A dog with a 'bone'

[LOX]

Hope someone can give me advice about my German Shepherd. He is a beautifull dog and he has a fantastic temprament. He is really soft and loving and he is 13 month old....until, that is......Tonight i have given him a treat (a large chicken roll-proper doggy treat, he has taken it to his basket and has become very protective over it and he has just growled at my husband when he went towards him. He has'nt even started to eat it as yet he is just layed in his basket and if he thinks we are going anywhere near him he appears to go really still and gives us a glare!!!!! We have called him out but he wont leave that basket for nothing! he wont even go onto the garden for a wee which is unusual, he usually bounds to the door the minute he hears the key in the lock. He really is lovely 'my soul mate' but i dont like the way he is acting at the minute, he has been in his basket now for about 2 hours!!!!! your advice will be much appreciated

[UkPagan54]

Take it to the vet and have it put down before you or a kid tgets bitten or mauled... Simple answer...

[andy-hughes]

This is simp;ly his pack instinct taking over.

Domestic dogs still retain large amounts of instrinctive behaviour from their ancestors who were wild pack dogs.

Having been given his large treat, your dog is keen to protect it from the rest of the 'pack' - which is your family.

For that reason, he is warning you off if he thinks you may try and take his treat away. That's why he has taken it to his bed - his 'space' where he can guard it, and why he is reluctant to leave his treat ungaurded, even for nature's calls.

Leave him alone while he gets used to this new scenario. While he is in his bed, or if he carries his treat somewhere else, ignore him as far as possible, and avoid invading his 'space'.

He will soon realise that you are not going to take his treat, and in time, he will relax and be fine anout it. It's all a bit new for him, and he is still young, so don;t attaach too much importance to his 'warning' signs. But let him know that you have seen them, and are acting accordingly, this will give him the security he needs to relax.

[Cheekyteddy]

Sorry andy, I can't agree with you on this. The dog needs to learn that you are the pack leader and if you want the treat he has to give it up. In the wild this would happen if the alpha wanted it the dog would release it.

This may sound strange but you need to get in his bed and you need to have his treat. He has to realise that everything he has comes from you and he must wait his turn.

Try eating before him, never greet him first when you come home. Always end a game - never let him win.

This is a huge dog and you must be his alpha. Maybe you need to pay for some help.

Good luck

Cheeky

[andy-hughes]

I guess we agree to diagree with this teddy.

My only point in allowing the dog to relax with his treat uis to try and avoid the rigid pack hierarchy of which you speak.

To my mind, if you set yourself up as the alpha, then sooner or later, when your dog reaches maturity, he is going to fances his chances for a tilt at the leadership - which again is natural pack instinct.

I personally wouldn;t like to have to try and reinforce my leadership status with a fesity fullgrown GS who has decided to come on and have a go because he thinks he is hard enough!

To my mind, the enforcement of the dog's position in the family can al.ways be enforced in more subtle ways - give a dog a challenge, and he might just take it.

Since you have two conflicting stances on this Lox, my advice would be to contact a professional dog trainer in your area for some definitive advice, and maybe some training for you both.

[horselady]

I agree with andy here. We had the same scenario when we first gave our GSD a bone treat. Just relaxed and ignored the situation for a long time and in the end she wandered over and put the treat down by my feet as if to say "oh go on then you can have it" Why make the situation tense and wind the dog up? In all the years we had her after that, she never, ever, behaved that way again. We were most certainly pack leaders, she definitely didn't rule the roost.

[sandmaster]

This is too late to help you but it may help others who read about your problem. When our dogs first came into the house, and they were small puppies, we made a habit of giving them their food bowls or treats, and then whilst they are eating, we took them back for a few seconds. They were too small to object, but learnt two things - we were 'top dogs' & also they could trust us. We always gave it back. We did this regularly for the first week or two, and occasionally everafter. No problems - in fact they would wag their tails as they appeared to have accepted it as a game.

[woofgang]

I am with Andy on this one....my experience is with weimaraners, not GSD's tho. I would have been inclined to let this go this time...work on other aspects of general obedience (sit before meals lie down while you eat retrieve and give up toy )and so on. What we did when our boy got lippy over chews was to hold the chew and let him have it from our hands....he chewed one end, we held the other and he soon got the idea that we weren't going t take it off him, at the same time, he enjoyed it because we said he could.
I would still keep an eye on his general behaviour tho in case he thinks he can get away with anything else. Is he neutered?

[donella]

i must agree with cheeky teddy, if you were to just shy away from this type of behaviour where would that leave you? (in a situation where your dog has learned that growling and using aggressive behaviour gets him what he wants)

if you had a seven year old that flailed his fists at you and threatened violence because you walked by while he was eating, would you accept that behaviour??

i work with dogs of all shapes and sizes and it is important that you have a trusting relationship, you need to be able to remove anything from your dogs possession without worry of being bitten, this goes for food, treats toys, its important you are able to open his mouth to check inside too (your vet can give you help and advice) what would you do if you were out walking your dog and he picked up something that got stuck in his mouth or even worse throat? also giving medication is so much easier if you are on trusting terms with each other (with my own dogs we are at the stage where i gently hold the top of muzzle, lift head back, say "open wide" and hey presto, a gaping mouth i can drop a pill into!!, they dont like it, but they trust im not going harm them)

it sounds like this is the first time you have had a problem with him so if you normally have good control you should find that if you reach for the treat and give a resounding NO at any growling/snarling/possessive behaviour retrieve the treat, then ask your dog do do something,(sit, lay-down, give paw) and then give praise and return the treat for a bit of a chew, repeat this until there is no resistance, and then keep the behaviour ingrained by practicing this ritual at random times, with random objects he is amusing himself with

[donella]

i did forget to add, that my male dog came to me at aprox a year old (he had been dumped in the local area) he was very possessive with food to begin with but using the method i described above he came to realise i was trustworthy and i have had no problems since (he is aprox 8 1/2 years now)

as a matter of control (and trying to stop them eating too quick!) i have also in recent years adopted the practice of making both dogs sit and wait at their food bowls till "composed" before i allow them to eat, it seems to help them realise its not going to go anywhere until they have actually eaten it!!

[LOX]

Well, UKPagan54, maybe you should be taken off the planet then the whole world would be such a nicer place without morons like you on it.
Many thanks to Andy and everyone else for your constructive answers. This was the first time we had seen this behavour. He really is a lovely boy and we can take anything from him usually. He knows his place here and he knows who is the boss. He came out eventually with his ears back and sat beside me and gave me his paw, bless!! he knew he had been naughty!!! He has been t training classes and received his'Kennel club good citizen award' and he was always the star of the class. Ill do things a bit different next time though...(we've got a bagfull left!!! Ha!) Thanx again

[donella]

glad its all sorted LOX, just the fact that you had asked for advice shows your a responsible dog owner, even the best behaved dog has his bad days!
i hope you have many more years of love and friendship with your faithful companion.