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Hi all! I have a bit of an odd problem with our pup Knoet, a 7 month-ish old Labrador/Husky/Kangal/Swiss Shepherd mix, and I'm hoping someone can offer some advice! When Knoet just came to us she had food envy, which was fine because we expected it (she came from a rather large litter that was fed at the same time, with a long line of kibbles on the floor), and we 'fixed' this by getting a slow feeder bowl. Every so often we'd come near it and add some more kibbles or give her a treat, and that worked wonders for the food envy. However... Ever since she's gotten her big girl teeth, she's started to basically eat the slow feeder bowl with it. It's a plastic bowl, as seems to be the case with all slow feeder bowls (that I could find anyway), and she'll chomp bits of the edges after she's finished with her kibbles. I can't describe it in any way other than that she has feeding bowl envy. If she's eating, everything is fine, and I could even take the bowl away (though I make a point of it not to, since she's right to think that's her food), but once it's empty she'll start guarding the bowl like crazy. What I do now is I try to distract her, for example with another toy or some treats, and then I take it away, but that's not going great. I've also tried trading for high quality treats, but I don't think anything trumps the bowl in her mind. On top of that I'm starting to notice that she's becoming more guarded with other toys too, and I'm pretty convinced that it's connected because she mostly does that right after dinner too. If I'll try to touch her snake (a toy that you can put some treats into) in the afternoon, for example, it's fine, but if I do so after dinner she'll lay her ears flat against her head. I don't want to keep taking her bowl away from her, but I can't exactly let her eat it either (it's non-toxic plastic, but still). So, does anyone have any tips for a) food bowl envy, or b) getting a dog to eat slower without a slow feeder bowl? Either would solve my problem, hopefully!

Please need help. My 4 months goldendoodle has been too protective of his food, he is very nice in all areas but that part. After putting his bowl down and if he thinks we are too close of the bowl he growls and gets mad. We already tried two steps like putting the food bowl on our lap while he eats and while he is eating we called him and give him a treat. Today was the worst, my daughter throw to him some treats and she went to get one that she thought he did not see and he bite her! Pleas please I need help to fix that.

Hi, We have a border jack puppy--5 months old. She is VERY food motivated and would say that all food and chews come before anything even herding the cats! She growls even if you come close to her while she is eating out of her bowl. She will growl if she is chewing on a high value meat bone. She will also growl and nip if she sits next to us and is tired and we pet her. I know she is still a puppy and we need to teach her what is the right way to behave. I'm trying all sorts of things, but she is still a little "B". LOL Any suggestions for us to handle this aggressive behavior? thank you! Suzanne