This is actually something that is really important to do with your dog, especially if they are a young pup that is going to grow into a large, powerful dog.
(This is obviously advice ONLY for a dog you trust or unlikely to be seriously hurt by)
Lay down next to their food bowl while they eat, get your face near their food, pet them and make them feel rewarded for doing what they are doing as they are eating. Pick up some kibbles out of their dish with your hand (again, ONLY do this if you already trust your dog or feel safe doing this) and offer them to your dog to eat out of your hand as they are eating their meal. Don’t let your dog become territorial towards humans about eating their food, teach your dog that humans don’t steal their food, it makes your dog so much less dangerous around other people.
Lol so yeah, I literally do that last panel with my dogs, but I do it so a human having a face near their food isn’t perceived to be a threatening thing to them, it’s just normal. I grew up with german shepherds and we trained them to be friendly family dogs, you can’t risk a kid running up behind your shepherd while it is eating, surprising them and then having their entire face bitten off. They need to be chill about humans being around their food or you are raising an animal that could seriously hurt somebody.
I think i wrote 10 variations of a “my hand is now gone” joke, before giving up …
Hey if you only have one hand that is a lot of work to type up I imagine so don’t be too hard on yourself.
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And with other animals, too. I had a German shepherd who was chill about me being around his food but never had another dog around him while he was eating.
At some point while he was still younger than 2 we had a family get together. Brother brought his dog over. Sweetest pit you’d ever meet.
Time to feed the dogs. Had them separated, but she finished before my dog and she came sniffing around. He didn’t like that and nipped at her. She backed off, but the flags were raised.
With my brothers reluctant permission, I had to give him some on the spot training. I had to sit there between the dogs while he ate, petting my brother’s dog and mine while slowly moving her closer so he had a chance to get used to it with someone he trusts guiding the whole thing along.
In the end he was fine and never had anymore issues with dogs being around him, but I kept a watchful eye on him after that any time another dog was around.
He’d like it fine. Dogs love being around their humans.
When it comes to food it depends on the dog. Some are food reactive and could bite for doing that.
