Does something need to be done about dogs?

Jono8 said:
Food aggression/food resource guarding is supposedly very common in dogs. So much so that most of them would have to be put down if you thought it was a problem. Yes, you can and should train them to control it better, but to be honest I think it is impossible to get rid of it to some degree.
Click to expand...

Thing that annoys me is the barking. What I really don't understand is why dogs bark. Wild dog's don't bark.

Unfortunately, I think the problem is that owners bond with their dogs then live in denial about the danger they represent. I don't know how you would correct this though. I feel bad for the Royal Mail too, the number of post office delivery staff who are bitten is just insane. It's another issue that the government just choose to ignore.
 
ChrisLX200 said:
This is one of the behaviours that makes a dog a dog :) They normally like to be left alone when eating and if they don't it's because it's been trained out of them (not necessarily purposefully) and they now accept it's safe to have someone near at dinner time. If you have more than one dog they will usually leave a respectful distance from each other during feeding time. However, you do have to be careful such instinct doesn't morph into more generalised guarding behaviour where every treat/toy is protected the same way as that can develop into a real problem. I've owned one dog like that and never did manage to get rid of guarding to the point I would never giver her a bone to chew, but she was absolutely fine otherwise.
Click to expand...
He’s fine with everything else, very similar to Jono8’s reply. Toys etc will drop. Even his main food he’ll sit quietly waiting for it, give me paw, then still sit till I say “ok” for him to eat it, but it’s then at that point behaviour changes. Only with me mainly though, no reaction to wife, and ok if kids walk past, so must be competition thing with me. Just dogs being dogs as mentioned!
 
fez said:
The problem is owners. Pretty much always the owners. Some owners train their dogs to be nasty and aggressive and others refuse to see the fact their dog is dangerous and should be treated as such. They lie to themselves that their dog is all bark and no bite.

My partners parents are the same. Their dog is crazy protective of her. Goes nuts at people randomly barking and grrring. Hes a lab/rottweiler cross. He would eat most people if he wanted to. Shes finally accepting that hes maybe dangerous and taking more precautions but for years she was adamant he wasn't an issue. He bit me on the face when he was younger because I touched him while he was eating. They blamed me for that.
Click to expand...
Pretty silly thing to do, resource guarding is common especially food.
 
gingergundog said:
Pretty silly thing to do, resource guarding is common especially food.
Click to expand...

Which is why you train them out of it. Perhaps you are right though, we should be sending everyone who doesn't own dogs on training courses on how to behave around dogs rather than expecting the owners to do it... :rolleyes:

Jono8 said:
Food aggression/food resource guarding is supposedly very common in dogs. So much so that most of them would have to be put down if you thought it was a problem. Yes, you can and should train them to control it better, but to be honest I think it is impossible to get rid of it to some degree.
Click to expand...

Of course it is however you can train dogs to do ridiculous things with enough effort. You train them when they are young by taking their food away and disciplining them when they get protective/aggressive. Letting them know that the food is coming back and that they don't need to be protective of it. If you can't do that because the dog is too old or nothing has worked then you should be warning people if they might be in danger.

We were all standing in the kitchen around him eating and I leaned down and stroked his back and he snapped around and lashed out. There was no warning in any way. People were near him and he was happily eating.
 
Last edited:
chrcoluk said:
Your second example I read as in the dog not been trained to be aggressive but is anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah, some dogs are just not quite right for whatever reason. Same as children. You will get 2 kids that are treated exactly the same and turn out very different. If your dog is getting aggressive you need to fix it. If it isn't, you are fine.

Some dogs need more training than others. As a dog owner you have to do that training no matter what it entails.
 
fez said:
Which is why you train them out of it. Perhaps you are right though, we should be sending everyone who doesn't own dogs on training courses on how to behave around dogs rather than expecting the owners to do it... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Haha sounds like a great plan, some people could do with that. In an ideal world they should be telling you, even still if the owner didn't know about any issue id still avoid bothering it. Maybe as I have experienced resource guarding with my own but it seems like the sensible choice.
 
fez said:
Which is why you train them out of it. Perhaps you are right though, we should be sending everyone who doesn't own dogs on training courses on how to behave around dogs rather than expecting the owners to do it... :rolleyes:



Of course it is however you can train dogs to do ridiculous things with enough effort. You train them when they are young by taking their food away and disciplining them when they get protective/aggressive. Letting them know that the food is coming back and that they don't need to be protective of it. If you can't do that because the dog is too old or nothing has worked then you should be warning people if they might be in danger.

We were all standing in the kitchen around him eating and I leaned down and stroked his back and he snapped around and lashed out. There was no warning in any way. People were near him and he was happily eating.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the dog trained you not to touch when it's eating. Doubt you'll do that again any time soon.
 
ChrisLX200 said:
Sounds like the dog trained you not to touch when it's eating. Doubt you'll do that again any time soon.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I should kick the crap out of it when it growls at anyone? Perhaps that will stop it from doing that right? I really hope you don't have a dog.
 
Dis86 said:
Situation normal, another child killed by a dog.

www.upday.com

Four-year-old girl killed after dog attack in Milton Keynes is named as Alice Stones

A four-year-old girl has died after reports of a dog attack in Milton Keynes on Tuesday evening, Thames Valley Police said.
www.upday.com www.upday.com
Click to expand...
www.bbc.co.uk

Milton Keynes: 'Happy little girl', 4, killed in dog attack

The child was attacked in the back garden of a house in Milton Keynes, police say.
www.bbc.co.uk

Bet he was nice dog and it was so unusual
 
Last edited:
SpellowHouse said:
Of course it is however you can train dogs to do ridiculous things with enough effort. You train them when they are young by taking their food away and disciplining them when they get protective/aggressive. Letting them know that the food is coming back and that they don't need to be protective of it. If you can't do that because the dog is too old or nothing has worked then you should be warning people if they might be in danger.

We were all standing in the kitchen around him eating and I leaned down and stroked his back and he snapped around and lashed out. There was no warning in any way. People were near him and he was happily eating.
Click to expand...

Taking the food away is supposedly the worst thing you can do, as that just teaches them that their food will be taken away (and therefore makes their anxiety over the food getting stolen even worse). It did not work at all with ours from the get go. It just made him worse for a time.

What is working is just sitting next to him and keeping my hand in his food bowl and on him. That way someone being "all up in his grill" whilst he eats becomes normal, and nothing to get angry about.
 
Last edited:
I've always thought that you should be able to take food away. Just incase they get something on a walk that's dangerous for example.

Its the only time koda (a Bosnian rescue) has ever growled at me was the first time I took a chew away.

From what Ive heard you should be able to take something away but give a reward. So they learn that food being taken away isn't a bad thing.
 
Jono8 said:
Taking the food away is supposedly the worst thing you can do, as that just teaches them that their food will be taken away (and therefore makes their anxiety over the food getting stolen even worse). It did not work at all with ours from the get go. It just made him worse for a time.

What is working is just sitting next to him and keeping my hand in his food bowl and on him. That way someone being "all up in his grill" whilst he eats becomes normal, and nothing to get angry about.
Click to expand...

Ours is very possessive over food, I've never taken his food away from him while eating, but I reckon he has built up anxiety from his big chews that I take off him after a while as he'd eat the lot which isn't good for him otherwise. I'd resorted to bribing him with something like peanut butter that he loves as I can give him a small amount and then remove the other treat so he doesn't quite feel like he's left out. Unfortunately he's wisen upto that tactic and if he's not feeling peanut butter he's less tempted to be tricked - actually a lot of the times he tries to play clever and tries to get both.

He's only a small dog (6Kg) but we still warn anyone visiting not to take his treats off him.
 
Minusorange said:
Looks like it's been destroyed from the BBC article, shame for the dog, doesn't really know any better, just doing what dogs do, you'd think people would learn that dogs & kids is an accident waiting to happen
Click to expand...

Alas a dog that has done this, no matter who or what is to blame, can not be allowed to think it is acceptable. Shame we can't do the same with the owners really.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom