Growling With A Pigs Ear

[s baxter]

some of you may know of Alfie ,he`s quite timid with strangers,he`s now 7 months and has not been that great with the fireworks,lots of barking after each bang,so weve been drowning out the bangs with tv and radio(working well).i also decided as he had`nt had them before that i`d get some pigs ears and save the 3 for the 5th,6th and 7th nov .well just gave him one and he`s been at it 15 mins and although there are still loads of fireworks going off it`s like he`s gone deaf to them,so chuffed for me and for him i go over to praise him and stroke the top of his head,my hand comes down past the pigs ear and he gives me i little growl well you could have knocked me down with a feather.

now finally to my question/s

do i ignore him and always leave him alone with them?
don`t give them anymore?

should i expect to see this type of behavouir ?he obv. feels it`s the most fantastic treat he`s ever had or may have!and now i`m unsure which path to take or am i blowing this all out of proportion?

[marie_231]

Benson does exactly the same with pigs ears , if he growls i make him give it to me , or physicaly remove it from his mouth , hes never done anything worse than a growl , and when i have got it off him, i give it back almost immediately he will then let me get close again minus the growling  

[Gilly]

Well I always look at it this way, if you were sitting eating your favouriote dinner would you like it if someone came and nicked it for no reason    

Seriously though, I don't have this problem but I would be inclined to offer him something else in return to get him to give you the pigs ear, an exchange with loads of praise, then give him the pigs ear back, wait a while and do it again. This way he will learn that your not trying to steal his food, your just borrowing it  

[s baxter]

thanks soo much for your replies

[Laura]

Bailey(6 months now) growled at me a short while ago eating a pigs ear - to me though it is the doggy way to say hands off its mine.  Bailey at the time obviously didn't trust me not to take it away from him.  

The next time he had a pigs ear - it was for a grooming session so that he got used to me being close to him without being a threat.  I also frequently offered him a piece of liver to have so that an approaching hand meant something better was on offer and never to take away.  Now if I approach him when he has a bone/pig ear etc he looks up expectantly wagging his tail - waiting for his reward.  I could take anything from him if I wanted to - but why would I?  Now he trusts that good things happen when people approach and no more growling.

[lizzy]

As soon as mine came home at 8 weeks I would offer something else when they had something in their mouth. I would do it daily. Praising them all the time. There has never been any growling at all. Personally I think it is something that needs enforcing from a young pup.
Then they never think that anything is truly their's.

[Sheila]

I think a lot of it is down to the temperament of the dog.

Goldie is very submissive and I can take away anything from her....food included and she never growls.
Lottie however, who is much more dominant, used to growl when I took away her food bowl.
I just made a habit of taking things from her and if I took her food bowl, then I replaced it with something extra tasty in the bowl. That way she learns that she gets a treat when I take things away from her.
She is much better with the growling now, although I have just started giving her pigs ears and she tried it again...lol. So back to working on it with her

I think the growling is a normal reaction from some dogs, just let him see that it is ok to trust you to give it back.

[s baxter]

he`s done it again tonite but to be fair he is a bit sressed with the fireworks and is fine with me taking his usual food away when it`s in his bowl.i think also it`s the fact that he has new tasty morsals between his teeth,i think if he has anything new or exrta tastey i`m gonna leave him to it,

sheila ,i can understand what your saying ,but Alfie`s a timid dog with strangers,ok with us ,i mean neither submissive or dominant and i`ve always make sure i`m top dog i boss him around, not the other way round.so it came as quite a shock  

[Sheila]

Well probably, as you say, it is just Alfie getting used to these extra tasty treats and wanting to keep them for himself
It is understandable really, imagine giving a young child a bar of chocolate and then taking it away.....I'm sure there would be a reaction
If he is happy letting you touch his food bowl then I would be inclined to let him have his treats in peace.  

[Sue H]

Try to reinforce your superiority by praising his pig's ear, taking it off him and sniffing it, and then giving it back to him.  He will then start to accept that you are just 'checking him out' and are not going to actually deprive him of his treat, but that you have the seniority to take it if you wish.

[Kim]

If a dog has a tendancy to guard his food, the very worse thing you can do is take his dinner away from him !

[s baxter]

thanks sue h for that but the trouble is getting it off  him but i could av a go .kim i understand what your saying but the first time he did it i wasn`t trying to take it away just stroking his face but he obv thought i was gonna take it,i`ve since left him to get on with these type of snacks and when he`s finished he alaways come over very excitedly as if saying thanks for that it was yummy  

[Jane S]

If a dog has a tendancy to guard his food, the very worse thing you can do is take his dinner away from him !

I agree Kim & most modern behaviourists would also not recommend doing what Sue has suggested as it can actually increase the guarding behaviour not improve it. Far better to teach a dog to give up things by offering something in return ie play "swapsies" as has already been suggested - sensible advice I think.

Jane

 

[s baxter]

ok thanks for that i have been thinking carefully about it so i`ll leave him to it.he lets me pet him on the lower back so i do that and praise him while he`s eating it