I am so sorry this is going to be long but I really really appreciate any and all help I can get. I have a 2 year old male German Shepherd named tucker. He is pretty well behaved and submissive. He always backs down towards other dogs and cries easily. We have always called him are little wimpy baby. He lets everyone people and dogs alike to take any and everything from him including toys and food from his bowl or his mouth. We recently adopted a approximately 3 month old puppy and named her journey. She is probably a red nose pit and husky mix. We are told she was found at a trailer park and adopted by a homeless guy who later had to give her up. We have had her for 4 days now and man has she opened up. She was calm and shy at first then bam the crazy burst threw. She is submissive to people and unsure of thing outside of the house expecally when are other dog isn’t with her. After the first 2 days she started getting more aggressive with her playing with are other dog. She jumps off couches and beds with jaw open and paws out and lands on are other dog. She is big on nipping him and grabbing his tail and not letting go. Yesterday we noticed her playing was getting really rough and would sometimes turn even more aggressive. We also noticed she is kind of food aggressive. We know because of her past she probably had it rough with food and she seems to have a eat as much as fast as I can mind set. She inhales her food and then begs for more. She will let me (a female) stick my hand in her bowl while she eats and pull food from her mouth. She kind of lifted a lip at my husband but was then fine with him. She has snapped at my other dog for getting close to her bowl but she will eat out of his bowl with him if we let her. We are trying to train her to leave are other dogs bowl alone because he is a grazer and won’t eat in one sitting but is that even possible with her mind set? She isn’t super aggressive with treats but she does get excited and lunges for your hand but not in a aggressive way. So I guess my questions would be, how do I stop the rough playing without punishing my other dog? How do I stop the food guarding? Also will she ever grow out of the eat all I can mind set?
Training help in aggressive guarding in 3m old puppy.
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Shes young and this is natural (resource guarding) but you do need to make sure it doesnt escalate for both dogs sakes..
I would suggest something like this .. Kikopup is a positive trainer with some very good methods to train dogs in a gentle positive way
I would suggest something like this .. Kikopup is a positive trainer with some very good methods to train dogs in a gentle positive way
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Please do not put your hand in your pup's bowl while eating or pull things out of her mouth. That is a great way to create resource guarding where it wasn't an issue previously. It teaches your pup that she needs to guard her food. Instead, practice teaching her to trade what she has for a higher value reward, and work on teaching a reliable drop or leave it command, as demonstrated in the video above. Instead of messing with her food while she eats with your hands, randomly drop extra tasty treats into her bowl as you walk by to get her to associate your presence with good things. And I'm sorry, but there's just no way to teach a dog to leave another dog's food bowl alone if it has food in it. You'd be far better off to transition your other dog to eating scheduled meals. It's better to do this anyway, as it's much easier to notice if their appetite is off and they may be sick.
Thank you so much for your help I really appreciate it. I tried the method in the video and so far it’s going good and she learns super fast so I hope that will help her be more okay with sharing and if not at least I can control her more.
Thank you for your help I really appreciate it. I know not to mess with a dogs food but because she was a street dog I had to know where she stood with her food before she got older or attacked my other dog without me there. I used the video and did some work with her and she is showing good signs so far. She is coming really well for her name in just a few days so that’s helping with the leave it’s. I have trained my older dog to leave other food bowls alone and occasionally he can’t resist but he does pretty good. So far she is doing great with leaving his bowl alone. She just sit like 5 feet away and stares at it until something gets her attention.
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Feed the dogs in separate places. Separate rooms or crates. LEAVE the dogs alone when they are eating. Rule 1 we all learned as kids. That putting hands in the dog's food and taking the bowl up is all just garbage. I see it on TV and I want to BITE! LOL
If you want to use all the dog's food as a training tool you can also do that and only feed part of the food in a bowl. But the rule is still the same. When food is involved only work with ONE dog. The other dog needs to be put up.
Dogs and cats, unlike people, are not happy with food bowls lined up next to each other and being fed. That food is their food. They own. Let them own it.
OTOH if a dog has a toy or something you would like to have, TRADE for it with something of greater value. That is a fair trade to the dog. You can teach this with food and a toy (but only one dog at a time). First you free shape it and then you add a word (I say OUT but any word will do.. Drop works as well). Dog will associated the word and drop the object expecting a trade. Eventually you can randomize this which reinforces the out command.
If you want to use all the dog's food as a training tool you can also do that and only feed part of the food in a bowl. But the rule is still the same. When food is involved only work with ONE dog. The other dog needs to be put up.
Dogs and cats, unlike people, are not happy with food bowls lined up next to each other and being fed. That food is their food. They own. Let them own it.
OTOH if a dog has a toy or something you would like to have, TRADE for it with something of greater value. That is a fair trade to the dog. You can teach this with food and a toy (but only one dog at a time). First you free shape it and then you add a word (I say OUT but any word will do.. Drop works as well). Dog will associated the word and drop the object expecting a trade. Eventually you can randomize this which reinforces the out command.
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Best video I have seen on resource guarding.
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