advice please

when my shepherd is laying don eating a raw hide bone, should you now and again take the bone away from him or leave him well alone. if i get down on the floor wifh him and try and take it away he starts to show his teeth. should i leave him alone or be the pack leader and say i want that bone and make him understand and get him to leave it. the reason i ask this as we have a 3 year old daughter and if she should be on the ground at the same time . it might be a different matter. or is he just protecing his bone or food agresive.. he only does this with a bone , he is fine with his food.

[Bonniesmummy]

In my opinion I would leave him alone.... if I gave you an icecream and then took it off you, would you be amused??? I know I wouldn't

But on the flip of that you should be able to remove food without being snarled at, esp since you have a young child BUT you need to train the child as much as the dog so the kid knows what is acceptable behaviour around and towards the dog.

I'm of the opinion to leave well alone but others will disagree and give you advice to the contary.... IMO you take from the advice given what you deem to be the best for you and your family and an opinion of which you agree with

[Stuart]

I agree,... the old fashioned idea of removing food from a dog in my opion is not the way to go, what you must be able to do is command your dog to `leave it`, this is a safer way and a more sure way,..if he comes across a poisoned animal while out for i.e., you have full control,... and dogs should be fed away from children,..it is a false brag to be able to say `my child can remove food from my dog`,.. because one day it may change

I want to also warn against rawhide chews,..I would strongly suggest to you that you stop feeding those, I know they like them,... but these things swell up in the gut, and more than one dogs has choked on them in the past

[kita]

It is total nonsense that the 'pack leader' is in charge of the food. Any dog/wolf in a pack will try and take food off any other and they will always fight for what is theirs.

The only dogs that can take food off another without a fight are young pups - they can take food off anyone without exception.

I agree with Stuart on this one and would leave the dog well alone when eating. Children must be made to respect the dog as well and not torment it by taking the food away 'because they should be able to'. If a child is taught that they can take food away from their own dog they could well try it with other dogs and they may not be so accommodating, some children just do it to torment the poor dog as well.

If you have to take something off your dog it is much better to 'exchange' it for something else (a high value treat like fried liver/hotdog etc.). I would call the dog away from the bone and reward it with the treat when it came to me.

Sue

PS I also would not give a dog a rawhide chew as I have seen dogs that choked on them - they can also swell up when in the stomach and have been known to severely damage the dogs insides. When they are wet from the dogs saliva it is virtually impossible to get hold of them to pull them out of the dogs throat/mouth.

[RainbowLass]

Personally I wouldn't take anything from Rogue if she was eating it, but there has been a few times when i've had to (Like if she's trying to stuff it under the sofa cushions for example) and i have taught her to leave it on command rather than dive in and get it from her when she isn't expecting it.

I always heard though that toys are a different matter, i've got a young child myself and i'd rather not let Rogue get protective of anything, just in case.

[Bonniesmummy]

Originally Posted by Bonniesmummy

In my opinion I would leave him alone.... if I gave you an icecream and then took it off you, would you be amused??? I know I wouldn't

But on the flip of that you should be able to remove food without being snarled at, esp since you have a young child BUT you need to train the child as much as the dog so the kid knows what is acceptable behaviour around and towards the dog.

I'm of the opinion to leave well alone but others will disagree and give you advice to the contary.... IMO you take from the advice given what you deem to be the best for you and your family and an opinion of which you agree with

I stand by what I already said but would like to add that I think if we start taking things away then we are only causing problems before they are there!

[Caryll]

Right from the start I teach my dogs that I can take food away. I never just grab it, I always teach the 'leave' command. However, I cannot and will not put up with my dog showing its teeth at me just because I'm near its food.

I've always taught my dogs that me or anyone near thier food is nothing to worry about.I have did this by throwing treats as I pass (high value) . I get the kids to do this and the dog usually when eating anything and sees me approach looks up for anything tasty! However the rule is to let the dog eat his chews, bones in peace. The leave command has been used when I want him to leave anything and if I pick his bomes,chews up they are always returned or exchanged for a new one when they get all grubby!

Catriona xx

thanks for all the quick replys there, yes will take this all on board, very handy tips from you all. you learn something new each day. didnt know about the raw bones though. yes they do get very slippery when wet so would be hard to remove from throut if needed i must say. is there any other chew things that you can buy thats better. . will teach him to leave first then remove it. and teach my daughter to leave him well alone when eating.

[Bonniesmummy]

Most folk on here have various opinions about this, oh the old debate has risen it's ugly head again lol

When I got bonnie I had no idea about what to teach and what not to teach so I simply did NOT teach her that ' it's ok if I take you stuff!' But I can honestly say if I got a new pup I still would NOT incorporate this in training.... I just don't see the point - why would there ever be a problem, why would you want to take something away once it's been given! Accidentally dropped something by a child .... Well keep the kids away when the dog is eating and that won't happen, why would they need to be near the dog when it's eating anyway?
I just think don't fix what ain't broke! Dont make an issue of something that's not there JMO

Btw I do/have taught leave command, but would never use it for their food... If I give her a meal she gets to eat it without interruption it's a basic survival need/right..... I would not allow growling just because I'm near her bowl but then she never has and I didn't teach her otherwise... Imagine that