Let Sleeping Dogs Lie -- Or More Importantly . . .

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:54 am

Let Eating Dogs Eat.

I do some pretty stupid things. Anyone who knows dogs knows that you do NOT disturb them while they are eating (especially by trying to separate them from their food source). They can become very TOUCHY about that when they are hungry. Take, for instance, that cute little pooch gazing at you to the left of your screen. Hidden behind that face full of unruly hair and pink little tongue is a mouth full of chompers, and the heart of a Mister Hyde. Until yesterday, that dog lived only to whap its tail in joy against any nearby object and to have it's tummy rubbed. After setting her food bowl down in the kitchen corner at mealtime, I remembered I had only five minutes to make an important telephone call upstairs. I couldn't leave her alone because nature always calls immediately after she eats. I tried to reach for her bowl to move it outdoors and I was met with a very disturbingly low and menacing growl. Figuring that she surely knows better than to bite the hand that feeds her, I grabbed ahold of her haunches to slide her away from the bowl, whereupon she quickly swung her head around and chomped. Luckily I managed to put my foot between her mouth and my hand before she could do any damage to my person. She ended up chomping down on the toe of my shoe which didn't really hurt. I slid a chair against her and nudged her away from the bowl so I could set it on the deck, where she promptly followed. It's almost like she knew what she had done and felt guilty about it, as she would not look me in the face until several hours later.

BTW, I still had time to make the phone call.

Will O'Ban

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:58 am

A year ago I tried to remove a piece of metal from our 8-month-old beagle's mouth (that dog will eat ANYTHING) and without warning he lunged at my face. Much blood and many stitches later, I still have to remind myself not to take things out of a dog's mouth but distract him with another permissible item. It's such a natural reflex action to just grab things from them. Never again.

Susan

herbivore12 · Post by **herbivore12** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:05 am

Glad you're okay, Will.

First injury requiring stitches I ever had (and I've since had way more than my share) was from a similar situation. I was two years old, and grabbed the tail of my uncle's pug while it was eating. It turned around and hit me in the face with a front paw, making a dep cut alongside my nose down to my upper lip. I had some nerve damage that left that side of my face a little immobile for a while, but that resolved over time. Hardly even a scar there now.

Now I'm a cat (and bird) person. If I touch my cat while she's eating, she just purrs real loud and looks happy. A much more reasonable response to the guy who brings you your food every day, I think.

flanum · Post by **flanum** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:05 am

I hope youse both didnt scold them afterwards!! They are animals after all. Sometimes i think we humans forget this and try to transpose human emotions onto animals. Anybody any idea of a dogs memory span??? Cue Pavlov!

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:15 am

Several people told me I should have our beagle put down, but it never crossed my mind. I made the mistakes - leaning down over him in an aggressive posture and trying to forcibly remove something from his mouth. It wasn't his fault. The law requires the hospital to report a dog attack to animal control and Barney did have to be quarantined at home for ten days but HE didn't know that.

He's really a gentle dog who loves kids and hasn't been aggressive in any way before or since that incident.

Susan

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:26 am

I'm sure your dog did feel very confused afterward. She had bitten the leader of her pack. Probably a rather scary situation for her. I'm glad you didn't get injured.

When my twin 2 1/2 year old nieces came to visit a number of years ago, I was very concerned about them accidentally doing this. So I talked to them about not ever touching or bothering Rags while he was eating because he might think they were going to take his food away and he could accidentally get very upset. Of course I was always with them around Rags anyway, but it was so cute to see how well those tiny girls understood me. They loved to watch him eat and after they "helped" me get his dinner ready they would both crouch down at a reasonable distance away and sit just as still as mice to watch him eat.

I'd also say to be very careful around dogs who can't see or hear as well as they used to. Even if they aren't eating, you can surprise them because they don't sense you coming and they can also snap or bite out of alarm.

missy · Post by **missy** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:31 am

Cynth wrote:
I'd also say to be very careful around dogs who can't see or hear as well as they used to. Even if they aren't eating, you can surprise them because they don't sense you coming and they can also snap or bite out of alarm.

we had a daschund that lived till age 18. She was almost blind, deaf and had no teeth left by that time. When my dad died, mom was in the bedroom with the EMT's, when a police officer arrived. He let himself in the door and Hildie ran over. He went to pet her and she attacked him - luckily with no teeth, she just gummed him.

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:06 pm

Yeah, I'd never consider doing anything to her for that. Like you said, flanum, she was just doing what her genes have programed her to do -- which is to survive by guarding her food.

I came out ok this time, herb. Thanks for asking. On another occasion with her about 2 years ago I wasn't quite so lucky. At that time, we had her for about a year and did not know that she was epileptic. With no advance warning, her back legs gave out on her in the kitchen and she went into a grand mall seizure -- kind of frightening to watch, but I had worked with folks who had them before so I kind of knew what was happening with her. When the convulsions subsided, she was lying there on her side in a pool of doggy drool, with her tongue hanging out and an exhausted glassy-eyed stare. Knowing better, BUT STILL NOT THINKING, I reached down to comfort her by resting my hand on her side. The instant she felt my hand, she let out a piercing scream (she didn't know what was happening to her and she was afraid) and sunk her teeth into my hand between the knuckles of my index and middle fingers on the palm side. She hit bone and I had a nice sized hole in my palm. She immediately jumped to her feet and dashed into the other room where she collapsed and cowered in the corner. We couldn't get near her because she still didn't realize who we were and would snarl when we approached her. Eventually she calmed down enough that I was able to pick her up, using my winter coat rolled up as a shield between us, but there was no more problem with her trying to bite. We drove her to the animal hospital where they gave her medicine ithrough I. V. and she spent the night and had several more smaller seizures. She's been on phenobarbital since then and we haven't seen any more episodes.

I didn't get stitches. I have a small scar on my palm and I got a tetinus shot. I knew better than to touch her when she was like that, but I was thinking more of her looking so frightened lying there on the floor than I was about what could happen to me. The truth is, she didn't know what had happened, or who I was, or if I had just caused her to be in the condition she was in. And she acted accordingly, as an animal protecting her life. Although the bite hurt, I would never consider punishing her for my own stupidity.

Will O'

peteinmn · Post by **peteinmn** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:10 pm

Will,

For what's it worth (it may be a bit late to train her now) this is a fairly common problem with dogs and is one of the most common ways that little children that don't know better than to crawl into the dog's dish, get their first dog bite from a family pet.

Dogs are decended from wolves and as a pack animal, they are instictively posessive of their food. I've had and trained dogs for most of my life and what is usually recommended is to start training this behavior out of dogs when they are still pups. A young puppy has zero "rank" in his new household pack (and you don't have to worry about a serious bite anyway) so you can engage in "play behavior" at mealtime by repeatedly taking his bowl away and giving it back and then praising him. Doing this for the first few weeks with a new pup impresses on them that this is normal play behavior and not really taking their food. Most dogs "get" this fairly easily. You can do this with an adult dog as well but you have to be more careful obviously. Putting the dog on the end of a leash where you can just slide the food within her reach and then sliding it out of reach without geting bitten is one way. Make sure that you praise her everytime you take the food away. Unless she is a real dunce, she'll "get it" quickly.

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:10 pm

Cynth wrote: They loved to watch him eat and after they "helped" me get his dinner ready they would both crouch down at a reasonable distance away and sit just as still as mice to watch him eat.

Little ones can be really cute like that.

Will O'

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:17 pm

I love dogs, even when they're mean to me, bark at me, chew my shoes, o bite me. I just can't help it. They're like little kids, so innocent and cute that I can't be mad at them. Dogs are the best kind of people.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:19 pm

Wow. I've never had dogs, but my wife (a vet) informs me that when we get one, we will spend a lot of time while it's a puppy
looking in its ears, touching its feet, and generally getting it used to being handled. If you don't do this regularly while they're
puppies, apparantly, it's can be hard for the vet to examine them when they're adults.

I guess we'll have to add messing with its food to the list.

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:19 pm

I guess my dog is weird. Just about anything can distract him from his food, and he doesn't care when one of the cats steals some of it. He's territorial about our house and property, but not his food. He's the first dog I've ever known who was like that.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:20 pm

My dog isn't food agressive. But he is just about everything else agressive. He's very protective of my wife, her parents and myself. Other than that, he's a really sweet soul.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:23 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:

That's a lovely poodle you've got there.