raw bone or cooked?

[hermykne]

hi, a few questions re dogs and bones.
should it be raw or cooked? i know cooking makes it more brittle thus dangerous to the pup dog but does a raw bone make the dog defensive about his bone. And what is the best practise with a pup and his bone - leave them alone to knaw (ie kids do not disturb him) but will this make him aggresive re food ?.
Or treat as the way we do his food which he gets on a kong or off our hand with the command "easy" .

any advice much appreciated!
TIA

[Caryll]

Raw. Every time.

It won't make a dog food agressive exactly. If you bring a dog up right from the beginning that YOU provide his food (any food, including bones) and YOU can take it away again, then he won't become agressive.

What I've always done with all my dogs is from day 2 (I let them settle for a day!) when I put food down, I make them wait until I say OK before they can eat. I also don't allow them to 'crowd' me when I'm putting it down. Once they're ok with that (shouldn't take more than a couple of days) I put the food down & when they start to eat, I gently ease them away from the bowl & say 'leave it', but in a calm & gentle way. I then pick up the bowl, give them a lot of praise & then put it back down, saying 'ok'. Same with a bone - I give it, then say 'leave' & take it away. Then immediately give it back. The dogs know that they will always get their food back. If I have to take it away completely then I substitute the food with a treat. I've NEVER had problems with food agression.

I was once told by someone from The Dogs Trust that I was doing the wrong thing & that I would MAKE the dog food agressive, but I think the results speak for themselves.

Originally Posted by Caryll

Raw. Every time.

It won't make a dog food agressive exactly. If you bring a dog up right from the beginning that YOU provide his food (any food, including bones) and YOU can take it away again, then he won't become agressive.

What I've always done with all my dogs is from day 2 (I let them settle for a day!) when I put food down, I make them wait until I say OK before they can eat. I also don't allow them to 'crowd' me when I'm putting it down. Once they're ok with that (shouldn't take more than a couple of days) I put the food down & when they start to eat, I gently ease them away from the bowl & say 'leave it', but in a calm & gentle way. I then pick up the bowl, give them a lot of praise & then put it back down, saying 'ok'. Same with a bone - I give it, then say 'leave' & take it away. Then immediately give it back. The dogs know that they will always get their food back. If I have to take it away completely then I substitute the food with a treat. I've NEVER had problems with food agression.

I was once told by someone from The Dogs Trust that I was doing the wrong thing & that I would MAKE the dog food agressive, but I think the results speak for themselves.

I do that too Caryll, so that's two of us with aggressive dogs! Mine sit before feeding - no command, they just do it. I say 'wait' as I put bowls down... then 'take it' is the command to eat.

The leave it command is very useful, there are times when you might need to remove food from your dog. Or when you're trying to keep a bloody piece of meat on the towel the dog's eating it on instead of having it smeared over the kitchen floor...

Bones - always raw.

[JerryLee&Sam]

Originally Posted by Caryll

Raw. Every time.

It won't make a dog food agressive exactly. If you bring a dog up right from the beginning that YOU provide his food (any food, including bones) and YOU can take it away again, then he won't become agressive.

What I've always done with all my dogs is from day 2 (I let them settle for a day!) when I put food down, I make them wait until I say OK before they can eat. I also don't allow them to 'crowd' me when I'm putting it down. Once they're ok with that (shouldn't take more than a couple of days) I put the food down & when they start to eat, I gently ease them away from the bowl & say 'leave it', but in a calm & gentle way. I then pick up the bowl, give them a lot of praise & then put it back down, saying 'ok'. Same with a bone - I give it, then say 'leave' & take it away. Then immediately give it back. The dogs know that they will always get their food back. If I have to take it away completely then I substitute the food with a treat. I've NEVER had problems with food agression.

I was once told by someone from The Dogs Trust that I was doing the wrong thing & that I would MAKE the dog food agressive, but I think the results speak for themselves.

i also do this, i think jerrylee would sit there all day if i didnt tell him to take lol i also sometimes will sit with my dogs while they are eating and pet them everywhere ie face/neck/back/legs etc so that if one of my kids just brush past them they know its fine and are used to it and doesnt startle the dog,

you have to get food aggression stopped and prevented as early as poss as this is the main cause of alot of dogs getting pts,

iv always said to my friends when they feed there dogs (some just put the food righ down and iv looked after them once and got a fat lip cause he head butted me) just cause its in there dish dont mean its theres and you gotta teach them that your letting them have it cause they sat there nicely and waited.

[hermykne]

thank you for your replies, yes we make reuben sit for his kongs as thats how he gets his food presenty with us, and then we collect them up after he has finished - he dont leave nothing behind!!

so we'll practise your suggestions from now, thank you.

Originally Posted by Caryll

Raw. Every time.

It won't make a dog food agressive exactly. If you bring a dog up right from the beginning that YOU provide his food (any food, including bones) and YOU can take it away again, then he won't become agressive.

What I've always done with all my dogs is from day 2 (I let them settle for a day!) when I put food down, I make them wait until I say OK before they can eat. I also don't allow them to 'crowd' me when I'm putting it down. Once they're ok with that (shouldn't take more than a couple of days) I put the food down & when they start to eat, I gently ease them away from the bowl & say 'leave it', but in a calm & gentle way. I then pick up the bowl, give them a lot of praise & then put it back down, saying 'ok'. Same with a bone - I give it, then say 'leave' & take it away. Then immediately give it back. The dogs know that they will always get their food back. If I have to take it away completely then I substitute the food with a treat. I've NEVER had problems with food agression.

I was once told by someone from The Dogs Trust that I was doing the wrong thing & that I would MAKE the dog food agressive, but I think the results speak for themselves.

Totally agree

[Easygoingeezer]

My Tara is 17 weeks now, if I say "can I have it" she just gives it back to me.
I sat with her from day 2 and stoked her whilst eating and took some food out of her bowl or added more, she is perfectly fine. If I have a special treat she lays down or goes to her crate automatically, she let me take her bone from the crate no worries.

[zetstaff]

Originally Posted by LUTGARD

Totally agree

Me too, that's at least a dozen food aggressive dogs

[otto]

otto brings his bones to use to hold for him while he eats it .

[Caryll]

Aw, how sweet! Bet you enjoy holding the mucky end!