Another Dog Problem

We have an 8 month old husky puppy. She's always been so sweet and gentle, loves kids and people, never barks or growls.
She had been on and off eating for awhile, took her to the vet and he said she was fine physically and that huskies are just picky.

So DH buys her cheap can food to mix with science diet dry puppy food. She loves it.
But yesterday, he fed her and while she was eating, DH went to pet her and she snapped at him!!! She has never been possessive with her food before, ever, nor has she snapped an anyone!! There have been plenty of times that I moved or picked up her bowl while she was eating and she never did anything so this was a huge shock to me. I wasn't home to see it but I was upset and DH seemed a little upset. The thing is, she is obsessed with DH! She cries to be near him so this is all shocking.

Has anyone had this problem and if so, how did you break the behavior?

I don't want to alarm you but make sure you try to fix the problem right away. Speak to your vet as to what can be done in the way of behavior modification.

I had a german shep./black lab mix that was perfectly friendly the first two years we had him. Then at around the age of three he started snapping and growling at my family as a sign of protecting his territory, toys, and food. We tried everything to stop the behavior and the vet finally said that he needed to see a dog psychiatrist. There was no way we were spending money on that but we were still terrified every time someone came into the house that he was going to attack them. We ended up putting him to sleep.

I know this was a drastic measure, but we had let his behavior go for too long and we felt it was the best decision.

So please, go get help for your dog right away in case it progresses into something much worse.

a lot of dogs get possessive over food but you need to control that immediately. A good trainer will break him of that. Its best to start the training when you first notice the problem so it doesn't get out of hand.

Good luck!!

I just spoke to DH, he fed her this morning, he put his hand near her and she growled a bit but he had the training collar and leash on her and corrected her hard, she growled again and he corrected her and then she was fine with him petting her while she ate. I guess we'll just have to do it like this for awhile. She really had never been possessive of anything before.
Anyone else have advice on maybe a better way of breaking this behavior?

I think the training method you are using is good, reinforcing good habits. Do you have her sit and wait before feeding her? We have our dog wait a few minutes patiently-that way he knows that good behavior (ie laying down, as opposed to jumping all around like he used to when we fed him) is rewarded with food.

If she snaps while eating, I would use the training collar, have her sit/lay down, and make her wait a few minutes before letting her eat again. If she snaps again, do the same thing. Eventually, she will get used to you being near her food again, and stop snapping.

You may also want to check w. your vet to make sure its not her eyesight. If your DH approaches from the same side everytime, she may not see him coming clearly, and is distracted by eating, so she may snap, then realize its him. Especially since this is recent, and she doesnt normally snap while eating.

That's a good idea. We usually make her sit before putting her food down but probably have gotten a little lazy about it.
I think her sight is okay, she's only 8 months old.

ah, ok i missed how little she is. She is probably just pushing her boundries. We had this problem w. Onyx, the vet told us about the sitting before food thing. He also told us that when you walk around the house w. the dog, to make sure you walk into the room first, and are in front (ie 'alpha' dog). Onyx would always try and push me out of the way to get through the door first. He only did this to me, not DH. What a pain, everytime we walked I had to make him sit in the doorway while I walked through, then give him the come command so he could follow. Its all about letting them know you are boss.

We had a trainer come in, but to reinforce training we got a book (specifically about labs) and used those tips to keep him in line.

I don't have advice for the behavior...but maybe for the food...


have you tried natures science in petco? we give it to our dog for treats he loves it!!! (in addition to his dry food) I love that its healthy...

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