Husky unapproachable when given a bone - ??

[barneyworld]

I wish i could say that i am already a sibe owner but we all have to start somewhere.

I am a long time admirer and understand the committment but have yet to make the leap - i have recently seen and soon to view a potentially suitable sibe. I have a concern though. (apologies if i have duplicate posted this, but could'nt see it show up)n

The sibe is a 1yr old female - i would have prefered to own from a bit younger, and be the first owner but that aside the sibe looks and sounds very suitable, albeit she cannot be approached whilst eating/chewing a bone. I have had other breeds previously where this was not a problem and wondered, with two small children, am i opening myself up here for some potentially serious problems?

Any help / advice would be hugely welcomed

[Skillfulmmd]

I use to have a dog like this and as long as I kept away from him when he was eating everything was fine, I think a lot of dogs are very protective over what is there's even more so when its food. In a way that is a good thing as you know it will be a good guard dog but if you have children then im not sure id take the risk in case one of them got to close to the bowl.

[Sarah]

my boys are great with their food i can take anything away from them without a snarl or anything - so can the kids.

However, i have had them since pups so they have been trained and brought up that way, I would say that 1 year old is very young and to some degree still in the puppy stage so you should be able to work on her i.

Oh, almost forgot - welcome to the pack!!!!

[barneyworld]

Thanks - this is my concern too - i am keen to hear if anyone has experience of training their sibe out of this behaviour or is 1yr old a liittle late to do this?

EDIT

Thanks Sarah - posted this same time as your post

[Skillfulmmd]

I got my dog blizzard at 1 and I've trained him a lot there still a puppy and will still be willing to learn.

[Sarah]

1 yr old isn't too late to train out of it - not by a long shot. Start by going over when she has food with a treat, do her a swap - the bone for the treat ... cheese for example.

Praise her when she relinquishes her bone and stroke her, don't be skittish about it, and dont lower yourself to her too much, it's all about your body language and the way you approach her

[barneyworld]

Thanks for the replies - god bless the internet, would have taken weeks to get an answer to this question otherwise.....at this hour too !!

This has given me some reassurance - i am going to see and spend some time with the sibe on Sat - i'll let you know how it goes

Many, many thanks

[Sarah]

oh dont worry, most peeps are in bed now but you will get even more tomorrow

[Skillfulmmd]

Well good luck with it you wont regret buying a husky there amazing animals.

[PawPrints]

hi mate welcome to the site i think u can train her 1 isnt that old for a sibe try with food as well as bone thou so she gets used to you try touchin her mouth and havin your hand hear her face as well so its not odd to her

[Damrod]

Also get good with the basic commands. Never know what she has experienced before. Never give up!!!

Try this: Have posted it before...

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/aggression.html

Causes of Food Aggression In Dogs

Most of us think a puppy aggressively guarding his food is cute. Don’t do it! This is a serious training mistake many dog owners make. Instead of encouraging this kind of canine possession aggression, you need to nip this problem in the bud.

In your dog’s mind, he’s confused about who the pack leader is. If you don’t take the role of the alpha male (even if you’re female), there’s a leadership vacuum, to your dog’s way of thinking. If you don’t step into the role, he will. And he won’t be nice about enforcing his position in your household.

In his mind, he’s the top dog, so he can take whatever he wants from anyone in the pack who ranks lower than him. The reality is that the family dog should be at the bottom of the heap, not the top. Anyone in the household should be able to take anything away from him, even his food. Of course, you’re not really going to do this, but he needs to know where he stands in your household pack.

Dog Food Aggression Training

With a puppy, you’ll make it clear that having people or other animals around when he’s eating is OK. Do this right from the beginning, and you’ll probably never have a problem with this type of aggressive dog behavior. Anyone in the family should be able to safely stand right next to him at any time while he’s eating.If not, you should take control of his food.

It’s always a good idea to feed your dog after you and your family have finished eating. Your dog will instinctively understand that the alpha dog always eats first.This reinforces in your dog’s mind exactly where he is in the famly heirarchy.

Require that your dog sit and stay quietly while you’re fixing his food. If he whines and jumps around and demands food, don’t give in. He needs to earn his food by behaving in a non-aggressive manner.

Don’t ever give your dog food if he’s growling at you. This only rewards his bad dog behavior.

If food aggression in dogs is already a serious problem in your household, a dog behavior course may be your next step. Look for a course that includes a consultation with an experienced dog trainer

, and that has a forum where you can get advice from other dog owners.

Now that you know what to do, don’t delay in taking steps to control dog food aggression.

[Sarah]

great post, added to rep

[ade hill]

Hi mate welcome to the pack

a dog is never too old to train, it just takes patience and they will learn.

i have just rehomed 2 3 year old sibes, and am in the process of "refining" thier training, especially when it comes to eating. i find the best way to get around food aggression is to go right back to basics. start feeding by hand when your dog is calm, dont even have a bowl or a bone, you need to gain the trust, and make the dog see the food is yours and you "allow" them to eat it.

over time you can introduce the bowl, or bone, just in the sidelines, eventually letting the dog have it, reassure them and then remove it briefly. ive found this to work with several different dogs.

hope it helps

[barneyworld]

Wow - i feel like i ought to be paying a consultation fee here for the expertise - thanks, absolutely brilliant. I feel much more informed and a little more relaxed .

[Sibe77]

We had this with Grey, he is 11 month now we got him when he was 7 Months, he would growl when you went near his food.

My advise is not to be intimidated, make sure you go in with a firm NO and just go for it! if they see you are unsure and worried they will scence this, you need to be confident....Grey done it once but never again after that with his normal food, but about 2 month ago when i first ever gave him a raw Bone he done it again but once again i done the same thing and he done it once but never again, i can now just go take the bone off him but i only do that to test the water not to take it off him completley thats not fair let him enjoy it.

...

Another thing you can do is when you take the food off her put a treat in her bowl, or just give her praise when you take the bowl and give it straight back, that way she will know that you are not taking the food away when you need to get to it only making it better....

I can understand you worry but most of the time its empty threats, it was from grey he done it to my 2 year old but as you know 2 year olds show no fear so with me very close by i just watched and gave Grey a Firm NO as my son put his hand in his bowl to grab some food, now My 2 year old now sits next to him while he eats his dinner and takes the food out of his bowl while his head is deep into his food just so he can hand feed him.

basically i think sibes feel you are taking there food away and as you will find out food is sacred to a sibe they would sell there soul for some food!! but if they think you are enhancing there food! Fear not they will sit back and look at you as if to say "go on then what you waiting for"....

[siberian_wolf]

firstly welcome to the pack

Ive not had a dog that was always food aggressive before. There was only the one time when I went to get Bandit out of his crate when he had food and he snapped. I just left him be for a while.

Since that point Ive been trying out the NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) program and not had it since (even Marley's dog aggression is settling!). Basically you make the dog do something you want before they get what they want. For example, if she wants the bone, she has to earn it by sitting down quietly and remain in a sit until you say she can have it (like a pack leader would do when they no longer something).

That along with praise when she give the bone up for you and your family, i would hope works well, but dont quote me on that! Are you going to crate her? I would advise if she aggressive with bones, to feed her bones in her crate for you kids saftey and as you probably already know, never leave her and the children unsupervised together.

As for the training, any dog can be trained at any age. As the saying goes - even an old can learn new tricks

Best of luck, let us now how everything goes when you meet her

[Val (Zebedee)]

Well, after reading the posts, there's nothing left to add! All the early birds have beaten me to it!

Excellent advice Damrod, and totally agree with everyone in that 1 yr old is still a pup & very trainable... good luck with tackling the issue - persevere & show who's the boss as huskies will constantly push the boundaries. Be consistant & it won't take long before they learn. Also, Ade's suggestion of hand-feeding the food, let them know you are in control of it, another top piece of advice!

Oh, yeah, BTW, welcome to the pack!! look forward to chatting more with you & seeing picks of your furbaby! x

[Zeus]

Hello - Welcome from me and yes just wanted to add to very good advice above. We rescued a 2.5yr old Sibe who was extremley underweight and had spent most of the past 6mths having to fight for his food by the looks of him. He would growl when you walked past his bowl and is highly protective of anything you give him. We are slowing building back trust and re training him.

If your sibe shows ANY signs of this sort of aggression you should not leave any children alone with the dog and certainly not let them approach the dog when feeding / playing with bone etc. An adult has a much better understanding of how to deal with a dog than a child and it can be very upsetting if your sibe snaps at a child for no reason other than protecting it's food. Our sibe has now stopped all growling over his dog food bowl, by a routine feeding schedule from us and a firm NO. They soon learn to trust and know that they will get fed.

So far as the growling with toys / bones goes, remember not to enlist in a tug of war if he has a toy / bone in his mouth that you want to take away. Be assertive and strong minded, and we usually go over and hold the bone / toy (whilst its still in his mouth) without tugging. This is a signal to the dog that it is now YOU that owns it. They should then let go. If not, more training is needed.

They are craftly little furballs who are always looking to assert themselves, so being patient and persistant is a must! I do hope you go on to get your new Sibe and you have a healthy happy relationship.

[Bec]

I wish i could say that i am already a sibe owner but we all have to start somewhere.

I am a long time admirer and understand the committment but have yet to make the leap - i have recently seen and soon to view a potentially suitable sibe. I have a concern though. (apologies if i have duplicate posted this, but could'nt see it show up)n

The sibe is a 1yr old female - i would have prefered to own from a bit younger, and be the first owner but that aside the sibe looks and sounds very suitable, albeit she cannot be approached whilst eating/chewing a bone. I have had other breeds previously where this was not a problem and wondered, with two small children, am i opening myself up here for some potentially serious problems?

It's not a breed trait, it's something that any dog can exhibit if they aren't trained properly.

It can be fixed with the right training and guidance, but it can also get worse if you don't manage it properly.

I would not have this dog anywhere near your kids when it has a resource like food or a toy. When you're talking to the owner, you can't trust that they will give you an accurate assessment of the dog's problems.

Thanks - this is my concern too - i am keen to hear if anyone has experience of training their sibe out of this behaviour or is 1yr old a liittle late to do this?

Definitely not too late but you want to make sure you get it right If you are confident you can handle a dog who resource guards then consider adopting this one, if you have any doubts whatsoever my advice is don't do it - you have kids and you want to ensure you know how to handle a dog with this behaviour.

[Bec]

Because I'm lazy - here's a post on this subject that I prepared earlier

http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54311&postcount=6

[davidjk]

the best way i found with micha when she was guarding a bone, was to wait till she left it.

then go and stand by it and block her access to it.

this way i was saying i am the boss, and you can only eat when i tell you.

this also works at feeding time also. i always pretend to eat some of my huskies food before they are allowed it. and they have to leave their food till i tell them its ok for them to have it.

no of course micha is older and if she ever growls over anythign i will take it away from her instantly

[Bec]

the best way i found with micha when she was guarding a bone, was to wait till she left it.

then go and stand by it and block her access to it.

this way i was saying i am the boss, and you can only eat when i tell you.

It could also increase anxiety with some dogs who are resource guarders, they may see you as challenging them and some may take you up on the challenge. Imagine a dog who feels the need to guard their food, it is very stressful and having a big person blocking them and challenging them over what they value can increase that stress. If you are the boss, you don't need to challenge them, because the respect is already there - the dog will willingly give you what they have.

I prefer to teach my dogs that having me near their food is no big deal, nothing to stress over, and build on the fact that they respect me and look to me for permission to eat - rather than teach them that I am going to challenge them over their food whenever they have something they value or that when they relinquish it, I'm going to take it myself and challenge them over it. But, having said that, we all do what works for us

ETA: A dog who has developed the habit of resource guarding may very well take any person who confronts them up on challenge. I've lost count of the number of people I've heard about who have been bitten when challenging their dog over a bone, it may work with some dogs who are willing to back down but it's a big risk to take when many dogs will decide to fight you over it.

[davidjk]

It could also increase anxiety with some dogs who are resource guarders, they may see you as challenging them and some may take you up on the challenge. Imagine a dog who feels the need to guard their food, it is very stressful and having a big person blocking them and challenging them over what they value can increase that stress. If you are the boss, you don't need to challenge them, because the respect is already there - the dog will willingly give you what they have.

I prefer to teach my dogs that having me near their food is no big deal, nothing to stress over, and build on the fact that they respect me and look to me for permission to eat - rather than teach them that I am going to challenge them over their food whenever they have something they value or that when they relinquish it, I'm going to take it myself and challenge them over it. But, having said that, we all do what works for us

ETA: A dog who has developed the habit of resource guarding may very well take any person who confronts them up on challenge. I've lost count of the number of people I've heard about who have been bitten when challenging their dog over a bone, it may work with some dogs who are willing to back down but it's a big risk to take when many dogs will decide to fight you over it.

ok i need to be a bit clearer in the future in what i say point taken

a dog will not suddenly turn on its owner and bite it. there will be warning signs in how the dog acts, how it holds its self etc etc, and to ignore these is stupid, and will result in the owner being bitten.

and its then the owners fault for not reading the signs.

this was only a "this is what i do", and it was BLOCKING access not removing it from the dog, that would be stupid (although i am confident in this)

with any dog you need to be calm and confident.

neurotic dogs tend to have neurotic owners.

dogs pick up on the vibes round them.

the alpha dog is the alpha dog becuase it is the best, it can hold its position.

if a husky challenges your position, it needs putting in its place, as the pack leader would in the wild.

this is usually done when it is a puppy, it learns its place.

then as it grows a bit it will push those boundaries, to see if it can get away with it. if it does get away with it, then it will push more, and harder. the mother will put the pup in its place untill it is about 8 weeks, then after that the pack will keep the pups in their place.

eventually the respect will come, when the puppy has grown into a dog and learnt you are the boss and nothing changes that.

the amount of huskies that are being rehomed at 5 months to a year is unreal, and its all because the owners didnt be the alpha.

a husky that is excercised properly and knows its place in the pack is a wonder to own.

if your not confident about this husky, then dont get it.

[Austinville]

Wow - i feel like i ought to be paying a consultation fee here for the expertise - thanks, absolutely brilliant. I feel much more informed and a little more relaxed .

Uhh Oh. Now you've given us an idea to ponder! LOL

Welcome, by the way! And, as others have said, a year is not to old. My boy is 14+ and still learns new things (IF the spirit moves him to!)

[Bec]

ok i need to be a bit clearer in the future in what i say point taken

a dog will not suddenly turn on its owner and bite it. there will be warning signs in how the dog acts, how it holds its self etc etc, and to ignore these is stupid, and will result in the owner being bitten.

and its then the owners fault for not reading the signs.

this was only a "this is what i do", and it was BLOCKING access not removing it from the dog, that would be stupid (although i am confident in this)

I knew what you meant Like I said, I don't like to confront a dog that has been displaying aggression because you don't know when they will take you up on the challenge.

If a dog has been displaying resource guarding then they have been giving plenty of warnings. The dog the OP is looking at getting has probably been displaying this behaviour since he was a pup, if you don't do the right things the behaviour will escalate as the dog becomes more confident that snapping/growling/barking/biting people over their food works. If you confront a dog who has a history of resource guarding then it is quite likely they will challenge you back because, in their eyes, all that behaviour has worked for them in the past and they have no reason to back down.

the alpha dog is the alpha dog becuase it is the best, it can hold its position.

if a husky challenges your position, it needs putting in its place, as the pack leader would in the wild.

this is usually done when it is a puppy, it learns its place.

Very rarely will any lower pack members challenge the alpha. In fact, some people may find it hard to tell which dog is the alpha because he is usually sitting back watching and rarely if ever needs to assert himself over the other pack members - if he does, the slightest curl of his lip will be enough to remind the other pack member whose boss.

I teach puppies the rules and boundaries, with that comes respect, and they obey me because they want to not because they've been put in their place and forced to - an alpha doesn't need to force compliance with other pack members.

then as it grows a bit it will push those boundaries, to see if it can get away with it. if it does get away with it, then it will push more, and harder. the mother will put the pup in its place untill it is about 8 weeks, then after that the pack will keep the pups in their place.

eventually the respect will come, when the puppy has grown into a dog and learnt you are the boss and nothing changes that.

the amount of huskies that are being rehomed at 5 months to a year is unreal, and its all because the owners didnt be the alpha.

Pups can have respect for the alpha from an early age - if I waited until they were a dog to respect me, I'd be waiting a long time! Yes, they go through stages where they are going to push the boundaries, that IMO is a learning curve all pups and young dogs go through, if you've done the ground work then it won't be hard to remind them of the rules. In my eyes being the alpha and having respect are the same thing.

Not everything a pup or dog does is about getting dominance over you, they aren't constantly plotting their next move to "take over". An 8 week old pup doesn't always disobey you or challenge you because they want to dominate you, they do it because they haven't learnt the boundaries or rule yet and are yet to learn what behaviour is and isn't ok. I totally agree with you that it's important to set the boundaries so our dogs know their place in the pack, but that doesn't require us to constantly challenge our pups or dogs, that's something that can be done with little to no force at all.