# Puppy got really aggressive by eating marrowbone!



## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

Sounds like your girl likes to eat! Which is good but with a food driven dog its best to get started on working things slow and as she improves during treat time you can up the ante to higher value treats. I personally would never use bone marrow with an aggressive chewer (if she does this) BM can seriously damage teeth. You get just as good of a result with a raw chicken wing or neck.

Here is a video that looked pretty good on one way to handle this. I have used a clicker when I did this with Kai who is high food driven dog. 

Video: How to Get Rid of a Dog's Food Aggression | eHow.com

You can also start using the leave it command or even wait for when your training with high value treats.

Raw food does not make dogs food aggressive. Raw food raises the value for the dog but when done correctly this should not happen. 

Good luck with it. It will take some patience but if you get a good flow of how you want to train I am sure you will get the results you want from your girl!


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Good advice from Ollie. Think of it as rather like your own reaction to someone taking something not very valuable from you - a cup of coffee or a box of Kleenex - versus taking your bag with all your credit cards, phone, money ... You would want to be very, very sure they would not keep it, or would pay you well for it!


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## Zindra (Apr 17, 2012)

Yeah thanks...

I read in a thread here about food aggression right after I wrote this thread... And they seemed to have a few good tips on how to handle it.

I guess I have to take it slow. And yeah after I bought the marrow bones I read that it can damage their teeth. So maybe I'll just throw them away. She seemed to go totally crazy about it and thought it was super-yummy, but I put her dental health first... AND MENTAL! hahaha...

I definitely will teach her the "Drop it" command and also "Thank you!" (If I want to take something out of her mouth)

I started the "Thank you!" training today with swapping little treats when she returned the ball to me, or gave me my sock that she stole... 

She listens well generally and can already wait for me to say "Go ahead!" before she'll eat out of her bowl.

But yeah I think I've got some other things that I obviously need to think about as well.

I was actually thinking the other day "Ok, now she knows sit, lie down, go ahead with the food bowl... what can I teach her more that I need everyday?" Learning her to do circus tricks seems funny for sure but I'd rather put the time and energy now in the beginning to make her learn things that is really valuable in our day to day life.


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## Ladywolfe (Jan 11, 2012)

Here is one thing:



> I actually got really scared of her when she growled that much for the marrowbone so I had to throw a newspaper over it and quickly remove it.


I am sure you realize this, but your dog can read you. Your dog knows she scared you and that she got the upper hand. She could be thinking that when it is really, really good food; she can totally back you off from it and you are afraid of her. 

I would definately check out the food aggression information before it has a chance to get worse.


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## Zindra (Apr 17, 2012)

Ladywolfe said:


> Here is one thing:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sure I know... but it's not like i CHOSE to be scared! If a dog showing aggressive behaviour and you are like 20 cm from their jaw while she is growling really bad at you, it's not that easy to not get scared, even if it's your own dog that normally behaves fine and without aggression!

Yup I'm gonna take it easy and slow... and no more marrow bones because that seems to be a bit too much right now. Plus the teeth-thing with them also. Try doing swapsies with more and more high value items/food... But feels wrong to start in the super-difficult end since she showed this behaviour about it...


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## Ladywolfe (Jan 11, 2012)

Oh, believe me, I do understand what you mean. I wouldn't even want a nip from my toy poodle--LOL


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## Zindra (Apr 17, 2012)

Ladywolfe said:


> Oh, believe me, I do understand what you mean. I wouldn't even want a nip from my toy poodle--LOL


Yeah... and mine's a standard poodle. So she'll grow quite large.


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## Ladywolfe (Jan 11, 2012)

My standard is now four months. He has growled at me before, right in our puppy class. I think I scared everyone because I just yelled at him and got sort of face to face with him and gave him a verbal scolding. He may have been playing. And, I am not a trainer, by any means, and probably did not react correctly. It just surprised me so much that I yelled so loud I scared him and everyone in the entire building, I think; LOL You know, it was just an automatic reaction, as I never expected the growl....just a "Hey, don't you ever do that" reaction. He has never done it again, though  

I agree with you, sometimes we just react.


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## roulette (Feb 18, 2011)

I'm a bit confused..why would you give a dog a bone and then take it away??


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## Zindra (Apr 17, 2012)

roulette said:


> I'm a bit confused..why would you give a dog a bone and then take it away??


It got so messy on the floor so I wanted to move it to her puppy pen so she could be inside there to eat it instead. And btw, a marrow bone lasts for days and days... I would need to grab it from her eventually anyway...

I know this is a natural behaviour in the end, but it took me by surprise...


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## Ladywolfe (Jan 11, 2012)

This is just one of "those" topics on which people have very set ideas on both sides of the spectrum. My MIL had a dog who bit one of her grandchildren, and she felt almost like the child deserved it because "you never bother a dog when it is eating". Okay, I was SO upset when I heard that!!! But, a lot of people feel that way, and you will never change their opinion.....and, in the end, I guess they have a right to that opinion. It all boils down to our dog, our rules, I guess. They eat from my hand a lot, so it is the old, "You don't bite the hand that feeds you".

In my home, I want to be always able to take anything away from my dog at any time, no matter how high value it may seem to them. Ideally, I would love the "leave it" command to work at all times, but it is not totally ingrained in all my dogs yet. I used to have two huge male dobies, and I could reach in and take anything away from them. With my three current dogs, I can straddle them while they eat from their bowl, and I can reach my hand right into their bowl and pull food out, etc. That is just the way I want it at my house; rather right or wrong. I never get a growl, even. But, I have had all of them since they were very young, and this was the rule from the start.

In the end, I don't know that there is a right, or a wrong, per se. It is always a matter of how you want your dog to be in your house. I guess, if my MIL watched her grandchildren more carefully, and if she wants it so that no one can go near a dog that is eating; that is her prerogative in her home. Do I like it...............nope. But, not my home, not my dog.

So, the question was why would you take a bone away from a dog? Well, because some day that dog may have something that is really not good for it, but the dog thinks it is the best thing in the word.....and, you might want the ability to take that thing away, if required.

I think Zindra is doing a GREAT JOB!!!


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