I've had some relapses with Callia 13 months, regarding resource guarding.

She was always a little bit inclined to resource guard when she was very young and I thought that I had successfully dealt with it, for many months she didn't have any issues with us and food.

Went through another minor stage of it last year, bit of posturing and grumbling when me or OH walked past her. I started going back to scratch again with her, ie, adding food to her bowl while she was still eating and replacing food with other tasty treats etc. I realised that I'd been very lackadaisical in that department and we needed to do further work.

I feed BARF and at this time of year she eats in the kitchen. Whenever I give her a rack or whole tripe she is in the habit of parading around with it, often wiping it around my legs and feet, with her tail wagging madly :rolleyes: She'll then lay on my feet, whether I'm sitting or standing and thoroughly enjoy it.

Whenever my 9 yr old daughter is in the room or enters the room, Callia will walk towards her with item of food in her mouth and growl at her in an intimidatory fashion and then walk back to where she was before finishing it.

I must make it clear at this stage that my daughter is very mature around the dogs and fully respects them at all times. She has a fantastic relationship with both dogs and never enters a room without one of us being there when the dogs are eating in particular. So no tormenting has occurred.

I'm interested as to why she does it. Obviously there are still issues there that need to be dealt with, but first, I need a little more insight as to why she's doing it.

Any opinions and advice welcome :)

Edited to add: My daughter often feeds her with me there and gives titbits when we're training with no problems on either side.

As to why she does it, I guess it is no different to an adolescent/adult dog warning a pup not to come any closer to take the food.  Callia knows the difference between a child and an adult and so is warning your daughter, just as she would a pup. Dogs will very rarely acknowledge a child as a higher pecking order than themselves, so she will not respect her the same, no matter how grown up she is!

She has learnt through your current on going training to respect and trust you not to take her food, with your daughter this may never fully happen, which is why you should always be wary. Most dogs don't give a toss about food resorce guarding, but for the ones that do, it is best to keep your daughter out of reach. :-)

this has caught my attention- my pup (6months) is fine around us(me&oh) with food- she lets me be near.
different story with cats however- she as you described it charges up and growls at them before returning to her food.
we think she does this because they havent established their hierachy yet, we the humans and flo HAVE though!
so flo and cats dont know where either of them stand.

maybe this is the case with your daughter and the dog? get your daughter to feed the dog every day, making dog sit before she gives the food etc. ;)

Thanks for the feedback guys :)

I've had several dogs over the years, but this is the first one that has had ongoing issues in the food department, she makes me work that bit harder with her in all respects ;) I understand that her Mother is the same, my breeder doesn't have young children in the house so this makes their life a wee bit easier.

I understand the relationship between child and dog, from my own perspective as well as my daughters. My older boy, although very good with my daughter, will still choose to ignore her when the mood takes him :rolleyes:

Dogs fascinate me and why they do what they do. I love to try and understand what makes them tick, I always believe that if you can try to fathom them out, then you are half way to solving any problems :)