Help my 12 month old Neo has started to snap when he has raw bones.  The first time he did it at the cat when it walked past and I simply told him "no".  Last night he snapped at my daughter and actually bit her hand and all she did was go in the vicinity of the bone.  I took the bone off him immediately and made a show of giving it to my daughhter who then handed it back to him.  She then took it off him and handed it back a couple more times.  Have I handled this right or wrongly and is there anything else I can do?  I am very worried - he is normally such a kind, gentle dog and neither myself or my husband have any difficulty with the bone thing.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I would of done the same in your situation taken the bone off him given it to your daughter to give back to him,I suppose the next thing if you and your daughter feel confident is to let her take the bone off him but maybe first you and your husband need to do it for a while to teach him he doesnt need to guard them and allow your daughter to give them back.How old is your daughter ? and see if that stops him snapping when the cat and your daughter walk by.Good luck.

I'd stop giving him bones until he can behave nicely with them, in the mean time, teach him that hands coming near his food are to GIVE not TAKE.......  If somebody tried to remove your steak meal, you wouldn't be too impressed either ;)

What I do with my dogs is give them the bone but still hold one end of it for a few minutes while they gnaw at the other, before I leave them to it. That way I'm not taking it away so they don't feel the need to guard it.

Hi

My rescue greyhound was a little like this when we first got him especially with bones. Everytime he had a bone we would give him a treat & take the bone off of him we repeated this a lot with him and he soon learnt that even if we take the bone he gets something else and usually the bone back. We always do this when we are taking food off of him and now we have no food possesion at all.

Nikki

This is dodgy though, it will work if you are giving your dog a treat better than the bone. If not, well if you took my plate of scampi n chips and gave me an apple, id still stab you in the hand with my fork!

Dont take food from dogs.Dont punish dogs for warning others that the food is HIS food (because you are punishing the dog for warning, not for the need to warn!, take away the warning and the dog has 'bite' left)  Teach a rock solid 'LEAVE' command, starting with low value objects, then treats etc, by swapping.

Also teach your dog that people walking by the food bowl means more food, put out a number of bowls, far enough apart so he cannot guard them all.. drop a treat in one bowl, walk to the next, drop a treat in that etc etc. When he gets the idea, have your daughter do it.

And finally, if you are giving bones, give them often, and dont let your daughter walk by him until you have done the above.

Lots of bones means you devalue the bone!

Em

Hmmm...give me one chocolate bar and I'll be happy, give me 10 and I'll jump over the moon, won't devalue the chocolate I'm afraid.

Had a dog with a similar problem he really was possesive of his food bowl, toys, bones - he actually ended up with 6 bones and was just as possesive over each one.  You must teach the leave command of course, and show him whilst saying leave that you can take *anything* away from him as you are the leader.  It takes a while and is something that an adult must do first (never, never let a child take things away from a dog in this state).  We kept on with 'leave' and then take away his bowl, bone, toy etc, having a good look at it in front of him or putting a few treats in his bowl, telling him to 'wait, good boy' then slowly give the item back to him.  It worked and it got to the position where anyone could safely look at his possesions and he would sit and wait patiently.

Like most training it takes time and consistency but the end result is very rewarding.

HTh, Tara x

>Hmmm...give me one chocolate bar and I'll be happy, give me 10 and I'll jump over the moon, won't devalue the chocolate I'm afraid.

It's very common for people who work in chocolate factories to not be able to face the stuff ever again! ;)

>he actually ended up with 6 bones and was just as possesive over each one. 

6 bones isn't really that many - how was he if you just kept on adding them, till he had 20? Or 50? Or 100?

He would not have been any different IMHO - he never had enough bones even putting his own in his little corner so that he could run over and pinch the other dogs bones.

"It's very common for people who work in chocolate factories to not be able to face the stuff ever again! ;) "

Oh yes but this is one chocoholic who could live in a chocolate factory and never, ever get fed up with it as my bodacious hips will clarify ;) :D

LOL! :D :D

Many, many thanks for all your useful advice - I was worried that I may be handling this wrongly.  You have all made suggestions which I can put into practice (I am increasing my stock of chocolate to see if I am any less protective of it as we speak!).  More seriously tho my daughter is a teenager so we can all work together with him and he seems to be very quick at catching on and understands and acts on the leave command very well.  He just caught us unawares as it is so out of character and we were really shocked - it was good to to have somewhere to go for advice.

My greyhound is so greedy that he doesn't have the thought process to think to himself is that better than the bone she is taking away all he thinks is "oh brilliant even more food" and we were obviously teaching him the leave command at the same time - he left it that is why he got his treat and usually the bone back.:)

As for never taking food off of a dog there are times you have to take food off of a dog with no food in return (using the leave command of course), a time that springs to my mind is when your greyhound tries to swallow a whole pizza on his walk that has been dropped someone........that was a sight to see.:)

Nikki

LOL - or when your friend goes back into her kitchen to find her Ridgeback, after managing to open the oven door (never found out how ! LOL) eating their pizza that were planning to have for tea :D

My pup is food mad. She will do anything for food, and that has definitely helped with her training. At puppy class last night, the instructor brought some freshly cooked chicken to use as treats. She gave some to my pup, and for the rest of the hour she kept trying to follow the instructor around, and everytime the instructor looked at her she did her 'help me, I am starving act' sitting bolt upright holding her paw up. Anyone would have thought we never fed her!

Regarding food aggression, I learned some valuable advice form my mother-in-law who has three dogs. From as soon as we got our pup, she told us to put our hands in her food bowl. Before we feed her, she sits, and we feed her the first mouthful by hand. Also, with bones, whenever she has a bone we will take it from her, only for a few seconds at first and then give it back. You can tell she isn't happy about it, but she doesn't react negatively. I am not experienced enough to advice on how to deal with food aggression when it has already developed, but good luck with it.

"Also, with bones, whenever she has a bone we will take it from her, only for a few seconds at first and then give it back. You can tell she isn't happy about it, but she doesn't react negatively."

WHY.

WHY are you doing this?

You say 'you can tell she isnt happy about it'...... so STOP DOING IT.

You are NOT teaching your dog the correct lesson here. The correct conclusion from this training should be that 'dog is happy with owners being near food and handling food'. IF a dog is happy with you being near and handling her food, then WHEN you NEED to take it away, you can.

What YOUR method is doing, is simply teaching the dog that you will suddenly take away food for no good reason. Giving her back HER bone, which YOU stole isnt especially rewarding. (think about it... ill come round and do the same with your dinner, would you think i was the most wonderful person on the face of the earth if i swiped your plate of steak and chips, said 'leave' and then gave it back, i dont think so!)

I cant remember what breed your dog is NannyOgg, but i flipping hope its not one that will eventually get big enough to say 'right, MY BONE F. OFF'!

Training dogs to give up stuff by taking it from them and giving it back is a BAD IDEA. This is the kind of training that results in the 3 year old child, innocently wanting to look at the dogs bone when no adult is watching getting bitten in the face because the dog thinks 'well, you ARENT big enough to stop me, so F. OFF'

And, if you thiknk im coming on a bit strong about this, it is because i WAS the person who was bitten by a dog who was 'trained' using these methods. I wasnt a child i was an adult, fortunately for both me and the dog, but he bit me because im not a member of his family, and as such, he has no experience of ME giving out orders, so when i went to take his collar, and he had a toy i didnt see, i got bitten, very badly.

Em

I often put my hand in the bowls when my dogs are eating, usually to drop a very tasty morsel in.  Otherwise they are left to eat in peace.  Sometimes we'll lift the bowls when they are finished to add a tasty leftover and give them back to them.  But they aren't bothered at all about guarding food.  I have had to take some cooked chicken bones of Spender that he picked up on a walk. 

But be careful with taking a high value item such as bones away only to give them back, they want to eat it now and taking it away can cause  a build up of resentment even if it's only for a second.  You are interrupting your dog's pleasure with nothing in it for him.  I would give the dog a low value treat, teach the leave commend and replace it with something of high value, so you are teaching the dog there is something to gain by complying.

Dogs can become conditioned to the bowl being taken away before they are finished eating, only to find that something of high value is added when replaced. 

Hi Spender,

exactly what I do and always have done with my own and recommended to my puppies' new owners.  I've found this works without any need to be confrontational with the dog or concerned should children or anyone outwith their family (including other dogs) be near food or treats etc. - through showing them they travel far and wide and stay over on caravan parks, hotels, friends' homes etc so ensuring they're not possessive with food is essential.

As you pointed out so well, it's important to avoid building up resentment :) 

Regards, Teri

I did this with my puppy from when we got him, and i still can at 2yo put my hand in his food bowl while he is eating. But with bones/chews/and other high value objects he is very aggressive. I admit to doing to swap and return trick, and succeded in being outsmarted by my dog... drop the bone, snatch the treat, nip in my direction and grab the bone again... so i stopped doing that...

I do hold his treats, and as a pup it was a favorite pasttime to sit on my lap chewing a treat i was holding. Now he is very wary of me when i do this, and patting him with my free hand can get me nipped. going for the head is a big no no, but i can work my way up from his rump to about his neck over a few minutes. I even do give him treats to carry off, but as soon as it's his, it's HIS. he will growl and guard treats even from me walking by while ignoring him. Sometimes he approaches me and then gets defensive...

I have tried all i can to try convince him i have no interest in his treats, and the *only* time things get taken from him is when it is something that he really shouldnt have (washing, dog poo, dangerous things). He will even do this with a toy on occasion, that any other time my taking it would mean i was going to play with him...

The only secret weapon i have is that his dinner meat is the highest value object, so in a pinch i can bribe him to drop an illicit object, but only if i am quick (see above)... He knows "drop it" but will only do so for toys or low value things... and poo is *not* low value to him...

any other ideas...

Sometimes you DO have to take food off a dog.

But you train the dog to leave food on command (and if my friend can train her labrador to LEAVE a nice cold cooked sausage, you can train a greyhound to put down the pizza!), and you DONT do this by simply marching up to the dog an removing the food!
That way lies an upset dog and a bitten owner, or more usually, a bitten owners child.

Teaching a dog to leave food, and taht owners hands near or in food bowls is a GOOD thing just takes a teeny bit of common sense.

Put the extra food in the dogs bowl where HE can see it. Put one treat in the bowl, when thats gone, walk by and drop another treat in the bowl.

DONT grab a bowl half full of food, take it to the work top, put more food in and give it back, the dog hasnt counted his kibble, he has NO idea you just put more food in there, all he knows is 'my food, you stole it'.

Think about it from a dogs poitn of view, its nice to have dogs that do things 'because you say' but until you have shown that dog THAT doing things 'because you say' is rewarding, you have a problem, and many dogs sadly are still taught to do th ings 'because you say' because they are SCARED.

Em

I can't see anyone on here suggesting you just go up and take the bowl / bone etc but to use the 'LEAVE' command FIRST !!!  This is VERY important to teach your dog and once accomplished by one family member should be re-inforced with others - even with people who visit you on a regular basis can be included.

Personally I think you underestimate the intelligence of a dog ! "DONT grab a bowl half full of food, take it to the work top, put more food in and give it back, the dog hasnt counted his kibble, he has NO idea you just put more food in there, all he knows is 'my food, you stole it'."  No BUT he understands what bowl on counter means especially when accompanied by the sound of more food going in ;)

For TWENTY years I have trained dogs this way, spaniels, dalmations, bulldogs, boxers and have NEVER in all that time had a problem with my dogs - even one that I rehomed through previous owners neglect (the one with the bone obsession) and he came along perfectly using the leave, pick up , look and give back routine.

A lot of us on here have said and done the same thing - surely we can't all be wrong and be harbouring a potential child biter !

Mmm, mebbes so, but with MY methods, there is no room for that one dog in a million who really CANT see taht he is getting more food.

Hey, whats better, use a method wtih a small risk, or use a method with no risk.

Oh, i dunno.

The instant reward nature of the methods i have posted are FAR more effective and FAR less open to misinterpretation. Given taht we are two different species, taht WE need to be able to communicate with our dogs, dont you think that eliminating the chances for misunderstanding are a good idea?

Em

"...i have posted are FAR more effective and FAR less open to misinterpretation." - But you must realise that that is YOUR opinion whereas the leave, pickup, wait, look, praise and give back command works and has worked for 99% of the posters on this post.

People train different ways, dogs respond to different techniques, but in 20 years of using the same command and recommending to others who have also used the command succesfully with their own dogs and NEVER having a problem that our way is also as effective (and in our eyes from our experiences better !)

AAAh wrote a post wanted to edit it and pressed the wrong button so have another go.

I would never recommend marching up to the food and just taking away without the leave command or anything in return I dont think many people would, I did think I clarified that I DID use the leave command and treats in my second post to take bones off him.

I totally agree with boxer mum mine can certainly tell that I am topping up their food when I occasionally take their bowls off of them while they are eating as I am usually topping it up with left overs from our plate or other such tasty tit bits. My dogs have been taught - if you leave your food you will get something even better to eat... not I stole your food.

Ok fairynuff.

But then if i can misinterpret what you are saying, is it not possible that someone who DOESNT know what 'could' happen can misinterpret it as well.

And someone going about teaching a leave command, and teaching their dog to accept human hands near food wrongly can go VERY bad.

Going from teh original post.

"Help my 12 month old Neo has started to snap when he has raw bones.  The first time he did it at the cat when it walked past and I simply told him "no". " 

In this case, the dog warned the cat, and quite rightly i think, that the bone was HIS, and he would defend it.
For this action, simply warning the cat, the dog was punished.

"Last night he snapped at my daughter and actually bit her hand and all she did was go in the vicinity of the bone."

The next time someone goes near the bone, a warning is not given (OP, was it?), and the dog bit, again, in defence of his bone. Tellingly, the person bitten has probably a similar status as the cat, someone who SHOULD be respected, but due to size and unclear communication skills, isnt.

"I took the bone off him immediately and made a show of giving it to my daughhter who then handed it back to him.  She then took it off him and handed it back a couple more times. "

So the dog is defending his bone. It is after all HIS bone, it was given to him, it is in his possesion, its his. Owner removes bone, gives it to the person who he warned by biting previously, not to take his bone.
Child gives dog bone, child takes dogs bone, child gives dog bone etc.

All this is teaching the dog is that people, small and big, want to take your prized possessions. Undoubtedly, on some dogs this will work, some dogs just cant be bothered.

Some dogs would have had the childs face off.

Id rather use methods with NO risk of a  childs face being removed than ones with 'some' risk.

There is of course sometimes a need to remove things from a dogs possession. Invariably though, the situations are totally different. I see NO need for adult  (and certainly not child, child should be educated to leave the dog alone) to take food off a dog if the person gave that food to the dog.

Removing food a dog finds on a walk, or steals from the kitchen counters is entirely different, and training a dog to 'leave' is quite a different thing to training a dog to accept humans walking past his food bowl.

(the dog i mentioned before who will hand a sausage back to her owners will of course, not DREAM of leaving a stinky dead rabbit until she has chewed it up, sicked it up and rolled in it).

Em

>All this is teaching the dog is that people, small and big, want to take your prized possessions. Undoubtedly, on some dogs this will work, some dogs just cant be bothered.

>Some dogs would have had the child's face off.

Totally agree Em ;) 

FWIW I believe that the most simplistic i.e. least dominant approach is generally the most successful and the safest way.  There will always be variations on a theme of how to train or address different circumstances with different dogs but IME if a non-confrontational approach is employed and the dog understands that there are valuable benefits to be had from permitting this rather clumsy and inadequate species to mould their behaviour, they are far more likely to be excitedly looking for their reward than smouldering about the injustice of having us interfere with or prevent their pleasures.

Regards, Teri :)

Teaching the leave command so that you can take *anything* away from a dog is not confrontational - it is teaching the dog that you are in charge yes, but then you must always be 'above' your dog as must evry other human in the household.

My question with regards to not taking a food bowl away or even teaching a dog that you can do this :

Your dog is eating it's dinner, you walk past and accidentally drop a tablet for yourself or another animal into the bowl - what will you do next ?  If you have not taught your dog the leave command so that you can pick up his bowl the dog will eat the tablet - you end up at the vets, dog ill, huge bill.  If you have taught your dog one of the most basic and acceptable commands in the household then you can quickly say 'fido, leave' he will then let you pick up his bowl and remove the tablet.  Yey, job done, good boy you're now not going to be sick through mummies clumsiness well done good boy, he wags his tail, he is happy to have pleased his owner and he then gets his bowl back.

A well trained dog will leave anything on your command and this is acheived by constantly re-inforcing the command with whatever the dog has - be it his bowl of food, toy, bloody bone or juicy stinky rabbit.  (In fact my springer cross brought in a wood pigeon when he was one year old, he really wanted to eat it - BUT - because I have always used the leave command and can take anything away from him he let me have the woodpigeon in return for a huge fuss, cuddle and a doggy treat of less value than the pigeon !)

Until recently my springer would bark a quick no at our boxer and then voice low growls at him when he was eating his dinner - this was due to the boxer (only a baby of 15 weeks at that time) being 'rude' - by getting the boxer to sit and wait when he has finished his meal (who also allows us to take anything away from him at anythime) and by continually working with the springer that the boxer is no longer rude this behaviour has stopped.  In fact the boxer can now lay down next to the springer while he eats with no conflict at all, all down to teaching them both the leave command so that no food possession (or aggression) is present.

I am not the sort of person who demands that I am dominant over my dogs - but through constant training and hard work I have a mutual respect with my animals, as has my OH and three children - both dogs know their place in the pack and they are the most happy and contented dogs I know - something that doesn't go unnoticed by other people, vets and trainers that we know :)

Sometimes you don't have time to use a leave command, sometimes you just have to grab whatever it is, and you should be able to do that with confidence, because your dog has been desensitised to human hands near food (and that a human taking something from you often has something even more desirable to offer instead). Personally I use both....

In the words of Em "why couldn't I have said that?" :) :P :D

Hi Boxer Mum,

I can see both points on this issue and don't doubt you have found success - you obviously wouldn't keep doing it otherwise, never mind recommend it ;)

However not everyone will have such wide ranging experience of how best to deal with possessive behaviour re food, favourite toys, dog's personal primary resting place etc so perhaps when dealing with novice owners it is better to suggest the least confrontational methods in all areas both from a safety perspective and providing some insight into why some problems develop in certain circumstances

Regards, Teri :)

Now, tell me. Why couldnt I have just said that? :D

Em

You did Em, just differently :D

:P

Lindsay
x

The thing is, as always, the OP has had helped, thanked us for it and that seemed to be the end of it   The VAST majority of answers on here have recommended the same principal as me (so why you have singled me out on this point heaven knows !) but once it has been sorted there is always someone to turn up after the bus has been and gone and start quoting that everyone elses way is wrong, shouldn't be done (despite it being done succesfully by many of us) - as far as I see there was no advice to be given to "...novice owners it is better to suggest the least confrontational methods"

We have all said - say LEAVE then take away the item (be it food or otherwise) this is a very important part of bringing up ANY dog - if a dog will not leave and let you handle the object then you do have a serious problem that a behaviourist should deal with.  Which is why I stated to EM that her being bit was probably due to other issues with the dog who bit her or that she approached in a manner that the dog felt threatening (I wasn't having a POP at her which seems to have been the general misconception when reading between the lines)

Hi Boxer's Mum,

>The thing is, as always, the OP has had helped, thanked us for it and that seemed to be the end of it

a summation at such an early stage - unusual but, let's hope all's done & dusted and this giant breed dog with an inexperienced owner and food possessive problem already brewing finds it just as simple as that.

>The VAST majority of answers on here have recommended the same principal as me

Hmmm - doesn't read quite like that .....  amounts to yourself and two other posters, one of whom (no disrespect intended) is very much on a learning curve with a young puppy.

>(so why you have singled me out on this point heaven knows !)

Singled you out   I replied to three different people on this thread.  I made a particular effort (failed in your eyes presumably :rolleyes: ) to be polite and give credit to your theory as you were clearly rather over heated about it and simply tried to explain my POV.  It is still an open forum I believe and much of the information or advice exchanged, particularly on behavioural issues, is nothing more than a matter of opinion by each and every poster based on varying degrees of experience and personal skills. 

I teach "leave" commands with toys initially and move onto treats - lower value treats such as small pieces of biscuit - but I do so on a "swapsies" basis -  not snatch and grab regardless of using the command word before or during the theft :P  I've found that to be highly effective, non-confrontational and can even be made fun for the dog    Ergo, that is what I always recommend.  Doesn't make me right and you wrong - simply different approaches to achieve the same end result and I know my method works and you say yours does too.  Importantly, IMO, is I know why my preferred method works and it doesn't have the same potential to encourage food possessive behaviour that some methods do.

Regards, Teri

Not heated - takes a lot more than a 'discussion' to get me 'heated' as you put it.

And I have NEVER snatched and grabbed or suggested to anyone to snatch and grab - leave command, then take the item in a controlled manner, surely that would have been obvious or do I have to use bullet points to describe each course of action within each split second manouevre ;)

It is a discussion and I have not said that any body elses actions are incorrect, that mine and other posters actions are also effective yes - if you want to pick anybody up on that comment then please do so to the correct person.

>The thing is, as always, the OP has had helped, thanked us for it and that seemed to be the end of it

"It is a discussion"

>Not heated - takes a lot more than a 'discussion' to get me 'heated' as you put it.

Really LOL

I gave both credit and respect to your opinion and practice despite it not being something I share however it seems you're only interested in brow beating everyone into agreeing with you :rolleyes:  Clearly that's not going to happen but take the stage by all means ;) 

LOLOLOLOLOLOL - you have much to learn with regards to discussion my dear, I wouldn't brow beat anyone into agreeing with me but when someone (Em) starts by saying thet you should never take food away from a dog, and that other posters opinion is wrong then I'm afraid what I will do is back-up my post and advice with examples and not brow beat to agree or suggest that other posters advice is incorrect !

And if you think my response is heated then you need to learn about human behaviour too - not heated, just a confident personality ;)

As I've said, repeatedly, I gave credit to your approach and your declared success with same. 

For some reason you have chosen to be obnoxious and derisory towards me - neither of which is IMO a recommended route towards "discussion" nor helpful in any way, shape or form to the OP.   If you have an underlying personal issue with me there is a pm facility.  Failing that perhaps you ought to reacquaint yourself with the TOS.

Teri I have neither been obnoxious or derisory towards you - that is not in my nature - I have been precise and to the point in my replies and have stood up for myself and my opinions as would any human being, I am sorry if you have misinterpreted my actions - unlike my dogs who know and understand me perfectly ;) :D

The reason I did not pick on any one in particular is to make sure this did not degenerate into becoming nasty or personal, and in pointing out that this thread had gained 20 responces after I had myself responded illustrates that this is an emotive issue (i.e. heated). Sometimes we all need to be a bit more sensitive to the fact that we are communicating through a medium that leaves us slightly 'disabled' in terms of our ability to communicate - text can leave things very unclear, and we are all guilty of that I think, and it is difficult with text to communite in the same way you would in person where you can change you tone or use facial expressions to support your meaning or what you are saying. I am concerned that there can be times on here when new owners approach this forum for advice (which can be a hard thing to admit to needing when you seem to be surrounded by people with a lot of experience) only to have curt or WHAT CAN APPEAR to be aggressive responces, which makes you reticent to approach this community again for advice. It may not feel that way to the 'seasoned veterans' of this community, but it can to relative new comers in need of help at times when they can be at their wits end!

Boxer Mum, I never said you suggested to 'snatch and grab', nowhere in my post did I say that, I meant that people on here had ASSUMED that is what I meant I did with my puppy, which was in part my fault as I did not make it clear what my methods were in my earlier post (again lack of sleep, too much work and too many deadlines all magnified with a boistrous but adorable 11 week old pup!). If I had been asked to explain, I would have extended my first post to include that I use the command 'leave'. Also, picking up on the 'correct person' to respond to can end up getting nasty over the internet, and I did not want to do that, therefore a generic responce was I felt more suitable.

Oh NannyOgg - please, I wasn't replying to you   I never suggested that you had accused me of anything.  When I mentioned the snatch and grab it was ina reply to Teri (see a little further up :) )

p.s - by reading up further I can actually see that is was Em that suggested what you did with the bones to be, in her opinion, incorrect - but as this thread has become a complete mess with everyone replying to anyone I can see how you became confused :D

Believe me, confusion comes easily to me!

OK, so we are friends again? I feel much better!

Take Care xxx

No worries :D

Tara x

hello you havent mentioned who feeds your dog is it just you and your husband maybe you could let your daughter do some feeding.
i have a 10 mt old bullmastif and 12 year old border collie X and since they were pups we have always taken in turns feeding them and giving her the ocational smooth when she is eating.
when we feed bones we sit and hold for a little while before we actualy give it to her.
when she has half eaten it again only ocationaly we use the leave command we dont take the bone (but could if we want) we then praise her with a smooth and tell her go on then.
we have never had a problem with her food and she would quite literly let us eat it if we wanted to.
while i appreciate all dogs are different some greedy and some not i have always used this method and i have had dogs all my life.(this is my method and i no some wont agree)
the method i use for a greedy dog (this has always worked)is to give them as much food at feed times more than they can eat .of course to begin with they try to eat it all
their is always food in my dogs bowls as they no its not going to be taken and their is no threat with food they eat it when hungary.a ten month old pup bitch and a 12 year old bitch they are fed together seperate bowls but tend to share.

I didn't realise as a first time dog owner I would end up having 20 posts replying to me slating me for the methods I am using - I am only taking advice from people I know with dogs (and my mother-in-law has had GSD for many, many years (30 in fact), as well as other dog breeds) - I HAVE NEVER OWNED A DOG BEFORE. It is like children, every parenting book you buy tells you a different way of doing it, and it is the same with dogs. If people on here had bothered to ask, apart from 'watch' one of the first things my puppy learned was 'leave'. She is 11 weeks old and she will leave an object on the floor or that is in my hand until I tell her she can have it, and this is what I do with the bones. I don't just snatch them off her. She is taught to leave until I tell her she can have it. I put my hands in her bowl regularly and she must sit for meals. I know people on here responded so passionately because they were obvsiouly concerned I may be building a situation where I might end up with an aggressive and possessive dog, but I am a first time dog owner and sometimes it can be very tiring and demoralising when people on here got on a high horse about something and won't bother asking more about the situation first but will decide to completely slate what you do. Everyone has to learn somewhere and I am sure you all made many mistakes when you first had a dog, so please don't insinuate that I am an idiot because I have obviously been advised to use a method that is either outdated or which people who happen to use this site do not use. If you had asked I would have told you we DO NOT snatch the bone from her or take it from her, we use the command 'leave', which I expect I did not make clear in my earlier post, perhaps because the only time I get on the internet is late at night when I am too tired to think coherently. She knows 'leave' so well she will settle down for the long haul in a sit when we say 'leave' because she knows she has to wait. This is what we use. She also knows when we say 'leave' that she is to drop what she has got, whether that be a toy or a piece of food, and believe me she does this as she is exceptionally intellegent (OK, she lapses at times, but she is a puppy).  I am only learning. I teach university students, and I wouldn't dream of treating a student who answered a question incorrectly to the kind of high-mindedness that can occasionally be a feature of this site. People need to learn, the best way to teach people is to not be a) aggressive, b) high-minded (i.e. suggesting you must be an idiot not to know the right answer/way/method, c) and show patience so you can build a relationship whereby people feel they can approach you for help and advice again.

Sorry. It can be very difficult trying to read between the lines, and sometimes incorrect assumptions are made. The clearer the posts, the less chance there is for misunderstandings.
:)

Sorry, my responce is further up this thread (in fact before my apparently 'explosive' first post! - tirdness again!) I did not mean to make this seem nasty, it is just I am very tired and coming on here can sometimes feel like a break, and it has been a good source of advice to me as a first time (and very nervous owner). I agree that it is very difficult to communicate in this way as text does not allow you the same freedom of communication as in person, but it can be hard as a new member of an online community, and as a new dog owner, to face a barrage of responces suggesting that your methods are wrong when no one first asked me to discuss what exactly my methods were - I use the 'leave' command, I do not just grad a bone away from my dog - even I know that would be suicide ! (rather like me with a pot of Ben & Jerry's).

im sorry you feel you got negative advice but you did ask for advice im sure nobody on here thinks your an idiot we are here to help as best we can.
whether you chose to take any of our advice is of course up to you but as i said no offence meant.
all the best with your situation.

There is an excellent book, which I seem to recommend constantly on this board, called: 'Mine!  A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs' by Jean Donaldson, author of the Culture Clash.  It has several exercises broken down into tiny steps and it uses reward-based methods to solve guarding behaviours.  I thoroughly recommend it.  It is available from Crosskeys books:  http://www.crosskeysbooks.com/product_info.php?products_id=451

Just to update you a little on progress and give a bit more info which I seemed to have omitted from first post:  We are doing well with bones using the leave, take, return and reward method.  Although it is lavish praise that is getting the best results because believe it or not he is not very food orientated but loves to please.  Daughter is a teenager not a child (sorry I should have said in my first post) and I have also followed suggestion that she gives out food as well as myself and husband.  I have reared 2 giant breeds into old age prior to this one so not a complete novice -just the first time that I have come across this particular problem. Am sure that I will probably encounter more before hes grown! Thank you all again.