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I have a co-worker who owns a yellow Labrador male about three years old. It?s not a working dog, simply a family pet. It hasn't seen much training, and it isn't a well bred dog.
Well, the unthinkable happened last week. The dog is an outside dog, but they brought it in the house because of abnormally cold temps. No one is exactly sure how it happened, but the two year old boy apparently got close to the dog while it was eating, and the dog bit him on the face tearing the boys upper lip wide open (requiring several stitches). According to the owner, the dog has never shown signs of aggression before.
As we talked about it further, my friend told me that at times he had tried to exert his dominance over the dog by putting food in front of the dog, letting it eat, and then making it stop eating (red flags immediately went up in my mind). I thought to myself that his "food control" training may have actually promoted the aggressive behavior associated by making food a dominance issue and bringing out the dogs natural instincts to defend it.
My personal philosophy over the years has been to never mess with the dog?s food one it is given. I don't free choice feed, and once the dog gets its meal, it doesn't have to worry about defending it because knows it can depend on me never to interrupt that. I touch my dogs; scratch their ears, shoulders, and chest in order to teach them to relax with my presence while eating. I've even done the spit on the food thing, but I never touch their food or bowl during mealtime. With that said, I've never seen even the slightest hint of food possessiveness/aggression in any of my dogs.
Thanks
Well, the unthinkable happened last week. The dog is an outside dog, but they brought it in the house because of abnormally cold temps. No one is exactly sure how it happened, but the two year old boy apparently got close to the dog while it was eating, and the dog bit him on the face tearing the boys upper lip wide open (requiring several stitches). According to the owner, the dog has never shown signs of aggression before.
As we talked about it further, my friend told me that at times he had tried to exert his dominance over the dog by putting food in front of the dog, letting it eat, and then making it stop eating (red flags immediately went up in my mind). I thought to myself that his "food control" training may have actually promoted the aggressive behavior associated by making food a dominance issue and bringing out the dogs natural instincts to defend it.
My personal philosophy over the years has been to never mess with the dog?s food one it is given. I don't free choice feed, and once the dog gets its meal, it doesn't have to worry about defending it because knows it can depend on me never to interrupt that. I touch my dogs; scratch their ears, shoulders, and chest in order to teach them to relax with my presence while eating. I've even done the spit on the food thing, but I never touch their food or bowl during mealtime. With that said, I've never seen even the slightest hint of food possessiveness/aggression in any of my dogs.
Thanks