My dogue de bordeaux Jeannie is 14 weeks old now,she has had a lot of problems with her tummy and ive finally found a food that suits her perfectly thanx to all the help off here.
She now has another problem, when i put her food down if i try and take the dish or even bend down by the dish she attacks you, im an adult but my son is only 3 and im worried if i cant get her to stop this now she may do it when she is grown. Also she has a very bad aggression towards feet she clasps herself round your ankle and bites on as hard as possible, you can not walk around her as this is what she does, i know she is only a baby, but i dont fancy having a fully grown bordeaux attached to my ankles later on in life.
I know she can be a very good dog and i was wondering if maybe i get another puppy she may be lonely, she looks lonely sometimes, does anybody have any ideas on what i could try.
I had a plastic bottle with some stones in and used to shake it when she bit ,it seemed to stop her for a while but now i cant stop her at all.

You have two completely separate issues here.

One is resource guarding her food wich is perfectly normal dog behaviour if not acceptable to us.

I could write a thesis on this but the best advice I can give you is to buy Mine! a practical guide to resource guarding in dogs by Jean Donaldson who gives a very detailed step by step guide in how to avoid/cure resource guarding of all types, whether food, location, owner, toy etc.

I think the feet problem is another issue, not aggression but your ankles are mobile jaw exercises, replace the ankle with a bone or a stuffed kong. Or remove yourself each time it happens.

I very much doubt if getting another puppy in your particular circumstances would be advisable.

Are you actually taking her food away? Some owners do this because they feel it will train the dog to get used to it but usually the very opposite happens. However, if you teach the dog that you are always "pleasant" around food, and may even add food, and are the source of food, and can be trusted, you will find you can pretty do anything including taking the bowl away (on very rare occasions, i would not suggest doing this every day or even every week!!).Using this method it has always been safe to take food form any of my dogs including bones etc, i do however often do "swops" so they don't feel let down by me.

A simple way to start this is to basically give the dog a tiny amount of its dinner, then when it is finished and looks at you, toss some more in and so on. Eventually your child can help but must of course be supervised at all times around the dog when eating anyway. This is just very basic advice and people vary as to exactly how it is carried out; some use 2 bowls and so on.

Re the leg hugging, my bSd did this and it was totally my own fault because she was frankly, so damned cute when she squashed  her soft toy against my leg and hooked her paw round, i am afraid i did totally the wrong thing and just melted !!! I hold my hands up! What i would say is, make it boring for her and yes, give her a toy or similar to distract her away from your leg and dont give her the opportunity to practice it. (easier said than done, i know...!)

Lindsay
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