Being protective of treats

[CoopsMom]

Cooper will be 15 weeks old on Wednesday, when we give him a treat, rawhide, and *sometimes* with his food, he will be very protective of it with the other dogs. With my Moms dogs (11 yrs, and 8 yrs) they will put Cooper in his place, and we will make Cooper submit to us when he does this in our house. This weekend we went to visit my fiance's parents and Cooper went after their dog, while chewing on a pigs ear his parents gave him.

Making Cooper submit to us isn't doing the trick. Any ideas how to break him from being so protective? I know that they people I got him from were feeding all of the puppies (10) from the same dish, I'm thinking this is what could have started this behavior.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

[KYS]

Hello and welcome.

You might be right about him being food aggressive
because having to share his food with 10 other puppies.
He might had had a bad experience too before
you ever got him.

What I might suggest since Cooper is only 15 weeks
old, is start hand feeding and possible not
feed him around the other dogs for now. Let him relax
when eating his food or treats.
If it looks like he will grab another dogs treat,
nip it in the bud before he even gets the chance.
When giving treats make sure the dogs each
have a little space from each-other too.

Cooper is only a puppy but when he gets
bigger a fight might occure.

This sight might help, looks like yahoo mail group
and talks about aggression on the question and answer icon.
www.doggiedoor.com

[lizbud]

Hi CoopsMom,

I agree with KYS on this, especially when she said;

" What I might suggest since Cooper is only 15 weeks
old, is start hand feeding and possible not
feed him around the other dogs for now. Let him relax
when eating his food or treats." Why make him" think"
he has to compete with other dogs or older dogs for his
"treats" or food at all? If Cooper had to nudge out other
pups since early on, he should learn that he doesn't have
to do that anymore. I would only give him special treats or
his regular food where & when he can relax and enjoy it.

It it doesn't become a big issue with him(&you) now, he can
outgrow it. Hugs to Cooper :)

[CoopsMom]

Thanks for the insite. He never eats his food with the other dogs, and when the other dogs eat, he is in another room. He is just fine with us, we can stick our hands in his dish when he is eating, and he doesnt mind at all.

Last night we gave the 3 dogs rawhide, and they all went to seperate parts of the house, Cooper finished his and then went on to get a rawhide from one of the other dogs. One dogs, will let him have her rawhide, the other dog will put up a fight for it. BUT when Cooper has his rawhide and another dog simply walks by, he will go after the other dog.

I'm going to check out the website right now that you suggested, KYS, and hopefully we get nip this in the bud asap.