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My dog has bitten


HazCad

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My Husky who is 16 months old has a food aggression problem which we have started to deal with over then last few days.

I've been feeding him from my hand as stage one, as advised by several sites dedicated to food aggression.

Tonight after dinner my daughter went to stroke him and as doing so because he was lying by the kitchen door i suppose in his mind guarding what could be his dinner went for her.

He caught her forearm and has pinched the skin, he hasnt broken it but thats beside the point.

I don't know what to do, my husband wants to get rid of him as he says he's had his chance (we got him neutered to calm him down thinking his over energeticness was the problem)

I love him like my 2 daughters and am deverstated this has happened. We cant afford a dog trainer or specialist to help with the problem, i don't want it to happen again but i don't want to get rid of him.

I'm in bits.

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Have you just got the dog? just wondering what has triggered the aggression if you are beginning to deal with it. What ages are your kids?

for the time being I would feed him in his crate well away from the kids so that there is no chance of him doing it again until your issues are sorted. If the kitchen is a trigger then keep him out of it completely We use a child gate to keep our out of the kitchen as she counter surfs constantly.

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what an awful predicament you are in Hazel :(

Is he food aggressive with other dogs or just humans or both?

when your daughter went to stroke him,was any food or bowl or bone or anything near him?

what does he actually do to show you he is food aggressive?

sorry for the questions hun,just its easier for people to offer help and advice if we've got a bit more info.

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Oh boy. Sorry your daughter took the brunt. To be honest, a few days is not enough time to effect much change. We have a food aggressive Husky, and what we did early-on, was to make her sit and stay when we set her food bowl down. She does not make a move until we give the OK. It took about a week to train her. What this does, is instill that we control the resource, not her. We also do not have any kids around, so we don't have that as an issue.

While you can't have a dog that will bite your daughter, it is important to provide some training beyond a few days. I would also make sure you keep a close watch on the situation, to minimize contact between your daughter and the dog for awhile, until you have better control.

Does your dog know the basic sit, stay, and come commands? If not, you can start working on those. They are the basis for further training.

I'm sure you will get some other good suggestions.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk.

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Getting rid of them should never be an option they are an animal so always remember that part when they they lash out it happens sometimes doesnt mean it always will. Maybe it wasnt becasue of the food maybe he was in a bad mood and did not want to be touched dogs have bad days like we do and they cant tell you to leave them alone so they nip and he didnt break the skin so that means it was a warning bite. However if it was a food aggression thing there are people here who can help you with that.l I had a link in another post somwhere but I dont remember it :( Ill try to find it.

FOUND IT http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/dog-food-aggression.html

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If your dog just pinched the skin, then that's not aggression. It's control. He's senior to your daughter, but won't do any serious damage as he knows she's a part of the family. If it was aggression, she'd have deep wounds. many with a ripping action and she'd be in hospital.

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My Husky who is 16 months old has a food aggression problem which we have started to deal with over then last few days.

I've been feeding him from my hand as stage one, as advised by several sites dedicated to food aggression.

Tonight after dinner my daughter went to stroke him and as doing so because he was lying by the kitchen door i suppose in his mind guarding what could be his dinner went for her.

He caught her forearm and has pinched the skin, he hasnt broken it but thats beside the point.

I don't know what to do, my husband wants to get rid of him as he says he's had his chance (we got him neutered to calm him down thinking his over energeticness was the problem)

I love him like my 2 daughters and am deverstated this has happened. We cant afford a dog trainer or specialist to help with the problem, i don't want it to happen again but i don't want to get rid of him.

I'm in bits.

I can't even begin to imagine how your daughter, husband or you are feeling but the fact that your boy has bitten or even attempted to bite your her is really serious and a boundary has been crossed which is unacceptable. Of course you never want to run the risk of that happening again and will have to take immediate steps to avoid it right now until you have a solution. I've always consistenly laid down the law with my dogs so they def. know who's at the top of the pack, I decide when mealtimes are (but do try to remain consistent) and food is given in order of pack status and I also remove the bowls when they've finished...... I would hate to give the wrong advice to you but some of the Forum members have experienced this problem already and have some sound and proven successful ways to work on it. Speed of action is the key... I really do wish you the best of luck...please keep us posted..

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Has food aggression always been a problem, but you've just started to work with it?

Food aggression takes time and patience to work with. If he's having issues guarding by just being in the kitchen I wouldn't allow him in the kitchen. Remember to pick up bowls and put them away when the meal is finished. I looked up your past posts and it seems that you're feeding raw? That can also be adding to the aggression issue. Raw food requires much more focus to eat and some dogs value it much higher than kibble. It's not uncommon for dogs to be possessive over raw. Not saying it's right- but it is more common. I feed raw and while everyone is OK w/ me handling their food, Odin was very possessive about it initially. I cut everything up into smaller pieces and made him work for every piece as well as required him to take them gently from my hand. Once we had that down well, he was fed from his bowl but I would only put in a few pieces at a time and he would need to sit and wait while I put food in his bowl- and then he would be released to eat. And i'd repeat the process until we had finished his meal. Now he is fed his full meal in the bowl without the need of spreading it out multiple steps. I also worked very hard w/ treats and bones he had. It took time- it's been a year since he's been here... But he is no longer food aggressive.

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I did have this same problem when i was younger. I was trained out from it by my owner.

Basicly he did get the bowl ready, and did own it with body language before giving me ok to eat it. He put the bowl down, guard it for a moment on 4 feet. Played like the alpha eating from the bowl and blocked my access yo it. I tried to get to the bowl, I sure did, but with blocking access with his body I could not.

Few first times it took me 5-10min to calm down and wait. Then I got ok and bowl far free for me to access.

After 2 weeks owner did add the stakes... Bowl was given to me like before, could not acess at first, i got ok and did eat a bit, and then my owner came back to block me away from bowl in middle of me eating there. Few first times I got pretty agry, but after a while I got used to that owner may or may not block me from my (ours) bowl.

Nowdays im ok with people when im eating or when there is food near me, but every now and then I get blocked anyway to remind me that im not the boss of food or bowl.

With this way of training you need to know bodylanguage of dogs. Training this way with all in the family members should be done too, but only when the "leader" is in the room watching and taking over if needed.

My 2cents ;)

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To answer a few questions...

I have 2 daughters 4 and 9 it was the 9 year old that got bit.

We've had him since he was 8 weeks old from a litter of 9.

when we first got him he was aggressive with food, growling at meal times etc. we managed to get that out of him and things were fine, but as he's got older and his hormones kicked in we saw troublesome behaviour like not doing as he's told, over excited and the growling coming back. we stopped giving him bones but he has always been on a raw meat diet due to his stomach and toilet troubles when he was little.

he was taught sit stay etc from the beginning.

He has always been made to wait for his food, i get it out, put it in a bowl and make him sit and only put it down when he's calmed down if he's excited, i then make him wait until the "go on" command.

I've gone back to the dropping treats as i go past at meal times and as i've researched stroking him and being around him when he's eating to get used to someone not being a threat, this has been on an off since before we got him done back in september.

I got some advice from a friend who's dad has experience in the matter and he has said i need to show him were boss and he's at the bottom of the chain, thats when i started the feeding from my hand and intended on continuing this for however long then going onto the next stage.

He knows at dinner time be's to go into his crate and does so most of the time without even being asked.

He's always been fed after us and over the last 2 months have taken to not letting him in the kitchen.

He's fine when he's with his toys but if he's pinches a sock or something and you see him with it an approach him he growls like with food.

I just don't know what to do.

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What made you think he was food guarding?

Obviously, I can't make any statement without seeing what happened, but that doesn't necessarily sound like food aggression to me. Was there any warning, like a growl or anything like that?

I think it is more likely that he was annoyed by your daughter and wanted her away. Also, the fact that he didn't break the skin is not besides the point at all. It sounds like a warning bite to me, but again, I wasn't there.

I think though that there is a respect issue (towards your daughter) and this should be worked on. How old is she?

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For the sock guarding, you could work on the command "leave it" and "drop it".

Also, playing trading games work as they teach the dog it will be rewarded if it drops a valued item.

Self control games, like this one could also help, not necessarily with food, but other items like toys and socks as well.

ipT5k1gaXhc

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When food is near he tends to growl when people approach him, the dinner plates were on the worktops and he was laying just outside the kitchen door so it was in view which makes me think it's food guarding.

it may have been a warning bite and i do get the feeling he thinks he's boss which is what i've started working on along with the food growling issue and then this goes an happens.

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When it is real aggression (fear, food etc.), unless a dog has been punished for growling/snarling or conditioned in any way not to show signs, the progression is sort of like: hackles raised, growl, snarl and only then, serious bite.

The fact that he didn't give off a warning and he didn't pierce the skin suggests to me he wasn't actually guarding the food on the worktops, but rather trying to send a message, like "leave me alone". Nonetheless, I agree that he shouldn't have bit her in the first place.

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my welfare boy has food aggression which i inherited. i manage it well though.

as you have children i suggest they need training too!! they need to learn IMMEDIATLY that the dog is not approached around food and at least 15mins after eating. I would intro a crate and the dog eats in peace in there. that will be his safe place to eat with no disturbances.

hand feeding can help but if your stressed or upset this message is sent through to your dog without you realising it and so your dog could bite you (this happened to me)

food aggression is a long haul and slowly it does get better but i for one would never trust storm around food no matter how long i've had him. i know what he's capable of if he felt his food was under threat

Have a no kitchen rule by using a stair gate or keeping behind an imaginary line when food is around - this will keep the kids safe too.

good luck, there is no reason to rehome you just need to put some tweeks to rules in place IMO

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... then this goes an happens.

But 'this' in the scheme of things is very minor! Dogs are actually very good at expressing when they're not happy about things. We need to pay attention to little grabs (like this one) and look carefully at why they happen rather than condemning the dog for communicating that it was unhappy about the situation.

To me the danger occurs when a dog is taught not to growl and not to grab. A dog that is trained that way will go from appearing fine to biting hard with no warning given.

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maybe he did just want to be left alone, he has growled before now when he's been sleeping as a warning leave me alone.

so if i can pursued my husband to give him another chance where do i start.

do i muzzle him, will one of them shock collars help, do i keep up the feeding by hand that i started.

he needs to understand were boss an i need to do this as soon as possible for my girls safety.

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maybe he did just want to be left alone, he has growled before now when he's been sleeping as a warning leave me alone.

so if i can pursued my husband to give him another chance where do i start.

do i muzzle him, will one of them shock collars help, do i keep up the feeding by hand that i started.

he needs to understand were boss an i need to do this as soon as possible for my girls safety.

defo NO to shock collar

if you are unsure then you really need to get advice from a behaviourist as you could make matters far worse. I personally would rather spend out (& have) on a behaviourist (someone who understands sled dogs too) and get it right than risk further biting.

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so if i can pursued my husband to give him another chance where do i start.

Just point out that your dog would have done a lot of damage if thats what he intended. He didn't intend damage.

Overall, for your dog to respect you and your family, you need to show calmness and peaceful, kind strength.

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Malamutes are also generally a little more "difficult" than Siberians and tend to be a bit more pushy and that can extend to aggression if not properly controlled/worked with.

Personally I would instruct my children to totally ignore the dog and only give out pets when the dog has done something appropriate (such as sitting on cue.) I would also suggest that they don't approach the dog or get down on his level to fuss over him.

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To answer a few questions...

I have 2 daughters 4 and 9 it was the 9 year old that got bit.

We've had him since he was 8 weeks old from a litter of 9.

when we first got him he was aggressive with food, growling at meal times etc. we managed to get that out of him and things were fine, but as he's got older and his hormones kicked in we saw troublesome behaviour like not doing as he's told, over excited and the growling coming back. we stopped giving him bones but he has always been on a raw meat diet due to his stomach and toilet troubles when he was little.

he was taught sit stay etc from the beginning.

He has always been made to wait for his food, i get it out, put it in a bowl and make him sit and only put it down when he's calmed down if he's excited, i then make him wait until the "go on" command.

I've gone back to the dropping treats as i go past at meal times and as i've researched stroking him and being around him when he's eating to get used to someone not being a threat, this has been on an off since before we got him done back in september.

I got some advice from a friend who's dad has experience in the matter and he has said i need to show him were boss and he's at the bottom of the chain, thats when i started the feeding from my hand and intended on continuing this for however long then going onto the next stage.

He knows at dinner time be's to go into his crate and does so most of the time without even being asked.

He's always been fed after us and over the last 2 months have taken to not letting him in the kitchen.

He's fine when he's with his toys but if he's pinches a sock or something and you see him with it an approach him he growls like with food.

I just don't know what to do.

Well I have come to learn that a husky not listening is just a husky thing they tend to listen when they want to :P

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I wouldn't resort to a muzzle or shock collar to be honest.

A shock collar is only to be used by experienced professionals... and not for this kind of purpose. Punishment will not work well with food aggression - it typically just teaches the dog not to give off any signals before biting. I would pretty much avoid using it all together, for any kind of purpose, especially if you cannot hire a professional to help you. Shock collars are tricky things to work with.

A muzzle, while physically preventing him from biting, might do more harm than good to his overall behaviour. Unless properly introduced it would make him apprehensive and generally make matters worse. I would, personally, stick to trading games, training every day, practicing dropping food and leaving food, asking your daughters to train him as well (giving him commands and asking him to do things, then rewarding him), always under supervision.

Also, you could try NILIF training as well. http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

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