By Sarah Groves Dog Training - your puppy training specialist covering Neath, Port Talbot, Swansea and surrounding areas
So you've brought your puppy home, everything is going as planned, except you have just gone close to your puppy while they are eating or chewing on a bone, and you start to notice a growl!
This behaviour is definitely something which you didn't expect, and is quite scary to see from such a young dog - but don't panic because I will explain to you exactly what's going on here, and some steps that you can start to take to prevent this from escalating as your puppy grows.
Growling is communication
So let's strip this right back - why do dog's growl?
The answer is simple - they are trying to communicate something to you - and the majority of the time, a growl means 'I feel uncomfortable in this situation'.
So when your dog is growling when you are close to their bowl, they are telling you 'i'm feeling uncomfortable with you being this close to my high value resources - back off please'
But why is this happening?
It is a perfectly normal and natural behaviour for any animal to want to protect what they percieve as their high value resources - from a survival point of view.
This growling is happening to prevent their food or chews from being taken away from them.
You may never have tried taking their food away from your puppy in the past, so it may be a surprise to you that your pup is even showing this behaviour.
From my experience, this behavoiour develops quickly in young puppies who are born in large litters and are all fed their meals from the same bowl, meaning that they will need to race or fight to get their share of food before it's devoured by the other pups.
This behaviour can also start if items are taken out of their mouth, without giving them something back in return.
What can you do to prevent this behaviour from escalating?
There are a number of aprroaches around this problem, all which will help to make your pup feel more secure and less tense when they are eating.
The aim is to show your pup that when people are around them and food, then things are being given to them, and not taken away.
1) Hand feeding
Use one of your pup's meals every day to hand feed. This will show your dog that you are the giver of all amazing things!
2) Give your pup a safe space to eat and chew where NO ONE approaches.
This will make your pup feel super safe and secure that when they have their high value chews or food, that no one will go near them.
Teach your children to NEVER go near a dog who is eating and to stay away from the boundaries of your dog's safe space.
3) Play lots of swap games using toys.
If your pup enjoys playing with toys, you can play lots of swap games to teach them the concept of 'when I want something from you, you will be given something as good or even better'
If you need to get something out of your pup's mouth, instead of chasing them and taking it outright, offer them a treat or a toy that they love instead, so they learn that when they drop the item, something better will be coming their way.
4) 'The bowl method'
This involves having two feeding bowls placd on the floor at a distance from each other.
Bowl #1 - place a few pieces of kibble in the bowl
Just before your dog has finished eating the kibble, you will approach bowl #2 to add some kibble to that bowl and move away.
As your dog is coming to the end of eating from that bowl, approach bowl#1, add kibble and move away.
Repeat.
Over a period of time (the time depends on the individual dog, but the longer you work on this the better) you will be able to move the bowls closer and closer to each other.
While working on the bowl method, please keep a close eye on your dog's body language for any signs of discomfort.
If you see any of these following signs when approaching a bowl, you are too close and need to create more space between the bowls:
- Your dog's body stiffens up and towers over their bowl
- 'Whale eye' - you wil be able to see the whites of your dog's eyes
- Lip curling/wrinkling of the nose
- Growling
Training methods to avoid at all costs:
- Placing your hands in your dog's bowl while they are eating
- Taking food or chews out of your dogs mouth
- Telling your dog off for growling
- Continuing to approach your dog when they are showing the above body language signs
All of these methods should be avoided because they will cause resource guarding to worsen over time.
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