what would you do with a dog that went for you when you moved his food bowl?

[LittleBookofCalm]

after being neutered.
young male?

[Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten]

Throw treats on the floor away from the bowl and then pick up the bowl when he is eating the treats.

[Veterinari]

Stop moving the food bowl!
Can you give more context? Eg is when the bowl is full or empty?

Ensure he’s left in peace to eat and not disturbed

Anxiety can manifest after neutering and his anxiety over losing a precious resource needs to be assuaged. The aspca and Dogs trust have done good website resources on counter-conditioning resource-guarding

[LittleBookofCalm]

ah, well someone i know had their dog pts under these circumstances - otoh the vet obviously agreed to it.

[NoFucksImAQueen]

obviously the person you know was ignorant and unreasonable but you don't mention what you mean by went for them. growled, snapped round, bit them?
we also don't know what they told the vet, they could have lied

[LittleBookofCalm]

oh the dog bit them

[LittleBookofCalm]

they would not have lied to the vet

[Frequency]

My dog would go for me if I moved his food bowl while he was eating but I don't move it, so it's not an issue. If we have small children visiting or strange dogs, I move the food bowl.

He used to go for me if I went near his bowl so I tossed treats in (from a distance) while he was eating and now he understands humans being near him while is eating is good not bad. Chicken sometimes lands in his bowl when humans go near it.

I never trained him so far that I could move the dish or take it away while he was eating because why would I take his food off him while he was eating? Why does he need to learn that?

[averylongtimeago]

If he is resource guarding you need help from a dog trainer to retrain him. It is possible but takes time.
Look for a trainer that uses positive methods and avoid any that talk about pack theory.
The Facebook group "Dog training advice and support" is very helpful- it's run by professional trainers- so have a look on there.

In the meantime, don't go near the bowl and make sure children keep away. Restrict access to high value toys and food (such as bones) to avoid more guarding behaviour.

[LittleBookofCalm]

i just remembered that when my dog, same breed, is in the dishwasher, she would nip if i moved the plate, but she is ok with food. the person with the pts dog complained about this happening. i didnt think it was comparable really , my own dog is fine with her food bowl as i trained her to be

[ThanksHunkyJesus]

If a dog bit then yeah it probably should be put to sleep especially if there are children in the house. Just because you would make different choices it doesn't make you a better person.

[ADastardlyThing]

While he was eating? Tbf I'd be totally fucked off if someone moved my plate while eating.

[LittleBookofCalm]

No children

[LittleBookofCalm]

Thanks for the opinions

[averylongtimeago]

A dog is not a person. You might grumble or be cross if someone took your dinner away, but you wouldn't sink your teeth in their face.
A dog should let you move it's dinner, you may have to, a child might be visiting, the dog might be in the way.

[Zebedee12]

Leave the bowl alone... You shouldn't go near them when they are at their bowl

[tabulahrasa]

“but you wouldn't sink your teeth in their face.”

But biting isn’t natural behaviour for adult humans...

Guarding food and biting are unwanted behaviours, but they’re not abnormal for dogs.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

As far as the dog was concerned, the food was a precious resource and he was in danger of losing it, so he guarded it. It's likely that lower level signals had been ignored either on that occasion or others and so the dog felt it had no option but to escalate it.

By way of analogy, presumably your phone is valuable to you. If someone picked it up and walked off with it you'd probably guard your phone you'd probably guard it too.

No, I wouldn't PTS a dog for what sounds like a simple and resolvable case of resource guarding food. I'd be getting a behaviourist in, and engaging in some environmental management in the meantime, such as keeping people away from the dog when eating.

[ADastardlyThing]

You should leave a dog alone while eating if they are a bit funny about it, other ways to try and train it out of them, a visiting child is not the time for a teaching opportunity. And as far as I can see op hasn't said the dog sunk teeth into any faces.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

My parents last lab was completely vicious when eating, he would make the most horrible guttural growling and snarling noises and he was always fed by hurriedly putting the bowl outside the back door when he was outside and shutting the door quickly. We just learnt that when it was his feed time we kept well away. He was a big old softie the rest of the time.

I was determined that my dogs would never be like this. I fed them by hand till they got used to my hands bending near their bowl and they’ve never, ever had a problem with resource guarding. Can’t take the risk with young children in the house.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

*being not bending

[averylongtimeago]

I didn't say that the dog had bitten - but with recourse guarding it is always a possibility.
This is why you need to train your dog, preferably from puppy hood, that it's ok if you touch their food, their toys, beds etc.
Of course you let them eat in peace, but should you need to, you should be able to move or touch their stuff.

[Veterinari]

A lot of resource guarding us created by misinformed owners who remove their dog’s Bowl whilst eating ‘to show them who's Boss’ this creates fear in the dog that he’ll lose his food and so he starts to protect it with aggression.
For a dog to be euthanised for a problem created by human owners is really really sad.

[whateveryousay]

I would never, and have never, tried to remove food from either of my dogs. Don’t see why I should.
Consequently they are both fine with me, or anyone else, being very close, touching the bowl etc, as I suppose it would never occur to them that it would be taken away, as it’s never happened.

[LittleBookofCalm]

Tbf I don't think an attempt was made to take the food, just walking close