is insane (that is when the grit clears from my eyes for those 30 second intervals! lol)... Poor baby just doesn't understand, so were muddling through the best we can today...lol...

April and Bohda in SC

OH, I hope your child is okay.  Wow, can't imagine a full leg cast...  I hope your baby heals soon.

I want to thank everyone for the well wish's for my son (he will be in a full leg cast for about another 4 to 5 weeks, and the last 2 weeks have not been that fun with him not being able to walk..poor kid! VERY hard on a 7 year old with a 6 year old sister who can still go out and play with there friends!)

As for Bohda, she is still showing food agression.  I've been sitting with her while she eats and randomly rubbing her body and if she growls I will pull her back from her food a bit and just pet her for a minute before allowing her to resume eating.  That wasn't working to well, so now I am still randomly rubbing on her off and on and if she growls I have been pulling her away from her food an giving her some from my hand.  She usually settles down after this and doesn't growl, however if I pet her she tenses up really bad still.  If I pull her back from her food and even try to rub her chest she pulls her front legs up as if she's keeping a bone and doesn't want me to have it.

I've never run across this before and find it very strange and a bit disturbing.

Anymore help would be greatly appreciated, she is fine any other time but I worry about this food issue!

April and Bohda

Most important -- so sorry to hear about your son and I know this has got to be a difficult time for your family.

Concerning Bohda's food aggression....guarding food is a natural instinct that derives from a dog's pack behavior. When other animals are a threat, a pack will guard its food in order to survive. This food aggression instinct exists in every dog and can be triggered if a dog feels threatened while he eats. Once the problem has already surfaced, dealing with food aggression can prove frustrating. For this reason, it's imperative to prevent the problem before it begins. There are some ways to do this.

When your dog eats, walk up and toss a treat in her food bowl. Be sure that it's tastier then her regular food. Do this for about a month and your dog will think every time a person approaches her food dish something good will happen.

ALWAYS remove your dog's food bowl from the floor between meals. When she's hungry place her empty food bowl on the floor. Once she realizes there's nothing in it, she will turn to you. Walk over to her dish, put a small amount of food in, then move a few feet away. When she finishes, go back and place another small amount in her bowl. Repeat this until your dog is finished eating, then remove her food bowl until the next meal.

If your dog is overly protective of the food bowl itself, take it away completely. Feed your dog from your hand. Once she's comfortable with this new idea, have her eat from your hand as you hold it over the bowl. This allows you to reintroduce the bowl and maintain control. Drop the food in and let her eat normally when you believe the food aggression has been overcome.

Please do not punish your dog. Punishment is often what causes this behavioral problem to begin with and will only make it worse. Your dog needs to be comfortable with you before she'll trust you around his food. Any type of confrontation can make her feel uneasy while eating.

Good luck with this! Keep us posted on your progress!

Wow such great advice Nora!! Sorry to hijack the thread but along the same lines......what about food aggression towards another dog sibling? Bailey is the middle dog but the Alpha dog, she food guards with both dogs but worse with Squirt (the third dog). When she does that we quietly say "Bailey No" or if she goes to bother Squirt when she is eating we do the same. She does stop. I notice Squirt is always looking over her shoulder as she eats. Is what we are doing wrong? Is that considered punishing her? Thanks for your help.

That actually sounds pretty normal to me.  My brothers 3 dogs do that, the alpha dog is the slowest eater and the other 2 finish quickly and go looking at the other bowls.  He just makes sure to give each dog their own spot to eat that is away from the others.  He still has to do like you do, quietly tell the dogs to leave the others alone. The fact that Bailey stops, to me, tells me that it's not a problem.  I would just make sure Squirt has her own area that she can eat in relative peace. 

My brothers alpha just likes to take her time eating.  She'll give a warning growl if another dog approaches and that'll be enough, but she doesn't give the others even a glance while they eat. 

As far as sticking your hand in there,  that's a good way to get a serious bite wound so I believe that's why Nora said to use something else.

Thank you so much Nora!!

I think we will take her bowl away and feed her from our hand, rotating family memebers for a while before introducing her bowl again.  Our two older dogs have never done this with each other or us, so its a new experience.  We do feed her separate and at different times from our older dogs.  DH husband feeds the older dogs before he leaves for work and I feed Bohda after that when I get up.  The older dogs don't really hang around her while she eats, but we have children and cats that will mosey by and of course me or DH who are always with her.  She is fine eating as long as no one "touches" her or gets to close  to her bowl.  This morning I was up much earlier than normal and thought I would just get an earlier start on my day, everyone else was asleep or gone and when I fed her she was fine, I pet her and told her she was a good girl and she didn't even try and horde her bowl.  I found this interesting, it was like two different dogs!  I'm sure with the house in full blown awakefulness she would not have been so wonderful about it! LOL

Thank you so much for all the suggestions.  I will be printing it out today so we can all read it over and talk about it.  It's nice to have everyone on the same page and doing the same thing so we don't work against each other.

Thanks again!  I'm off to print now.

April and Bohda in SC