Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a JRT-Lab mix (just a guess). She has aggression issues with my other dog, so I'm very careful to keep them apart at all times. She doesn't like people, either, although she's not aggressive...unless someone pursues her like tries to pet her or makes her feel threatened. She'll bark, and if they don't stop, she'll hide behind my legs.
Anyway, one of the big issues she has with my other dog is her overprotectiveness of her food or treats. For good reason, since my other dog is a thief.
I am able to control these things. She is very bonded to me and devoted and submissive to me. I found her when she was only about 6 mos. old.
Anyway, I don't eat beef. So my dogs have never had beef or steak bones or the like. The extent of their exposure to beef has been occasional beef canned food added to their kibble. They get dog treats like Dentastix, Greenies, milk bones, etc.
A relative brought me two steak bones as a treat for the dogs. I put them in different areas and gave each one of those bones. Wow...their instincts took over. They were immediately crazed over them! The male (thief) proceeded to diligently lick his bone and gnaw on it a bit. But the girl...the one with aggression issues...what happened was that I decided to put a towel on her bed, so the bone wouldn't get the bed greasy. As soon as I touched the bone while doing that, she got upset and sat up and looked at me and bared her teeth at me and growled. I told her to stop (in my authoritative voice), but she didn't. I persisted, and so did she. I stood there and stared her down. She then quit growling.
I got her to walk to the side, and I put up a pillow on end between me and her, so that I could get her bone and put it on top of the towel. She came forward excitedly, but stopped at the pillow, looked nervously concerned, but didn't growl.
I then left her to her steak bone. However, she has licked the bone dry, and is keeping the bone with her on her bed, which is on the floor by my bed. I am concerned that that bone is now not a good thing at all and may incite her to be aggressive with my other dog or with me.
I tried removing the bone when she had moved elsewhere, but when she returned to her bed, she saw it was gone and looked at me anxious and upset. She knew where she had left it, and it was gone!
So I returned the bone to her. She's lying in her bed, with her bone next to her.
I will add that I have always been able to remove her food or treat and return it to her. I could take it from her mouth, even. She has always been submissive with me regarding food and treats and everything. But her reaction to this steak bone was over the top. I've never seen her react like that.
So...should I take her bone when she's not looking and not give it back? Replace it with another of her favorite treats? Any advice would be appreciated.
My instinct is to say to take the bone away, and not let either of them have any more. Ever.
She obviously has issues over this bone being a most highly prized treat, and didn't have one until this bone. Why place her and yourself into a bad situation again if you can avoid it? It isn't worth the fight IMO.
I agree. Just take it & replace it with something she Can chew. Make sure you TRADE her for A high Value Food Item! Don't be sneaky about it! Or she will never trust you again.
I took the bone away, after she settled into sleeping on my bed, out of her own bed with the bone. When she went to her own bed late last night, she was sleepy and didn't notice her bone was gone. Per her usual routine, she wakes up in the morning and moves back to my bed, still sleepy. She still hasn't noticed her bone is gone. Phew.
I guess the beef really hit their primal instinct button. Even the other dog was a bit fanatical about his bone, although he's not aggressive in any way. HE noticed his bone was gone (I took the bones away from both of them when they weren't looking.)
So either I'd have to give beef bones to them regularly, so they're not such a rare treat, or not at all, I think. So it'll have to be not at all, since I don't have many occasions to get beef bones.
My relative had brought them a ham bone each a couple of weeks ago. Those bones must be soft, because dogs ate them completely! They loved those, too. But the beef bones hit a button that I've never seen in my dogs before.
I used to give my dog bones until one splintered and he ate it. He suffered very much and thankfully lived. The vet said bones should never, ever be given to cats or dogs. Wishing you the best.
What Nancy says about bones is part right. There are some rules of thumb about giving bones to dogs.
First - no cooked bones. If they are cooked, they have to be big enough the dog can NOT splinter them and chew them up. So, like NO cooked chicken bones, ever. Unless you have a chihuahua. Even there I'm joking a little. I would NOT have given your dogs steak bones from any beef steak cut.
Next - when feeding raw bones, no weight-bearing bones - like no leg marrow bones. Now, there are exceptions to this - it is just a rule of thumb. If you have a beef knee or hip bone, and it is big enough your dog won't demolish it and eat it, it is ok in my book. Some ppl will say "don't, not at all!" but I think if you are practical and watch what your dogs do with the bones, you will be ok.
It is ok for a dog to eat bones - they do digest them. The bones provide calcium for the dog's diet. And good chewing fun. I don't think anything cleans a dog's teeth as well as a good raw meaty bone. So I will give my 55 lb dogs raw chicken backs and necks - which they eat completely. I also give them raw beef neck bones and joint sections. I don't like the joints as much, but if that is all I can get it is what they get. I used to feed my 70-75 lb dogs (now passed) pretty much the same. I don't allow them to eat the chicken leg bones, but if they were larger than 75 lbs, I would.
The joint bones also have lots of cartilage and tendon (which has good proteins), and marrow sections which provide lots of other nutrients. Good stuff for the dogs. Marrow may make a dog sick, though, as it is so rich and fatty. Their stomachs are not used to that much concentrated nutrition. It doesn't bother my current dogs at all - but my old hound almost always threw up some when she ate marrow.
Pick the bones up. If you are feeding larger bones, where there should be something left behind, you should pick the bones up when they are mostly done with it. I don't think it is good to leave a bone out and let them chew on it later. Lots of reasons - germs - more risk the dog will splinter the bone - and food aggression are three top reasons that come to mind.
I think that pretty well covers the "rules-of-thumb" for feeding bones. Now I will mention that there are exceptions. I had relatives who fed their dachsunds leftover fried chicken bones all the time. They claimed they never had any problem. When I first found out, I was completely shocked. They broke every bone-feeding "rule". So, sometimes you can be lucky, and you have to know your dogs.
The risk is that the bone will splinter with sharp edges, and will then puncture the digestive tract from the inside. Personally, I think the risk of this is low, but it does happen often enough. Then you get internal bleeding and that can lead to lots of major life-threatening problems.
So, size the bone to the dog. For a JRT, I would add 10-15 lbs of weight, just because they are such active dogs they will probably chew a lot more vigorously. If the bones are cooked, make sure they are larger enough so that the dogs do not splinter and eat them.
I used to give my dog bones until one splintered and he ate it. He suffered very much and thankfully lived. The vet said bones should never, ever be given to cats or dogs. Wishing you the best.
Cooked bones should never be given to dogs. Ever. Raw bones, on the other hand, do not splinter. My dogs (and cats) are going on 7 years of raw feeding. They get bones (raw) about 2 times a week. Zero problems. Their jaws are so strong now that the bone doesn't even last more than a minute so there's no fighting.
To the OP: My girl can be aggressive with toys and treats so I would either give them to her in her crate, or if a toy, play with her and then put it away when playing was done. If she has something she's chewing on and wants to get that attitude, I take it away from her and put it away. She will try to make her deep, dark brown eyes wider, ensure that her ears are flopped over even more, and she will hold her mouth in such a way as to manipulate me hard. I don't fall for it.
JRTs are king manipulators, even more so than my BC/black lab mix...don't give in, they are playing you. Approach it this way: That is your bone, and you are letting her have it for the time, but if she can't handle herself with it, you take your bone back.
I took the bone away, after she settled into sleeping on my bed, out of her own bed with the bone. When she went to her own bed late last night, she was sleepy and didn't notice her bone was gone. Per her usual routine, she wakes up in the morning and moves back to my bed, still sleepy. She still hasn't noticed her bone is gone. Phew.
I guess the beef really hit their primal instinct button. Even the other dog was a bit fanatical about his bone, although he's not aggressive in any way. HE noticed his bone was gone (I took the bones away from both of them when they weren't looking.)
So either I'd have to give beef bones to them regularly, so they're not such a rare treat, or not at all, I think. So it'll have to be not at all, since I don't have many occasions to get beef bones.
My relative had brought them a ham bone each a couple of weeks ago. Those bones must be soft, because dogs ate them completely! They loved those, too. But the beef bones hit a button that I've never seen in my dogs before.
Thanks so much for your advice!
Fresh bones given to them, (raw or cooked) might never become a non-"rare" treat. They might, and probably would always be a bone of contention. (sorry for the pun) lol
My instinct is to say to take the bone away, and not let either of them have any more. Ever.
She obviously has issues over this bone being a most highly prized treat, and didn't have one until this bone. Why place her and yourself into a bad situation again if you can avoid it? It isn't worth the fight IMO.
I totally agree. Based upon her reaction, don't ever let her have another steak bone unless you want to risk getting bitten sooner or later. Same thing goes for any other treat that causes her to act that way if you take it away.
I hand feed my boy, and he lets me take away or remove food, bones treats at will and he will not complain.
He does not guard his food treats etc because he does not have food security or water security, issues.
When he was a pup before his loss of weight from neutering he was mouthy and I did work with him with the replace treats with higher quality treats. But what worked is because he was recovering.. I hand force feed him food so he bulk up.
That made him realise there is no food scarcity issue with our pack.
And he loooves smelling all my groceries (my hunt) to see what I bring home.
And if I let him purposely smell a lamb piece, he knows it's for him. So I give what I promised him.
He is so not food aggressive, he would walk away from the table, ring the bell to go out to let us eat.
And if eating outside on the deck with him, I usually feed him first, stuff him full. Then he remove himself to the corner so he lets us eat.
He gets Food prep whole cuts or scraps first before cooked especially if it's beef, venison, lamb. He will refused chicken, pork etc raw. That's how dainty he is. He has excess. Thus he will choose and have that freedom to choose.
Think if humans are good secured, they more likely to share with others too.. that is my Roman too.
(He shared by making sure we get time to eat too or leave half of what is on my plate to make sure I eat)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
