I allow my children to pet Ahi and be near her bowl when she eats. I believe that this is so normal for her that she doesn't care either way. I also did this with my FIL wiener dog Coco. He was completely fine with it until we moved and no one else was around him much except time to time. He then got possessive when someone reached near his bowl. We would then scold him, shoo him away, and give it back to him a few minutes later.
Ahi has only growled two times and it was a "hey come play with me" growl. It was really cute.
