# Great pyr. Question



## jeffbell (Jul 11, 2012)

Hello everybody, I have a 1 year old male Pyrenees(Cujo) that lives in the pen with my 10 goats. My concern is that he is very protective of his food. I feed him once a day every evnin when I feed my goats. If any of the goats mess with him or try to get to his food while he is eating he will growl and attack if they dont back off. When he "attacks" he will charge at them and put his mouth over the back of their neck, he hasn't hurt any of them because it seems that he dosent put any pressure on them but i dont know what to think about this. Is this common behavior and what should I do? As long as I am out there with them I can loudly tell him STOP and he will not attack but he still growls and I cannot tell that he is not liking it. ?????


----------



## ogfabby (Jan 3, 2013)

It is common. Food aggression in dogs is really a very common problem. I would suggest hand feeding him. He only eats when you give it to him. It is fixable. Just takes time.


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Build him a private dining room where the goats cannot get to. A cattle panel will do, even attached to existing fence.
You can cut an opening toward the top, just large enough for him to slip through.


----------



## serenityfarmnm (Jan 6, 2013)

Giant/large breed dogs should have their food raised off the ground so they don't have to bend down (can cause bloat) is there a way you can make a Private raised area that the goats will ignore?? I have cured food aggression dozens of times with rescue dogs, the first step being free feeding so he always "knows" the food is there. I'm just not sure how to pull that off with the goats around....


----------



## SCRMG (Oct 24, 2012)

Is he ever aggressive towards you about his food? 

In a dog's world, eating is a hierarchical process. They eat in order of dominance. For a guardian dog, their herd is part of the "pack", and usually lesser members. When your dog growls at the goats, he's telling them to mind their place in the pack. If they don't listen, he's "correcting" them by grabbing them at the top of the neck. This is not unlike what a mom does when she scolds her puppies.

To answer your question, this is not unusual behavior, and he's not being aggressive so much as he's being dominant. This does however, pose a risk to young kids that could be accidentally injured if he grabs them too hard.

Your best option is to create a feeding spot for him that the goats can't get in to. With goats, I know this is easier said then done. Another option would be to remove him from the pen and feed him separately. This does take a little more time, but if you were to correct this behavior you would find that your goats will develop a taste for dog food. Besides being illegal to feed your goats a meat product, I can't imagine that it's too good for them either.


----------



## kristinatucker (Jan 3, 2012)

We had this problem too. We ended up putting her food bowl far back in her igloo dog house so she had to go inside there to eat and the goats never liked the dog house. She would still growl if she felt the presence of a goat but it was too much work to crawl out to charge


----------



## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

Some really good advice given above. I agree with the rest of the group here, a separate feeding area would be preferable. Our dog does this when any of our critters get near her food, but in the same respect she is very protctive of these same critters. She would never harm them and guards them with her life 
He is a beautiful puppy by the way


----------



## jeffbell (Jul 11, 2012)

Thank you all for the advice. Ill out it to good use


----------



## goatgirlzCA (Mar 9, 2011)

My LGD does this too - but its because if she doesn't the does come and eat her food. She never hurts them either, more of a warning. Now when they come sniffing around she growls and they get the message.


----------



## motdaugrnds (Mar 20, 2013)

Maybe I'm being naive; but if the dog were mine, I would always feed at a certain time and, wanting that dog to continue to respect me as the alpha, I would feed it myself away from the goats. Of course, my place is just 6 acres; so it would be an easy thing for me to feed the dog on my back porch while standing on the steps not letting any goat come up. (This back porch is only about 50 ft from where the goats' barn is.)


----------



## jeffbell (Jul 11, 2012)

I have put a shock collar on him and he now listens and knows he can growl and push the the goats away at feeding time but not get aggressive with them.


----------

