# Should I take food away?



## Unforgiving (Jul 27, 2014)

So, I'm not due to get my pup till November but just trying to do as much research about as much as possible so I am fully prepared when he or she comes. 

I have been reading about feeding and don't think I have found this anywhere. 

I have heard that its good practice to every now and then take your dogs food away whilst it is eating. Apparently to show who the boss is, and then let the dog have the food back again. Can anyone shed some light on how true this is? To me it seems quite mean to the dog?


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Nope, don't take the food away, don't stick your hand in the food bowl or any of a number of other theories. That can easily create a food problem. 

What you can do is toss good stuff in the bowl while he is eating. Good things come when you are close by.

If you are concerned about being able to remove things from his mouth, play a trade up game. Teach the command 'out'.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

No. Taking food away isn't going to show your puppy who's boss, but it might create resource guarding issues.


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## Nikitta (Nov 10, 2011)

I hate this show-them-who's-the-boss crap. One trainer around here actually advocates holding the dog down to do the same thing. There was a couple in Xerxes' puppy class that had a german short-hair that was extremely shy that this other trainer had done that to this poor shy dog. ( The trainer in my puppy class does not do this.) The couple was very upset by this and left the class. My puppy class trainer doesn't do this. This dog was a lot more social after just being around other dogs in my puppy class and no one held the poor thing down. Where do they get these stupid ideas?


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## Unforgiving (Jul 27, 2014)

Cool guys, thanks so much for the quick response. It came from one of the old school handlers at work. They used to teach by discipline ie punish if get it wrong. Im talking used to because he has been a handler for 14 years. Now they teach by positive re-inforcement ie treats, which he said is easier, but can make the dogs softer?

Anywho, getting off topic, thanks for the advice.


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## Nikitta (Nov 10, 2011)

What do you want your dog for? Protection? a pet? What's wrong with them being "softer" as you put it? I would call it being more social. I'd rather have a social dog that gets along with other dogs and people. If that's softer, so be it.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

A better way is to walk by his bowl while he is eating and drop something even better in there. That way he knows that not only will you not take his food away once you give it to him, but wonderful things come from you if you approach his bowl.


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## Mrs.P (Nov 19, 2012)

Sunflowers said:


> A better way is to walk by his bowl while he is eating and drop something even better in there. That way he knows that not only will you not take his food away once you give it to him, but wonderful things come from you if you approach his bowl.



:thumbup:


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## Unforgiving (Jul 27, 2014)

Nikitta said:


> What do you want your dog for? Protection? a pet? What's wrong with them being "softer" as you put it? I would call it being more social. I'd rather have a social dog that gets along with other dogs and people. If that's softer, so be it.


I don't mind the dogs being soft, I think by soft he just meant they find it harder to train the bite. Personally as a pet it obviously doesnt matter, I think they just are of that different train of thought. 

I definatly won't be taking food off them


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## Alice13 (Feb 21, 2014)

I read somewhere that you should move your dog's bowl around whule it's eating to prevent him from becoming food-aggressive. However I wouldn't take it away. Some dogs, like mine, tend to lose appetite easily and by taking it away you might just ruin his mood to eat.

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Alice13 said:


> I read somewhere that you should move your dog's bowl around whule it's eating to prevent him from becoming food-aggressive.
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I would think the opposite would happen.
Imagine someone doing this to you while you are eating.


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## WVGSD (Nov 28, 2006)

My husband was just the victim of a rescued/foster GSD's food agression and resource guarding. This was a 7 year old dog whose owner had been placed in a nursing home. The dog had been his beloved companion and had gone to work with him each day. He had been socialized and certainly had the appearance of a well bred GSD. I offered to help the dog find a new home and brought him to my home on Friday afternoon. On Monday morning, he jumped up on the counter and took an open can of canned dog food that I use to give my dogs pills and supplements (i.e. meatballs) when my back was turned. He began snarling when I came near him and my husband and I walked him back to his indoor run with the can clenced in his teeth. Once in the run, he dropped the can and attacked my husband viciously. We never took the can away from him before the attack and never even tried. We were just trying to get him back in his run to keep us safe. My husband's hands were severely bitten and it will be months before he has the full use of his thumbs back, if ever. 

Please don't mess with a dog as it eats. By all means, teach it to trade up and teach the command "out", but don't create anxiety and agitation at meal time.


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## BrandyGalos (Aug 4, 2014)

Boss or boss not. Do not show.

If you have a reason to take your dog's food away, you should be able to do it without a thought. HOWEVER, this is the last place to start. 


Just because you want to be dominant, it doesn't mean you have to be a jerk. If you want to do some preemptive dominance moves on your dog start small. Every training session where you ask your dog to move in the way that you ask is a dominance move. When you cuddle with them and move their bodies around that is a dominance move. 


I think one of the things that gets lost in the Alpha wolf discussion is that different personality types handle the same correction differently. I can not imagine the wreck that my current dog Ergo would be if I rolled her. She would be traumed about it for weeks. However, my last dog was super, super confident and smart and stubborn. 99% of the time he figured out the right thing to do without any input from us. But in the few instances when he was wrong about something he was nearly impossible to correct. I didn't think he would hurt the cats, but it was dangerous because he was horrible allergic to cats and we went to a barn on a busy road and to get him to stop it took quite a few times of me rolling him on his back and holding him down until he tucked his paws and looked away. It had to be a huge correction to get it into his brain before the inborn reaction "ALERT! A Cat!" kicked in.

I think dominance without a practical reason is just cruelty. But I also think that refusing to go the distance so that your dog has maximum freedom and socialization is also cruel.


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