Anybody's seen the dog whisperer's advice on dog aggression? need help?

Question

i have a puppy and i wanted to know if anyone has seen the dog whisperer (cesar millan) and if he's given any advice on dog aggression when they eat?? mine hasn't yet because hes too small still. what can i do to prevent him from growling when near him while eating? a dof i had before always did that

Answer 1

For prevention you need to teach the dog to sit before giving him the food and practice taking the food away and sticking your hand in the bowl while he's eating and petting his head while he's eating.

Answer 2

Hand feeding definitely helps! Start out by giving him the food in your hand for a while, after you've done that for a few days, hold your hand IN the bowl and give him the food. After that, you can put a handful of food in the bowl, and have your hand in there. Eventually, you can put all the food in the bowl and let him eat it while you put your hands in there and touch him as you please without him being aggressive.

The point of that exercose is to get him to understand that your hands being in the bowl while the food is in there/while he is eating is a GOOD thing because it means he gets food! He should start to associate your hands with giving him food rather than taking it away.

Answer 3

The best way to prevent food guarding is to teach your dog to associate people coming near him with good things.

1. While he is eating, approach and put something really yummy in his food bowl (e.g. cheese, bacon). Keep repeating.

2. Hand-feed your dog some of his food every day. This helps with bite inhibition, leadership, and bonding.

3. Have other people approach him when he is eating and toss him food so that he associates all people coming near him as something good.

4. Teach your dog the "drop" command.

Answer 4

What kind of a blithering idiot would want to bother a dog when it is eating. If you bother me when I'm eating I will put my fork through the back of your hand. And if you bother my dog I will let him bite it off without punishment.

I would not dream of going anywhere near my dog when he is eating. That is his time and his food. "Walker" is perfectly socialized and thoroughly trained to be a responsible member of our household. However, every individual in the house has been told to not mess with the dog when he is eating. He doesn't bother us at the table and we don't disturb his dish. It's called respecting the individuals space.

We do hand feed him at times. He has a very soft mouth and takes the food gently. There has never been an 'accident' feeding him this way. The cat tried to 'share'; ONCE. She doesn't do that since Walker's lesson to her.

Answer 5

Teach him to sit before meals. Have him sit until you put the bowl down and say ok.

Also teach that you being near his bowl while eating is a good thing. While his eating put your hand in his bowl and leave a yummy treat. When he starts looking for the treat in his bowl, start putting your hand in the bowl without leaving a treat. Every other time drop a treat in, then every third, then really change it up to keep him guessing.  He'll look forward to you dropping by during meal times since he knows that you'll add yummy things to it sometimes. He never knows which time it will be so it keeps him enthusiastic about it.  

Answer 6

This is a good chance to teach him to NOT be aggressive!  Get him used to you putting your hand in his bowl and petting hime while he eats.  Praise the whole time you do it.

Take his bowl from him..  praise, give him a reward then give him back his bowl of food.

If you have to remove an unwanted item from him at any time, such as if he's teething on something, or dug a chicken bone out of the trash.. praise him when you take the item and give him a "trade" of something better... like a pig ear or a favorite treat.

Answer 7

I would only stick my hand in the food if you are well trained....since you have a pup, l;ook up www.leerburg.com   Look at his website and it amy seem harsh for a family pet but he has an incredible amount of experiance in the "working dog" area.  You never stick your hand in thier food bowl, an alpha dog never eats after he is completey eating he allows his pack to eat after he is full, you would be then exactly that, eating after you "ate already".The dog would growl or be "defensive' of his food just because he thinks you might take it away and eat it.  Like before Leerburg might be harsh but take his advise and adjust it to your life, they have raised multpile generations of working service dogs.  Hear him out.  It has worked for me, I have 3 dogs myself.

Answer 8

Heres his site:  http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/

Answer 9

   The best way to teach him is to put ur hand in the food bowl while he is eating or find a prop hand to use if you feel unsure of his reactions .If he shows any signs of aggresion give a stern no and take the food away for 5 mins and try again.I had a 4 yrld pitbull that did this and it took me months to get him out of this nasty habit.

     Another way is to pet him continuously around the head area while he eats and reward him with a dog treat when he shows good behavior.

Answer 10

The Dog Whisperer's techniques is more for dogs with behavioral problems than it is for teaching basic manners to a puppy.

It's like sending a little kid to prison to learn to read.  It doesn't make sense and it's harsh, when the kid just needs to learn the basics.

Most dogs never have a problem with food aggression.

To make sure:

Make him sit for his food.

Randomly come over and pick up the bowl while he's eating.

Fuss with his head, mouth and ears while he's eating.

Don't make a fuss.  Just a quick "good boy" when you leave him to his meal.

Better advise for puppy raising:

Anything by, "The Monks of New Skeet".

Obedience training books and videos are available free from Libraries.  Check it out.

Answer 11

My brother has showed me the show plenty of times. But honestly I do not remember how he gets those dogs calm. It says on the shows these thing should not be done at home, please seek a professional. You might need to get him in some classes, or just go somewhere when he is eating. good luck. hope i helped.