CAN ANYONE GIVE ME ADVICE ON HOW TO BREAK MY HUSKY OF HIS FOOD GUARDING BEHAVIOR WITHOUT GETTING BIT?
gWEN

Are you getting bitten or are other dogs?

If it was me getting bitten I would try a remote controlled citronella spraying collar and would make the dog wait for a command allowing it to eat, spraying it if he doesn't obey.

One thing that worked with one of my street dogs who also tried to bite me over food when I first got her was to offer her something a LOT yummier in exchange for what she already had. This might not work if your dog will try to bite you when you hand it a sausage or something...

At the end of the day if I'm totally honest I would beat the bajeezus out of any dog that tried to bite me UNLESS that dog was afraid of me and I provoked its reaction. Luckily, in 9 years of professional dog care I've only had the situation twice. I got bitten of course, but hung on to the scruff of it's neck until it stopped and then placed it on it's back until it was completely calm. I was accepted after that and never needed to do more than say "no" firmly again.

I know some people disagree with that, but it's what any alpha dog would do, and a dog that bites is dangerous. Period. There comes a time when you must cut your losses if you've tried it the nice way. At the moment your dog is boss... and in a strong-minded, powerful and highly intelligent dog like a Husky that's not just a little scary.

What if he sees a kid with ice cream and decides it's his one day?? :???:

Read some books about mushers (dog-sled handlers) and how they treat their huskies, they are very tough on them, but the Husky revels in work and exercise and discipline.

EDIT: I should add that if your Husky isn't getting enough exercise you need to start there. Several hours a day running is a MUST.

Look up NILIF.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE i CAN FIND A BOOK ON THE ALASKAN MUSHERS.
My husband shares your views on this and Mikko respects him. I have been us ing his choke chain while feeding him and if he growls, I make him stop and sit until he looks relaxed and then when I let him he can continue. This is the only problem I have had with him except with paper towels. When I take him out, sometimes I take a paper towel if I don't have a plastic bad to pick up his poop and he wants to snatch it and eat it. If I were to try to take it away he may bite because he is chewing so fast to swallow it before I get it. It seems like no matter how hard I pull on his chain, he doesn't budge.
Mikko also needs a knee operation crucial cranial repair and can not exercise as much until he is healed, but I still get his walks in.
I guess I just need to be stronger with him and it's hard because of my personality. Most of the time i have learned how to be his leader, but in a moments weakness he will test me. My husband likes to be in charge, strong and a leader, so it comes natural to him.
Thanks for your help!
Gwen

Okay Gwen here is what you do.

When you have his food first thing in the morning, have him sit. It can be a foot away or more. Hold the bowl and say leave it. Set it down and if he moves say something to make him stop. My thing is "No way" When he sits, then looks at his bowl, immediately say your release word, ( Okay, Free, All right, Eat!)After he is released, take the bowl away, for just a few seconds. (If you are afraid of being bitten, let him eat the first day, but give him only 1/4 of the food for the second day) If you can take the bowl away, just pick it up and say Good, and put it back and let him eat. If you can't take the bowl away, feed him in 1/4. Pick it up, and walk away, then fill it and put it on the counter. 1/4 full again. Walk away, and then tell him 15 min. later, time to eat. Set it down, and don't let him have it until you have said your release command. Do this until it works.


Another thing you can do, is hand feed. have the bowl of food on the counter, or at your side. Have another bowl, down for him. And just give it slowly, alittle at a time. When he looks at you, say something nice, yes, good, look, even, and give him more.When the bowl you have is empty, praise for all you are worth.

I've been thinking about this... if the above training suggestions don't work without him trying to bite you or nip the food from your fingers you could try a leather muzzle, the kind that you can stick your fingers through.

Offer him a kibble, but only give it to him if he sits at your command and doesn't try to nip at you.

Might work...

Hello, I am new. I was looking for a place where I might get some good information on this. Hopefully I can find it here. I have rescued a mother dog and her pups. I'm working towards getting them adopted and now this. I currently have a rescue dog who is about 9 months old. Mama dog is about 18 months and the puppies are about ten weeks. Well when I picked them up about two weeks ago, Mama dog was not aggressive with her food. As she got better she began growling at her puppies. I figured that she was just training them. Well she and my other rescue dog, Bucca where fighting this morning over food. The aggression is only with other dogs. I can pull her away and even take away the bowl with no reaction from her. I've even taken treats out of her mouth that she has stolen from the others with no reaction. She just doesn't want anyone to eat until she is finished. Even with several bowls she will go from bowl to bowl chasing the others away until she is finished. The odd thing is she is not aggressive about any of the toys or of the water bowl. When food is not an issue, she is loving and playful with the others.

There are many ways that you can teach your dog that as human, YOU control the food, when it is given, how much, and when it is taken away.

I will explain to you how we controlled our dogs food aggression, but keep in mind, we noticed it with him when he was very young so we were training this with a 12 week old pup not a full grown dog, with full jaw strength and adult teeth. But it may give you a base to model and customise your training around to be more appropriate to an adult animal.

We had kato with us for a few weeks, and i noticed one night that he growled at my daughter for walking past him whilst he was eating, but she was about 10 feet away, to me, this reaction meant iminent (sp?) danger to our daughter if we let it go on.

From that point on, and for the rest of his life, we decided that he was to have made clear to him, who exactly controls his food, and it was not going to be him.

So, next feed, we made him sit and wait, and until he did so without breaking position, his food would not be given to him. Once he was still and quiet the food bowl put down, and I would handle him, pat around the face and touch his food whilst he ate, if he growled i removed it all, and would begin again a few moments later. It didnt take him long to assosiate growling with the removal of food, and that good behaviour would bring it back again, so daughter then began this same process, and then we recruited friends and outside family to do this too, so he learned that he must tolerate human handling whilst eating with manners and dignity. Phase 1 completed.

Then we decided that for safetey sake, that we would take this even further, and teach food removal........(mainly this was to set us up to be able to remove any food or toy from him at any stage without putting anyone in danger of bite or poor reaction). Following process above, mid meal we took it in turns to remove his bowl from him, at the same time telling him to "leave it" if he did so with manners, quickly he was made to sit again and the food returned with a little extra treat inside (we found a tiny bit of bacon was the best) if he snapped or growled his wait was longer we would walk away begin again and no treat given apon return of his food. So once again, he learned, that food removal meant a treat IF he was well manered about the situation.

Kato has been with us now for coming up to two years, and this is a process he still goes through every single day. He knows we have complete controll over his food, including daughter, and he knows to surrender his food when we demand him to do so, after all why wouldnt he? Its always means something good when he is requested to surrender the food.

On top of this, we have always been mindfull of his behaviour around us all when we eat, he has learned to lie still and quiet whilst we are eating, and not to try and grab any of our food from us, if he does he is reprimanded, ignored and put back in a drop stay until release command given. We do NOT feed him from the table, and we do NOT let him beg us or our guests to do so. If he bahaves well he MAY get some scraps in his bowl after we have all eaten and table is cleared, but that depends entirely on his behaviour over the meal period. We have instilled in him the fact that humans have 100 percent control over his eating habits, when he does or does not eat, we have given him one and one only thing that he can choose to control, that is his behaviour about it, and if it is very good, the food he gets is better than if he was not well behaved about it.

We are very pleased with the control that we have over him when it comes to food, and it is one that we love to show off to friends and family as well, they are always amazed at his restraint and ability to hold back on food untill he is given the OK to eat it, so much so that we can throw in other commands giving him permission to eat, but he still will not do so unless the right command is given.

The safest way I could think of you adopting a similar method would be with assistance and somone keeping your dog under control by a lead as you go through these processes, at least then you may be able to move around food and handle food, and if your dog reacts poorly somone can physically remove him far enough from the situation as to keep you safe from bite. With persistance you will get there, you just need to find a method that is both safe and works for you and your dog, but I thought I would share the method we used with ours, as atleast a starting model for you to modify, and chop and change a bit to meet your requirements.

Just remember, if you need to pull the dog away, do so calmly with as little reaction from you or anyone else as possible, and reward and praise over the top when your dog gets it right, you want your dog to know that if he does what he is meant to, it means good things, extra treats and extra praise, not a growling when he gets it wrong, but rather a quiet calm correction, get it over and done with move on back to the good stuff.


Good luck, i hope you get ontop of it all soon and find the right method that works for you all.

Thanks so much for the advice. I will start her on that program immediately.

[lil mutt]

that really some great advice... gonna refer this to my friend.

hi i'm going to be honest. i haven't read these postings because its about food aggression but i have a few extra things. my dogs name is nova (ni-o-e-a). she is a german shepard lab mix. she just had a litter on the 2nd. she had 10 but one died the first day and then the runt died the 3rd day. so, there are 8 pups. now, my dog has always had food aggression towards only other dogs not cats not children or humans. those are okay but other dogs that's a problem. well now she has 8 pups who just want to nurse and want to know what mommies eating. they aren't ready to eat it nor do they want to but she is going after them only when she has food. i'm going to have to take her away from them while she eats so the pups don't pick up on it anymore. the funny thing is she is also doing it with water. she never has done it with water before. nova was a rescue dog who i got at 8 months and have had almost 3 yrs. she is great with people of all ages but her and her babies i'm fursted with. not only is there the food aggression issue but there is the sepration from me that i have to deal with. she doesn't want to stay with them she wants to be with me and leave them be. this is her first litter. at first she was with them a lot and i thought wonderful we can get rid of some of the few issues like food aggression and seperation anxiety taken care of when she first got pregnant and when she first had them but as the days go by things are getting worse. i'm not allowed to sleep unless i give up and sleep on the floor next to her and the pups. please help!
peace
jalopy

[german sheep]

hi jlp6869,

how long do you have your dog and how old were she when you got her?
Do you know something about her past?

It sounds stupid, but your dog shows only behaviour which is absolutely correct from her point of view.
There must be something in the past because at the moment you have not a forced pack situation, but a real pack situation. A bitch with her puppies. Therefore it seemes to me that maybe she hasn't had enough food, when she was a puppy of her own.
A mother normally accepts the pups while she is eating, because she is responsable to feed them. And when the pups are big enough they normally lick the corners of the mouth, so that the adults regurgitate food.
Maybe you have the senitive phase case, in which bad experiences are irreversible and thereforew this has no validity.
Because all informations during the 4th - 14 th week are burned in the dog like datas on a memory stick.

So you have to seperate the bitch, while she is eating. You have no other choice, but to risk the health of the puppies and a new pup which will get irreversible food aggressions against other dogs.

LG
gs