stephanie is: 
okay…
we had problems with china when she was a puppy – she would guard her food and attack the other animals if they came near it. that whole possesive-of-her-food phase. thankful she has grown out of it and i got her used to me touching her while she ate. now the puppy is going through that stage. it wouldn’t be so bad if we just had the cats cause they run away. but when she growls at china china attacks back. it had happened once with fancy bones i got them. but it happened again when our guests we here – right after i told them about it actually. i was petting dia cause she was growling at china across the room while she ate her bone. i saw china heading for her and next thing i know i am caught in the middle of a fight and am pushing them off my legs. they never get hurt but it did. my leg started hurting but they didn’t rip my pants at all. my finger was bleeding from a little cut. i put them in their kennels and dropped my pants to see the damage pretty nasty – red scrapes and a couple gashes from somebodies nails scraping across my leg as i broke it up. well, tried to. i rolled out of the way when i got hurt then grabbed china when danny grabbed dia. hopefully she will pass through this phase as quickly as china did. i will just need to work with her a lot even though it means i may get caught in the middle again. she just needs to learn. she’s lost chewing privledges for the two types of bones we’ve had problems with now. she’ll loose all chew toys if she doesn’t grow out of this like normal.
anyway. after that i was shaking from that and being on cold meds. we went out to the olive garden to catch up with our friends after she gave me my assignment for the rest of the week. i have 15 hours of html to do before midday friday. good thing i don’t work only business hours.
hrm, i think i’ll be in chat tonight if you want to stop by. that is all…
our dogs have a fight occasionally. the best thing to do is make sure they’re separated when they have bones etc. as they do tend to get possessive
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some our doggies at work do that a lot..like the rotti and the boxers..sometimes you can work with them, sometimes you can’t..
our’s are greedy little things, hehe. you give them both the exact same bone or pig’s ear or what have you, and they want each other’s.
we gots 5 doggies in the house..IVe been in the spot many times.. Had my hands bruised, bleeding, ripped up…. If I wouldn’t stick my hands in there it wouldnt be a problem…but somehow my dads theory of “let ’em fight it out” doesnt work with me. 🙂
The only way to get them to stop this behavior is to get them used to the idea that they are 1. not in charge of the food/treats, you are and 2. they need to learn to share.
1. This requires you to regularly take away food/treats while they are eating them. A bark or growl gets a negative reinforcement, a quiet concerned or even begging gets a positive one, and then a return of the food/treat
2. is more difficult with some. You will need to start giving food/treats to one and not the other. Any bad action on the part of the ‘other’ should get a negative responce. After a minute or two, take the treat and give it to the other animal. Again, a bark or growl gets a negative reinforcement, a quiet concerned look or even begging gets a positive one. After a minute then give the first pup a new food/treat. Next time start with the other pup.
It will take some time, but they will start to learn that there is no danger of losing out, or things being taken from them completely, even by the other pup.