Tonight I gave Becks a Lamb bone as it still had a fair bit of meat on it.  I put him in his crate and left the door open, he pulled the bone on to the carpet so I took it from him and put it back in his crate, when he did it again my 7 yr old daughter went to do the same and he bit her on the hand.  He broke the skin on her hand and she was very upset and her hand remains painful.  I'm not sure what to do, he's a lovely boy but there is no way this sort of thing can happen again.  I let the children put his food down and they automatically change his water when they go into the kitchen.  Any advice would be appreciated.

How old is he? Has he ever shown agression towards her before or is this a one-off?

I wish I could offer the right advise but I'm passing this one over to the more experienced...

Hes 5 months and not really apart from abit of growling when playing a game he wants to win and then she stops playing with him and puts the toy away, also sometimes when she picks him up he will give her as warning growl, although she has been told many times not to keep picking him.

I'm no expert, but I would tell your daughter not to try and take food from your dog. Most dogs are very protective over food and bones etc.
Also be careful with cooked lamb bones, as they are prone to splintering :(

liberty

maybe he thought your daughter was going to take the bone away from him, he shouldn't have bitten i know but dogs can't be perfect all the time and if another dog was going for the bone he would have done the same, in future if you give him a bone i would lock him in the crate.

It sounds as though he didn't realise that you were going to move the bone the first time so the second time he just wanted to prevent anyone touch it, it may be the case that he would've done it to anyone.

plz if he broke the skin get some antibiotics dog bites can give a nasty infection

Or you could lock him in the kennel with his bone to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.

I have never been growled or bitten by my dogs over toys, bones, food ect neither have my children. I would definatley do something to prevent it from happening and have your child more involved...I'm sure someone will be along with some good advice.

Hmmm, thats not good - I've never been bitten (touch wood) nor growled at over anything from any of my dogs... however, I have always taught the "leave" command from a very very early age, and made all my dogs sit, wait, give paw, leave etc before receiving a treat...

Have you taught your pup to leave? If not, i would get on with this immediately. I would also stop ALL treats, especially bones. Involve your daughter in training him too, especially with treats. Allow your daughter to put his food down only when he has performed a command, and don't go to take it away until he learns to leave on command :) Thats what I would do, but I am sure more folk will be along soon with further suggestions :)

I really think some kind of traning is best.yes dogs cant be perfect all the time but doing that is out of order. I think it was the case that he knows she s small and he knows that she isent the  boss.
I think you should try to sort the problem out first d i y style :d then if it goes wrong get someone to take a look ,
your children should be free in there own home without being hurt

I would first give the dog a bone and take it and put it in the crate .then give your daughter the bone to give back to him. then take it away and give it to your daughter and ask her to put .it in his crate. do this only a few times each time you give a bone,but make sure at the end of each session to make sure your daughter gives it back to him. if he growls instead wait till he stops then give it to him. it just shows him whos the boss. but if your going to do this you have to make sure that you dont over do the taking of bones , its not good to tease a dog. anyone would get mad
Hope it works out

Thanks for the advice. I have been involving both the children in training, although I havent taught the leave command, but I am going to start immediately.  As for bones, there will be no more, its weird because he will let any of us stroke him while he is eating his food but with this bone he just went mad.  This morning she has been playing with him as normal but I feel nervous now.

He will come to no harm by no having bones. I've not given bones to my dogs for over 30 years. They don't need them and there is some proof that they could be bad for teeth.

Regards, John

hi

oh thats a shame that happened as you said your be nervous now when he's around your daughter, what did you do when he bit? he was obviously enjoying the bone too much to risk having it taken away dogs can get really pocessive over bones, my puppy snapped at my niece when we first got her it really worried me too she was continously picking her up but touch wood i have'nt had a repeat and will let us take bones, toys etc from her i taught her the off command they pick it up really quickly hold a treat and when he goes to take it say off give it to him when he waits, same as leave really but mine recognised the off command quicker we learnt it at puppy classes.

regards
jojo

I too would forget the bones, your dog doesn't need them, especially if they are cooked.

Firstly I would teach him the command of 'leave' or 'give' whatever you prefer.  Use a toy that is not one of his favourites.  You need to teach this on a one to one, in a small space with no distractions.  Give him the toy and keep hold of one part of it, a ragger toy is good for this. Ask him to 'give' and assuming he doesn't, take it from him, calmly and gently.  When he gives it up, praise him gently, give him a little food treat and start again.  He will soon get the message, he needs to be taught what you want, most will willingly comply when they understand.

You can then progress to different toys and eventually his favourite ones.  Once you have the dog doing it, then let your daughter do the same.

Remember.......Just say the command once, stay calm, don't forget the praise and practice for a few minutes every day, even when he is older.

Hope this helps
Sandra

She seems fine with him now, tonight we had our usual cuddle on the sofa, becks too and he was cuddling up to her as usual, so Im just going to put it down to experience and learn from it.  When he did it I put him in his crate for half an hour, I know that lots of people say you shouldn't use as a punishment but the way I see it is If one of the Kids is naughty they get time out in their room and so it's the same for Becks, he still trots in there quite happily to sleep. Thanks to all who replied and put  my mind at rest. 

Hi Becksmum
I'd agree with the no bones....it's not going to hurt him by not having them, and if he's going to be so possesive over it, then it's not worth the trouble.
Definitely heed the advise from here tho'.....I had a Shepherd a few years ago, and he was wonderfully trained and loving and obediant, but started to become domineering and very aggressive towards my then 6 year old.  He started off growling and snarling when my son took something from him, then would growl everytime my son went near him, or even walk past him. ( no, my son wasn't tormenting the dog at all...he's a total animal lover and a BIG softy with dogs). I worked on getting my youngest involved with training him, but it never worked and Dylan dog went on to bite my son, and I had him PTS as I was soo worried of the next attack being more severe.  With hindsight, I wish I'd enlisted the help of a behaviourist (still beat myself up about this now) but I wasn't as clued up then as I am now.
Your boy is still only a baby so you have plenty of good time to train him, and be aware of this...my Dylan was a big dog, and he changed when he was 2 1/2 and things went from bad to worse no matter what I tried.
I can imagine you feel very nervy with Becks and daughter, but I'd advise you to be aware and if need be, get specialist help.
Good luck, hope he continues to be the loving boy you want.

I think your right putting him away for a short time. it gives dogs and people time to calm down and the dogs arent stupid it thinks what did i do and he will figure out why hes in the crate, and theres no reason for him to think your mad at him since you havent said anything but he will come to realise that if he does that then he will have to spend some time alone when really he would like to be out running and playing.its not nasty you need some rules and its not going to harm him some time on his own

John Fisher used to say that bones and long lasting chews tend to elicit more of a guarding response from dogs because the dogs know they last longer and can't be gulped down in a flash. This would cetainly explain why some dogs are more prone to getting aggressive over bones than anything else.

It would be unusual if  Becks hadn't given any warning though - most dogs tend to stiffen as a warning for example, or use other subtle body language that unfortunately is often lost on us humans.

I would watch the interaction between your daughter and Becks - for example, it is good that she helps with him, but worrying that you have told her not to pick him up and she does! If he is growling and therefore unhappy/uncomfortable with this arrangement (and very few children can pick up animals in a way that is comfortable for the animal) and she puts him down, he will learn that growling gets him what he wants :(  If on the other hand he growls and is not put down, and the situation continues, he may start to get stronger in making his point.

It may be best if, in addition to no bones, you really watch their interaction and totally prevent her picking him up too. Teach both dog and child to enjoy beign together with controlled games (as you are doing)  and make it very rewarding for Becks to be groomed/stroked/gone over  etc by her. Use either toys or treats and reward after a few seconds compliance, and so on. Keepthis up for a while so he learns to enjoy pleasant and non threatening contact.

HOpe all goes well,

Best wishes
Lindsay

I had meant to comment on the pup being picked up too.  CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE PICKING DOGS OR PUPS UP they ahve four perfectly good legs of their own.

When people with children come to see my pups I am very wary of letting anyone have one if the kids pick the pups up and parents do not stop them.  A dog is not a toy, and I think this beco0mes a real problem with the small breeds as the bigger ones soon get too big to pick up before they get to the stage of really objecting to this indignity.

I had a friends child go into the bedroom once (without permission)and pick up and drop a 2 week old pup, I went spare and told her off in no uncertain terms, the relationship with the mother is rather frosty now, as she seemed of the opinion that hurting her childs feelings was worse than the damage she could have caused the pup.  After that I put a hook and eye latch into the door frame and door at the top of the door, to keep the kids friends out when they were supposed to be using the loo or in one of the kids bedrooms.

It only needs one awkward drop or the pup to feel threatened to spoil the retlationship of trust between the pup and child.  Ths child knowing that they shouldn't be picking pup up may not tell parnets when pup has growled or nipped, knowing that they should not be doing it, but the dog learns that a nip will stop the unwanted attention, and because it works use it in other situations as first choice.

HI, this is a very intersting subject. My puppy is 6 wks old and I wonder when do you start train her command "LEAVE". She knows only one so far. She likes to play with my hands and she has very sharp baby teeth, so I taught her not to bite them, but in Russian language, and she knows she cannot bite me or do things when I say that coammand. So when should I start teaching her to leave her food, toys etc?

Teach her any command as soon as the need arises - but, just like teaching a child, don't make a big deal out of it. She will try anything until she is told 'No, that's not acceptable'.

First of all you should never ever give any cooked bones at all to dogs; raw are fine but cooked ones can splinter and perforate the gut.

Of course you could "avoid" this problem temporarily by not providing bones; however what if it starts guarding other things?

Bones are a "high value" resource for dogs; just like we will guard our passports/credit cards/money/Thorntons chocolates with a great deal more zeal than our groceries :D  Dogs that show no inclination to guard toys, kibble, chews etc can surprise a lot of owners.  Just because a dog does not guard certain items never assume that it will not resource guard at all!

Resource guarding has absolutely nothing to do with dominance.

Resource guarding needs to be very carefully handled and you need to implement this fully yourself before involving your children.  The best source of information on this subject is Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs by Jean Donaldson only available in the UK via WTM Publishing (see net).  This gives detaild step by step instructions on how to prevent/cure this problem.  It is easily preventable provided that you take care and condition dogs to give you things on request; don't wait until it becomes a problem and firefight; what if it had a bottle of antifreeze in its chops?!

Confrontational methods are the last thing that should be initiated and can be potentially extremely dangerous with large powerful dogs.

HTH

Havent logged on for a couple of days so I was surprised to see all the new replies.  Firstly Yes I know about giving cooked bones but this one has lots of meat on it and I intended to take it away when he had stripped it off.  I think the guarding might be to do with his crate as yesterday I fed him in there, as I had friends over and we were eating, he is usually feed after us in the kitchen but it was getting late.  He was half in half out of the crate so I gave his bottom a little push to put him completley in and he growled at me!  I shouted NO! And he walked away, so perhaps as the crate is his place he feels the right to protect what he has in it?   Which he does.  India, (My Daughter) is getting better at not scooping him up everytime she walks into the room, although sometimes Becks will paw at her and cry until she does pick him up!  We are also teaching the leave command, although he hasnt cant grasped the concept yet! Anyway  Happy New Year to you all, see you in 2004. Zoe x

Hi Zoe

Perhaps you should use the same command when India picks your pup us as when you are telling your pup to leave.

I have found with visiting children that they respond quite well to "doggy type commands" must be shock!  I do have to remember though to say good boy or girl rather than good dog when they stop whatever it was they were going as their parents tend to spoil the effect by laughing when I respond with "dog".

Christine

***I have found with visiting children that they respond quite well to "doggy type commands"***

Works well with my three :D I use 'Sit-stay', 'Leave', 'Off', 'Walk on' (Ok so that's a horsey command but it works for dogs and kids too ;) )

Your dog will guard many things - bones, bed, crate, furniture, owner etc etc, you MUST prevent this behaviour from developing.  So far your dog has only growled at you, make sure it does not escalate; this is a first stage warning from your dog.

I think I read this right that he gaurds his kennel and since it is his it is alright....Sorry if I read it wrong :( but if not....

No way, that kennel may be his but only after it is yours...I as well as my children can climb in take things out of my dogs kennel's. The kennel and toys which they play with as well as their food is all mine not there's. I allow them to have such things...mind you I do free feed because I have never had a problem with it....I had Taz dig into our garbage and pull out some steak bones and I was busy and my children took it away from him no problem...Taz is a 158 pound wolf/rott. I had my daughter hand feed him when he was little and her herself was only about a year or so. I even had neices and nephews come over and stick their hands in his food and give it to him and he took it happily.Even my boston's are use to this.

I would definately kick this behaviour in the butt before it gets much worse and that could be scary.

Good luck :)

I agree - and saying no may not stop it if it is going to escalate.

If you feel you need to sort this out, get hold of that Jean Donaldson book mentioned above. All her books are brilliant and the advice can be put into a practical application - this as far as i know is the only book that deals with this resource guarding for the pet dog owner rather than the behaviourist.

Good luck :)

Lindsay

India (and maybe you) might need to have a more dominant role..
perhaps if his crate was big enough, if you climb in yourself and sit there for half an hour-you can show him whos boss...and get India to do it too..
My sisters dog kept on doing certain things like biting me, growling, standing over me if i had to bend down..etc. that type of thing so I climbed into her bed and sat there, not allowing her toget in and after doing that a few times she was fine.
My dog (Milly) is always being dominant with me...still trying to sort out whos the alpha in our relationship [(:-)]
when she gets a long lasting chew toy or a bone, which is uslally when i'm watching telly, she jumps on top of me to chew it so i take it away and give it to her after a while...(I know this might seem like teasing..), if i'm staning in one place for a while she sits on my foot and we often havelong staring matches..
(though i always win them)
but if you show your dominance in every way you can...(especially getting into his bed...REALLY! ) 
then he probably wont be as aggressive even though its only ocasionally he shows his aggression....
gonna stopblabbing on now...
glad you are okay cuddling him and stuff...how old is India?
Me and mIlly x

If a dog is resource guarding it has diddly squat to do with 'dominance'. The problem with doing things like sitting in the dog's bed to establish who's boss is that it could make the dog feel even more threatened and exacerbate the problem.  Personally, I try to have a relationship with my dog that is based on co-operation not competition.

Sally

Even the lowest ranking dog will gaurd food from a higher ranking dog if it's important enough to it - and some of the techniques you describe could lead to a head on confrontation with some dogs if they feel threatened enough - making eye contact and maintaining it is one of the most threatening things a dog can do to another dog, and it often provokes a reaction - it is something I would NEVER suggest a human does to a dog for safety reasons. 

I agree absolutely with Sally and Digger, the last thing you want is confrontation with your pup.  You pup needs to learn to trust and respect you and an eye to eye battle will not do that.

I am beginning to hate that word 'dominance', it is being used out of context most of the time.  Yes, there are dominant dogs, which are best handled by an expert, but it is when it is used to suggest the owner must be dominant to the dog I see red.  There should be a trust and understanding between the pup and owner, built up while it is a puppy.  This will then form a long and happy relationship between the two. 

Issues have to be dealt with and I would never allow a situation where the pup is growling at me or anyone else in the house.  But it is a pup and still learning right from wrong, it will never learn by being bullied.  Bullying can take many forms, IMO sitting in his bed and staring him out is bullying.

Earn respect by showing it......

Sandra

You lot are right- I as just thinking if it worked with Amber and Milly, why wouldn't it work with him? :(

>>>>My dog (Milly) is always being dominant with me...still trying to sort out whos the alpha in our relationship [(]

Has it worked with Milly?

Sally

Sandra,

"I am beginning to hate that word 'dominance', it is being used out of context most of the time." 

I feel exactly the same way. 

Stacey

Same here!