I recently got a puppy (black Lab pointer mix) from the pound. My children fell in love with him. He has been very good. He has learned to sit, give both paws,lay,rollover and other things. He is learning pretty fast but tonight he and our neighbors dog were playing after I had enough I gave them both a raw hide treat. I went up to the dog to see if he would be okay if the children approached him while he was eating and he growled at me. This made me mad so I took the treat away and he bit me. I was told I need to stop this behavior now before that is a small child who doesn't know any better. I am new to this dog stuff. Can someone please help me fiqure out how to stop this. Thanks

most dogs growl when having bones
i agree some training needs to be done . i take my dogs bone away and ill give it her back when she stops growling , she too at first was going for the cats when she was a puppy. its easyier to teach children not to go near but try telling a cat:( but by taking it off her then giving it her back when she was good taught her that she will get the treat back if shes good. she will still growl with really big bones, but will offer small ones to the other animals by droping them at there feet:D but she knows at the end of the day she always gets her bones back . so i never take the bone completely away.
Although if she was really agressive then mabe i wouldent bother giving them at all.

I too have recently got a 7mth old Shar-pei and he does growl if he is eating a dog biscuit when my other dog comes near to see what he's got, but it is natures way of them protecting their food. But I have always found that when this behaviour starts you have to be firm and tell them stop. I have found that within two weeks he has now stopped and they even swop feeding bowls at meal time without any rows, so you just have to keep on their case until it sinks in,and it will eventually. Good luck. Mike

How old is the puppy? :)

I agree that if chews etc make him growl, don't give them - if he was a rescue dog, he may never have been given such wonderful treats and so gets anxious when approached.

I personally would not take anything from a dog that growls, because *most* dogs - have to generalise here a bit - will see this action as affirming their original thought, that a human approaching them whilst they are eating will take their precious food away :(

I have taken bones away from my dogs, (but they trusted me anyway and i had no growly issues with them), gave them a piece of cheese and then they had the bone back, my idea was to be able to take bones away, as all the books around then said that was important. Nowadays i do things a bit differently.

As you so rightly say, any dog needs to be under control around food, and also to accept not only the "boss" person but any family member, and ideally any friend of the family, children near the chew or bowl etc.

To achieve this, you need to teach the dog to trust you and to actually enjoy the idea of humans near chews and bowls

There are several ways to go about this. One method is to simply give the dog an empty bowl at mealtime, then go near and add/throw into the bowl his food, in small bits, this is simplified but just to give you an idea. The dog after a while will learn that you + food bowl = dinner. Gradually you can get other family members to follow this routine and so on. Once the dog is oK with that (and you may feel he is OK with food bowls and is only funny with rawhide chews, but he may be giving out subtle body language such as ears back or going still) then do the same exercise with more exciting treats. Go slowly and don't rush it :)

I know there are other similar methods to try, hopefully others will post and you can pick which one you feel will suit your dog.

At the end of the day, the idea is to make the dog so confident that even if you do need to pick up his bowl, or kids go near whilst he has a chew, he will feel fine about it and not threatened.

Good luck

Lindsay

my dog is about 13 weeks old. I feel like he is just going to bit now without warning if there is a treat or something he really wants. I hope we can stop this I am becoming afraid of this little pup like he will snap or something. I heard that labs were laid back dogs. perseph01

Hi,
No dog is born "laid back"! They become so with good training and the right handling. Have you made arrangements to take your pup to training classes yet? Have you got "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey? Just these two things will make a tremendous difference to your life with your pup.
Goodluck.
:)

All my girls have never growled at me or my husband when a chew/ bone has been taken away but they do growl at each other.

I do however stress never ever let children go near a dog when they have food as we are able to do it by training and also because we are the top of the pack ! It is a disaster waiting to happen if you let your children do this so don't let them ! Children need to be trained as much as the dog does :)

Lucy