Your puppy is going for your cat because she feels threatened. Put the cat in a separate room while the puppy eats and the puppy won't feel threatened. That's what I mean by "keep the cat away", not just a bit of distance.
Hi @Jem318 you have to convince Autumn that she has no need to worry about you or anyone else around food. Very briefly to achieve this we actually add tasty food to her bowl first by throwing from a distance where she will not react to your presence. Do this for around a week then take a step closer and again throw more tasty food bits towards her. After another week take a step closer and add more tasty morsels. You proceed like this until you can stand beside her and you again drop tasty bits to her bowl and then gradually you should be able to add tasty bits directly to her bowl. Watching for her reaction at all times - dogs normally freeze in position showing tension before they growl so you want to prevent triggering that response. What you are working to achieve is that people approaching is good because you add tasty treats It's not a quick fix but very fixable. Resource guarding of food is very common and can often be found in litters where the breeder puts down only 1 or 2 large bowls of food so the pups have to compete more against each other to get a fair share of food.
I agree with all you said. I can get near Autumn when she eats I have sat next to her. I have taken food out of her dish and fed her. I have put treats in her bowl while she is eating. She has not shown any resource guarding. Only times she does is when she had gotten food off table and I try to get it. Then she growls and tried to nip. Yes I do put cat in another roo. But I think now I will put up Autumn dish . It's the dish too. Even if there is no food in it. Same when another dog comes over. The trainer I have now told me to take food away from Autumn. If she growls or lunges at the cat or another dog. She loses food . Put it up and then try again. She said if I am not taking food away i am reinforce ing Autumn s behavior. She will think ok I can growl etc and I still get my food. I never feed my cat or dog together. I do give my son's dog and Autumn treats together and she is fine with that
Naya how.long until your dog stopped biting. Autumn bites me the most admin the one who cares for her the most
@Jem, I put a post on your "biting" thread yesterday with some on the things I used to do when Cassie was Autumns age. She was a real crocopup, that's about the time I joined this forum, like you. She's 11 months now, she so lovely to be around, I can hardly believe she was ever like that. She still has her puppy moments though!
I think that's absolutely awful advice. Growling is a warning that she needs space - to punish her for doing that means you may stop the growling, but that's her "early warning system", meaning you're more likely to have an escalation of behaviour - lunging, snapping, biting, without any warning. Not a good idea. Not only that, she's going to associate the cat with yet more punishment. Not a way to make her feel comfortable. Yes, take her bowl up when she's finished eating. If you do that and you keep the cat, or other dogs, separate from her when she's eating, then there's no problem. She can't have a go at the cat or dog.
@Jem318 it sounds as if you need a new trainer .Taking food away from Autumn will more likely lead to resource guarding as you are making the value of the food greater together with the problems highlighted by @snowbunny. If she growled after she had snatched food from a counter it was to warn you off from her prize. You need to train a drop it and an exchange for stolen items and ensure that she doesn't get the opportunity to take food again which she will rewarding and have the potential for her to repeat the growling behaviour which is the situation you do not want to repeat.
