dog not protective about his food - Page 2

Consider yourself lucky.

I now have a dog who suddenly "turned on me" at 2yo when I pulled her from her food to get her pills to her which I forgot.  She as well as all my pets are conditioned/taught from the get-go that I can do about anything I want.  But it all went away in an instant.

Otherwise, she is basically a wimp and coward of submissive type, doesn't have guard instinct, and so on.  She's rather unstable.

I understand your concern, but don't put "food aggressive" up there as a good thing.

I had a wonderful "perfect" GS before who was the total opposite.  Great guard, would attack IF suspicious, but stop if not a threat instantly (by nature, no training), dominant over other dogs, etc.  But she was NEVER aggressive.  She was jealous, but if a dog (or cat) came to eat her food (never mind toys, etc), she would simply be "passive-aggressive", and literally just get in front of them and just eat all her food so they couldn't get it.  No growling, no nothing.  Just maybe a push & shove.

Me, she was submissive to and never even showed that kind of jealousy.  She'd just let me take the food, take her, whatever, away.

yOU HAVE A GOOD DOG   YOU DO NOT WANT YUR DOG TO PROTECT HIS FOOD    THAT IS NOT HIS JOB   THAT IS YOUR JOB

A DOG THAT PROTECTS HIS FOOD WILL MAUL A CHILD IN A MINUTE IF ONE REACHES BY ACCIDENT FOR HIS FOOD OR HE HAS AN OCCASION TO FIND A TURKEY LEG IN THE PARKING LOT OR ON A PLAY GROUND....JUST AN EXAMPLE....

YOU  LET YOUR DOG BE PROTECTIVE OVER THE TUG   THE BALL AND THE SLEEVE   OR YOU    OR THE GATE IN YOUR YARD...NOT HIS FOOD...

Being food aggressive is not a good thing and should be discouraged, not encouraged.  Many rescues and shelters will not even try to rehome a dog that tests as food aggressive beause it is a good recipe for a bite later on.  Sounds like you have a pretty well balanced dog there.  Try to keep him that way.

Sounds like you have a very good dog.  My older male is a lot like that.  When I got my pup who's also his son the pup would try to eat out of the same bowl as his daddy, water too and his dad used to just let him.  He'd even go so far sometimes to leave his bowl so the pup could eat or drink it himself.  I used to think to myself "what a jackass, why would he just let some dog come in and bully him on his food?"  He never even so much as snarled.  I realized that the reason he didn't show aggression is cause he's good natured and the other dog is really not a threat to him.  Now that the pup is older of course I don't let the dogs interact while eating.  I used to feed them seperated in the yard supervised before the kennels went up and it was ok for the most part until the pup started trying to become alpha.  One day the dad was letting him eat out of his bowl like he'd done before but when the pup began throwing his weight around to push the older dog out of the way and growled at him I guess daddy lost his cool and bit him in the ass.lol Just enough to let him know-I've had it with you pal, you've crossed the line.  Since then they get fed in their kennels.

I would be concerned though if your dog doesn't allow you near his toys, food, bones ect.  That is a NO NO in my house.  My theory is I own everything and I should be able to approach my dog regardless of what he has or is doing without him even thinking about biting me.  But like people we must respect them when they are eating or enjoying a bone and leave them in peace.

It's a good thing your dog is layed back with other dogs; shows he has good temperment, not animal aggressive and is the way a GSD should be.  I wouldn't have it any other way if I were you.