| Re: feeding aggression
hi roush
only have general advice for you, nothing concerning the whole burying his food thing.
there's no real reason to bother your dog while he's eating. if you want to be sure you can be safe with food, instead of petting him while he eats, have him trade his bowl up for something really good, like a piece of hotdog or chicken. that way he learns that if someone is bugging him while he eats it's to give him something even better than puppy dinner!!!
to bother him while he eats can create resource guarding. just taking his food away without trading for it is an excellent way to teach him he can't trust you.
like i said, i've no clue what's up with the burying the food thing. that's just strange. but if you truly want him to be comfortable with people around while he eats, make his next week's worth of meals hand fed.
seriously. make him sit, give him a handful of kibble to eat from your palm. then make him lay down, repeat. rinse and repeat till he's finished his meal. the hand feeding approach is an excellent way to teach him that all good things come from you. and the fact you make him work for it reinforces that he gets good things when he does good things.
hope this helps
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