I'm a big fan of Cesar Millan, particularly his "exercise, discipline, affection" rule (in that order!). But I think people sometimes get the wrong idea, try to do what he does, and fail, doing it the totally wrong way. It states to only let a professional do it for a reason. Different situations call for different things and different dogs will react to things differently. He treats his dogs on a case by case basic and some dogs may need a rude awakening, being put into a surrender state, whereas some dogs just need some patience and rules.
Food aggression is not to be taken lightly. I would NEVER allow Jackson to growl at me for anything, that is not cool. I don't think you should "mess" with dogs while they eat because that should be their somewhat private time but no dog is going to growl to me... lol. You need to let her know that the food/treat/bone is YOURS, not hers. You own it, you need to claim it. From the beginning, while Jackson was eating, chewing a bone, etc, I would purposely put my hand in his bowl. Even before serving him the food, I use my hands to mix it because that makes my scent all over his food. I can stick my face right into his, purposely or accidentally, with a precious bully stick in his mouth and he could care less. He's wonderful with children, too and has never worried or cared about them near his food. He knows I'm his feeder and without me, there would be NO food... he's just learned to respect that. I think it's just a simple matter of following "Nothing in life is free" program. You can Google it, it's great. |