Our deaf pup has on occasion shown tendencies towards food aggression with the other dogs...ok in itself as they are fed separately...however the pup yesterday had a go at the big man while I was preparing dinner. There was no offer of a treat etc...and I stepped in and place both in a down at opposite sides of the room.

Tonight the pup was in his crate and the big man only walked into the room and you would have thought there was a little Tasmanian devil in the cage...
So I lifted what was left of the dinner...(which he let me do....backed away when I reached for the dish) and used the last half of his feed for a training exercise...What I did was call the big man over and reward the pup with a nut for watching me and not big boy. I asked for sits and downs while encouraging the big man over and treating when pup did as asked..I did this until the food was gone. Put pup to bed and then fed the big man.

I probably went about it the wrong way..but the incident in the kitchen with no food on offer and the crate growling when the big man was only in the room not even near the crate....needs stopped. I understand the pup needs left with his own dinner but none of my other dogs would ever argue over food and the new dog in needs to learn this as well...I wouldn't like to think this pup thinks he can guard food that falls to the floor by accident. And as it stands there are occasions when I will have to have more than one dog in the kitchen when I am preparing food....plus my dogs are all with us at dinner time as well.

Now for other aspects of doggie behaviour I have been letting the big man sort the pup and it has been working well....so I guess I am wondering if I should let him sort this issue as well...I know if I do this it will come to blows and my big man wont start a row over food ....but he will finish it.  I worry too as I have two wee'er dogs and if pup had a go at them he could do a damage as they wouldn't fight back.

At the moment it is mainly talk of what ifs and should I's....as I want this to stop now...I say who gets what food or treats and the other 5 accept this....as pup can't hear he cant be caught out with an AHH AHH....to catch his attention before he reacts...

sorry this is so long...the questions are easier than adding in background info...:-)...I am not terribly concerned....just want to do it right so he fits in...don't want to have to exclude him over this..I cook ALOT....lol so the dogs are with me quite a lot of the time and it would be nice not to have to keep an eye when I should be watching the food..:-)

Cheers
J

Woooooooooaaaaaah!

Right first of all resource guarding is perfectly NATURAL; it is hard wired into dogs to a greater or lesser extent. For me, this is not an issue (as it is in dogs v humans).

However it is no good EXPECTING behaviour until and unless you have demonstrated what you require by TEACHING it.

You have a dog which feels the need to resource guard even MORE as it is deaf!  If feels vulnerable, it has to have competitors in its sights to feel comfortable as he does not have the other sense to help him so the reactions will be more extreme.

So, how to tackle this.

For me, I would not have your dogs in this situation at the moment.

Why?

Because food is a "high arousal" activity and will trigger resonses you cannot deal with yet and because YOUR attention NEEDS to be on the dogs and it is not.

Placing dogs in a down in this situation I believe is not a terribly good idea.

Why?

Because the dogs are in a heightened state of arousal, you have not changed the CER and it is just a break in hostilities before battle can recommence and in fact their arousal could be increasing in this position.

You need to take one or both OUT of the area.

Tonight the pup was in his crate and the big man only walked into the room and you would have thought there was a little Tasmanian devil in the cage...

So I lifted what was left of the dinner...(which he let me do....backed away when I reached for the dish) and used the last half of his feed for a training exercise...

So basically what you did was to confirm to the pup that dog walks into room = food being taken away........................

Hmmm, is this a good idea?

What I did was call the big man over and reward the pup with a nut for watching me and not big boy. I asked for sits and downs while encouraging the big man over and treating when pup did as asked..I did this until the food was gone. Put pup to bed and then fed the big man.

Not only have you taken the food away and increased the arousal level but you now adding insult to injury by asking the dog in this state to perform whilst under immense pressure..............

You want to stop the growling?  What happens when you do?  Do you think there is a possibility that this dog will dispense with growling in the near future (as it don't work and it has been punished for it) so it will go in for the kill?

I am not sure WHY you need to have dogs in this area however if this is the case you need to TEACH dogs to be relaxed around food.

The way to do this is to CHANGE the emotional response of the pup to a) food and b) the arrival of other dogs.

The way to do this is to employ the following technique.

First of all you need to make the food resource guarding behaviour disappear by ensuring that the dog is completely comfy with YOU around food.  To do this you need to ADD super yummy stuff to food when you are near bowl.  The dog should associate you with WHOOPEE.

This should be done by ALL the family in turn and it should be MAINTAINED throughout dogs' lives.

Secondly you want the same response with the older dog.

Ie pup sees older dog and goes "whoopee whenever this guy enters the room, something GREAT happens".

Is your older dog relaxed around food?  If it is not, you need to tackle HIM first before the puppy with dog.

Just because your OTHER dogs never did this is luck, if you have never consciously TRAINED it.  All dogs are different and remember, the more vulnerable and threatened a dog feels the more it will feel the need to guard, so a DEAF dog is going to feel more threatened than some other dogs.

Now for other aspects of doggie behaviour I have been letting the big man sort the pup and it has been working well....so I guess I am wondering if I should let him sort this issue as well...I know if I do this it will come to blows and my big man wont start a row over food ....but he will finish it.  I worry too as I have two wee'er dogs and if pup had a go at them he could do a damage as they wouldn't fight back.

Do NOT allow any fights over food, it is a recipe (scuse pun) for disaster, YOU should be in control over all access to resources, your other dog is not your "deputy"!

A great book on this subject is "Mine! a guide to resource guarding in dogs by Jean Donaldson"

Great advice and an example of why Champdogs is such a great resource for dog owners! :-)

I appreciate your reply....however there are a few points I would like to make....which I perhaps did not make clear.

>So I lifted what was left of the dinner...(which he let me do....backed away when I reached for the dish) and used the last half of his feed for a training >exercise...

>So basically what you did was to confirm to the pup that dog walks into room = food being taken away........................

He did not cower, avert his his head or in any way show he objected to me lifting his dish.
He is used to being hand fed as I use feeding time as a training opportunity which tasty treats such a sausage and cheese are interspersed with his feeds. So he  is used to having his dish lifted. I do this with all mine and they look forward to it as they know it's often a good thing.

I do understand most of what you are trying to say....however that being said....
I like to think of myself as having some sense when it comes to training. There have been times when my nervous dog is obviously stressed and I would like to say I have the ability to set aside training when he is. Same goes for the pup. And to be honest once the food was lifted and in my control (on this occasion ) the pup seemed to relax a bit and was happy enough to train sits and downs and watch me's .

Your reply is a very good one and I appreciate it....however I do have experience with dogs and I just wasn't too sure of what way to go with the food issue.
I gather the basic Gist of your advice is maybe to use meals and treat times as a training opportunity where pup (and of course the big man) is rewarded for the presence of the big man.  The food issue wasn't as huge as I guess it sounded but I did envision it becoming worse with out some form of intervention.
I spoke to the Training and Behaviour advisor at work today (after me posting last night) and she is going to help me with a more specific programme as she knows both dogs and can observe the two interact together..:-)

Cheers and thanks again...I shall be reading your post again at a more decent hour and taking what I need from it.

Thanks
J

Am not going to offer training advice but do wonder as this is a pup if it has reached that stage when he feels he the world is his Oyster (or lobster) - it is the normal and natural way of things and I have found that it just requires you and other humans in the house to make it clear at you are in change and that is the end of the matter. Would add that it is usually a teenage thing and will stop but in the mean time I make it clear it is just not on, perhaps I have the advantage as I feed mine with in a couple of feet of each other so are easy to watch. They are interested in others bowls when they have finished but only exchange bowls when all have finished.

It could very well be a young upstart thing....he is coming 7 months and despite being deaf is a very confident pup.....so I guess a wee bit of consistency should help matters.

my dogs all sleep in the same room some in crates some not depending on their level of maturity..:-)....and up until now I could do as you and feed them all within feet of each other. I could also put them in a room of bones or chews and they would be  all be fine....the odd grumble maybe but nothing more..I guess with 5 dogs I guess I have been really lucky but I have gotten them all from young puppies and this last one has come in partly cooked already at 6 months....he is been with us about a month now so maybe is settling into his personality...which is brilliant apart from this and one other issue (which my big man is sorting very well)

Cheers
J

Hi Freewayz, think your pup is not only reaching the assertive stage but also beginning to feel his feet about the home, think you are going to have to join the big man and make it clear he has not even reached to ladder bottom when it comes to status and privilege.

Realise that he is more difficult because he is deaf but I think I would feed him with the big boss and have pip squeak on the lead so you can check any bad behaviour and go as far as taking the bowl away if he is taking no notice of you and don't give it back till the next feed, he will just have to sit and wait till the big boy finishes. If you separate now you may never get them together and then you may have problems in other areas.

As has been said it is natural behaviour but unwanted and it is your home and the sooner he realises that the sooner he will mind his manners. You obviously know what you are doing as you have 5 already, they are good to accept a pup of 6 months so you must have done something right, he perhaps needs the extra discipline for both confidence and to learn that being deaf does not give privileges he must behave just like the others.

The most important thing to remember is that this is hardwired, "normal" behaviour, but also that he must never associate the presence of the other dog, with food being actually taken away - this will always be a bad thing, no matter how it is done.

Teenagers can be bossy but they can also be a bit unsure underneath, so they try things out. It must be harder being a deaf pup - he can see body language but not hear growls etc.

Lindsay