How can I stop my 8 mo. Golden Retriever from growling and curling his nose aggressively while eating?

Question

Recently our Golden has become aggressive while eating. It was my intention to be able to have a family dog and never worry about his behavior. While watching him eat, he was rapidly devouring his puppy chow and to slow him down I have been making him sit and stay before eating it all. When I pet him to make him stop and command sit, he low growls and then will curl his nose a bit. I do not want an aggressive dog and want to make sure he knows that eating is no excuse for this behavior. I have him learning new commands like sit, stay, lay, etc...and he will come and walk off a leash for me, but it seems this is a problem I can not quite conquer. I called a vet and they said they'd give me a packet of info which is nice, but has anyone had a similar experience? If so please let me know what you chose to do. I'm wondering if he's being fed enough food, almost 4 cups (8 mo old 75 lbs) of a high quality food.

Answer 1

Although still a puppy, your golden will try to establish there dominance over there own food. Simply blocking him before he eats, lets him know you are the boss, and he eats when you say so. Also putting your hand around the bowl and such, lets him know that " Your the leader and you take what you want", Without "guff". Knowing that your the boss the pup will simply fallow your rules. A light tap, but firm enclosing the ear also establishes dominance. Remember that its a dog world, and he interprets things differently. He IS being fed enough food, its just a dominance issue, and it should be in forced rather quickly if you establish your dominance in an early stage in life. ^_^ Have a great day!

Answer 2

You need to establish your self as top dog, pack leader. Make him wait when you feed him and watch you eat something first. This helps to put him in his place in the pack. He may need to see every one in the family eat something first.
A high quality puppy food specifically for large breed dogs is called for and should have feeding quidelines for type, age, and weight on a chart. Under or over doing it can cause developement problems, partcularlly of the skeleton. Questions really do need to be answered by the vet about your pup's condition.
Every dog and owner can benifit from an obedience class even if you seem to be doing fine on your own. A good one will teach you more about how a dog understands the communications between you so that there is less confusion. Good luck.

Answer 3

When we got our new dog (a blue heeler/austrainshepard crossed with a border collie) when she was 6 months old and she behaved much the same way. It took time but what I did is become the "Pack Leader" for her by "scruffing" her giving her a scolding and then taking the food away from her--3-5 minutes then giving the food back. Yes she paid close attention to me while I had the food bowl up. I then put it back down and repeated the procedure until she had eaten all the food--sometimes it took an hour but in the long run was worth it. I can put my hands in her food/mouth and she just patiently waits. I can also take away anything she has without protest as can everyone in the household. Sometimes I get a look from her that says "do you mind? I'm trying to eat and your fingers aren't what I want!" I can pet her, pull her tail and do all sorts of things but first she had to see me a "Leader" and her role as somewhere down the pack. Also find a good dog trainer and work with them. The dog can become a good citizen and member of your family/pack but you must take the leadership role. All the people in the house must be able to command the dog--even the kids and get the dog's respect. As to the adequacy of the diet--I don't know--but your vet sounds very busy--I'd look elsewhere possibly the state's veternary school for a behaviorist and nutritionist. You need to become the leader as he (your dog) is trying to take over.

Answer 4

I believe in free feeding. I leave a full bowl of food out at all times. I have found that dogs that are free fed are much less likely to be aggressive as they learn that there is food whenever they want it. I am currently fostering a Dalmatian/Pit Bull mix who was literally STARVING when we got her. She had 9 puppies and the puppies were literally sucking the life right out of her. A few more days and she would have died.

We got her and she was about 20 lbs underweight, skin and bones, hips protruding, skinny waist, backbone showing, etc. It was pathetic.

We wanted her to have all the food she wanted (and our other dog is also free fed) so we always made sure that the bowl was full. She was aggressive at first although after a few lessons of me putting an empty bowl in front of her and feeding her ONE piece at a time, she began to understand that I have the power to give her food as well as the right to take it away.

She shows absolutely NO signs of food aggression towards human or beast now.

Also, I think that free fed dogs are less prone to obesity as they only eat when they are hungry, they don't have to scarf their food down at feeding time without even a thought to if they are eating more than they really want.

Answer 5

It may be that he does need more food, but that is no excuse for his behavior. I feed my adult 80 lb. dog 4 cups of food a day; a growing pup may need more. Ask his vet.

I agree with the first poster - hire a professional private trainer for help. Aggression is nothing to fool around with. Some of the suggestions that you have received are good ones, but may not be appropriate for your dog, or at least not yet. A trainer can tell you what to do and when it is time to do it.

Answer 6

If you have children or children that visit, get this taken care of immediately , otherwise someone is going to get bit.

We had a rescue that we were fostering that did the same thing.
We knew there was no chance of him being placed with this issue, so we worked with him diligently.
I sat on a tall chair with the food bowl between my feet. I made him "Sit", and placed a few pieces of kibble in the bowl that he was allowed to eat. Once he got the idea that his behavior produced a reward, I moved the bowl out to the side of the chair.

This time, instead of just putting the food into the bowl, I held my hand down into the bowl with the food in my hand. He was ok with that, but when I tried to pet him with my free hand he growled. With all 5 fingertips, I struck him in the neck (more like a poke) and growled "NOOOO".

I put the bowl back between my feet, did not acknowledge him any further, but still put kibble in the bowl. He was NOT allowed to have it, it was MINE. I took the food out of the bowl and walked away. I went back to the chair and made him sit and replaced the food in the bowl and let him have it.
Each time he was ok with me having my hand in the bowl or touching him when he was eating, I moved the bowl a little further from me. It took quite a while, but he finally realized I was Alpha and was allowed to be in that bowl too. Before he left our care, he had no food aggression at all. He was still placed in a home with no children.

Answer 7

we make sure that we are able to touch, take away the bowl, put hands in the bowl, and pretend we are eating our dogs food. its the only way i can be sure she is ok with us being around it (she's only 5 months). we had a dog that was horrible with her food and you had to be sure she knew you were either giving her more or staying away from her, yet WHILE we had her, we had another dog that would let you pull things out of her bowl or even hand feed her. one time, smokey got a corn cob and it got stuck on her bottom teeth and she was crying and carrying on, but when we tried to help her she would get very possissive and not let you try to get it off for her. it was a sight. but having 2 dogs, one with that mentality was scarey, we were always afriad smokey would hurt midnite if she came too close to her food. we would have to sit by midnite's dish and sometimes hand feed her just so smokey wouldnt get it.

i would suggest to sit on the floor and hand feed your dog a few pieces at a time. when he's comfortable with you giving him the food, put the bowl right next to you, empty, and see if he has a problem with you near the bowl. if he starts growling, say "no" and take it away. then try it, sitting next to the bowl, with a few pieces of food. if he growls, say "no" and take it away. keep upgrading the level of your ownership over the bowl and if at any time he gets agressive, take it away and make sure you tell him "no" at the slightest sign of agression. you need to make it clear its YOUR food, and you are letting him have it. the only reason we started doing that with our new puppy is because of what we saw with smokey, which we never expected and it really only came out when she got older (maybe 6 years old or so). she actually caused our dog midnite to lose an eye when middy was only about 4-6 months old.

Answer 8

We have goldens too, and our male is rather hoggish about his food. He is okay with us people, but he lets our female know the pecking order immediately. This is rude of him, I think, and I make him sit back and let her eat first. It drives him crazy, but I have never heard him growl at her over food, although I suspect he has because she is rather sheepish about eating first, like she has to wait until he is done.

I think that it is all instinct to hog their food. It is not okay though to growl or snarl at someone walking by. Each and every person in the house is the boss and he needs to know that. Goldens are very smart dogs and they learn so fast. Our male also growled at one of our daughters many times who is rather afraid of dogs. He is almost 100 pounds and she is like 80 pounds, so this caused her to be afraid of him as well. This continued until we insisted that she roll him over and get in his face and show him that she is the boss. After this (with quite a bit of coaxing to get her to do it), he has never growled at her again. It is never okay to growl... not even when there is food involved. His submissive position would be on his back facing you. You should be able to hand feed him from this position and pet him or walk by when he is eating out of his bowl.

Goldens are smart and generally non aggressive and if you are persistent, they will learn very quickly.

Answer 9

Its common for puppies to eat fast. So don't try and make him eat slower. He is also growing so you might want to give him a tad bit more of food every month. Also they are very protective towards their food and they don't like it when other dogs or humans get near their food. If you have kids I suggest you tell them to leave him alone while he's eating. And really eating is an excuse for this behavior. When he gets older the growling and showing of teeth will stop. Don't try and force him to stop or slow down because you are most likely going to get bitten.

Answer 10

try petting your dog when you are about to give him his food. continue petting him and then give him the food and never stop petting him while you are putting down his food. if he starts growling, try to scold at him. If you have taught him basic commands or words like "bad dog", use those terms that he might already recognize so he'll know that what he's doing is bad. We sometimes "spank" the dog lightly on his butt to discipline him, but always tell your dog what he's done wrong. Have you tried giving food, like treats to your dog using your hands? Has he taken food from your hands directly? I think dogs recognize those people who give them food and won't think that those people would take away their food. But you should be careful always.