Bella was enjoying a little treat when her big sister came up to see what was going on. To Amber’s surprise Bella has decided she is a big husky now and she is not going to share her treats with nobody! Now this is a normal behavior for a dog. Out in the wild a wild dog would guard it’s food and other things like it’s favorite stick or whatever it had grown attached to as a toy. Those dogs that don’t will likely not make it in the wild. This is a very cute video of our puppy doing this but it’s not a desirable trait for a domestic dog to have around humans. Some dogs will guard and bite other dogs while other dogs will even bite humans if they get too close to food or toys.
Some dogs will grow out of it as they get older if you don’t encourage it and make a game out of it. This may be cute now but when the dog is 40 plus pounds and has a hard bite this won’t be funny at all. The other danger is having kids around a dog that has guarding issues. They could end up with a nasty bite. Remember children don’t know how to read the behavior of dogs and understand the signs or warnings from a dog. Here are some things you can do to discourage dog guarding issues.
1. Give the dog plenty of food. This may motivate the dog to stop guarding the food.
2. Leave the dog alone while it eats. never encourage guarding issues with a dog.
3. Hand feed your new puppy when you get it home. One bite at a time if it seems to be guarding the food. Over time it will learn that you have tasty treats and your not out to steal his food.
If your dog still doesn’t respond to these things you may end up having to see an Animal Behaviorist. Some things are just better left to the professionals. Most dogs won’t have a guarding problem and those that do can usually be trained or discouraged from this behavior by following these simple steps. I personally have never had a puppy that grew up and had a serious guarding issue.
