I vividly remember the first meal Fred enjoyed in his new home with us. I offered him his bowl, and after a few minutes he was struggling to get the last piece of meat, so my Mum put her finger towards the bowl in an attempt to push the piece into the middle for him – he growled and snapped at her. For someone who wasn’t keen on us welcoming a third dog, this really wasn’t the best start to their relationship!
But it was totally her fault – you never interfere with a dog and their dinner. It’s so easy to forget that it takes a while to build a trusting relationship with your puppy or new dog.
Despite it not being an ideal event, it was however the most useful experience as it showed us that this was an area we really needed to work on and address straight away. We spent the first few weeks building his trust and teach him that hands near food/bowls etc was a good thing – we would never take anything any from him but only give him more good stuff! A few weeks later we could approach him, swap chews and he was much more trusting of his new family.
Food however has been a ‘theme’ with Fred ever since. He LOVES food!
He wants everything that the other dogs have – with lots of hard work and supervision he has learnt not to approach the other dogs when they are eating their meals, not to attempt to take chews off of them, to take turns when there are treats being handed out and so much more.
Despite doing well with the other dogs, the same can’t be said for people – or at least some people. Generally he is well mannered when people are eating – he just sits, drooling, watching and waiting, occasionally a little bark. With the onset of adolescence, we’ve certainly seen a backward step in this area, but mostly only with our youngest child, as Fred jumped up and grabbed a sandwich from her hand during lunch the other day.
We know why it only happens with her as she has a very bad habit of throwing her unwanted crusts to the dogs (waste not, want not!). The older dogs know to sit and wait politely but obviously Fred is still at a very young impressionable age and needs to learn the ropes. Despite the number of times we tell our child not to, it’s a habit and she forgets, so rather than leave the situation down and Fred's learning experience to our daughter’s actions and memory we are taking the lead.
We’re back to the reliable use of control and management – creating an environment where the unwanted behaviour cannot be rehearsed. During mealtimes, Fred is either in the kitchen behind a stairgate with something to keep him occupied and only allowed out once she has finished eating OR he is being trained by an adult to display the behaviour we want whilst she is eating – currently this is either to ignore her completely or to lay down and wait patiently for his crust.
It won’t be something that stops overnight, but after a few months, lots of practice, and a little maturity we should see the desired results.
If you are experiencing similar problems with your dog,
drop us an email to see how we can help.