Bones for puppy

[German Shepherd lover]

Hi.
Does anyone know if i can give my 11 week old German Shepherd puppy (Cinder)the bones in the supermarket that they use for soup bones?
I believe they are beef bones and are big.
Thanks.

[Becky]

Yep, you can ;) . Just be sure they aren't cooked (cooked bones are dangerous), and you might want to scoop out the marrow the first few times so he doesn't get the runs (marrow is very rich).

[German Shepherd lover]

Hi.
Well we bought her one but when we gave it to her and my husband tryed to take it away from her she growled at him and went to bite at him so took it away from her and threw it away as i don`t want her doing that.
We can give her her food and treats and toys and can take them away no problem but no bones so i guess she won`t get them.
She has another bone here that we can take away from her no problem but not that new one we bought.
Thanks anyway.

[Cheetah]

Sounds like your dog has a resource guarding problem. Something like that needs to be trained out of her before she gets big and it becomes dangerous. Taking the bone away from her only confirmed her fears that she would lose it forever.

[German Shepherd lover]

Hi.
Yes i know but i can take anything else from her including her smoked flat bone so i guess she will get use to not having the other one.She only had it for about 5 minutes anyway.
Thanks.:cheers:

[Becky]

I wouldn't give up on bones... they are very valuable to help clean teeth.

I do agree, you should nip this in the bud... your dog might move up the ladder to resource guarding less valuable items.

I haven't actually read it (although I have another book by this author and I loved it):

Mine! A practical guide to resource guarding in dogs by Jean Donaldson

[Cheetah]

Yes. If your puppy grows up without you solving this problem, and happens to get ahold of something highly valuable like that bone, things could get VERY dangerous. If I were you I would work on training in that area before your puppy turns into a large dog.

[skunkstripe]

If you don't mind me chiming in here....
I would repeat this except that next time after you take it away, make her sit and when she does, give it back. That way she learns that she can have what she wants - on YOUR terms.

Good luck!

[German Shepherd lover]

Thank you all for the info.

[Doberman's]

Great info. :)

I give my dogs bones a lot of the time. They are always raw. Never feed cooked bones, cooking changes the molecular structure of the bone making it brittle and it make splinter.

[German Shepherd lover]

Yes i understand every thing you are all saying.
This bone i had giving her had some raw meat on it so maybe that is why she growled at us.
She is great with the other bones as long as there is no raw meat on it.
Thanks again.

[Doberman's]

You know I would practice giving her a bone and taking it away unitl she stops growling and accepts it. Better for her to learn now that behaviour is wrong rather then when she is older :)

[Cheetah]

That's right. When I gave Shippo his first raw bone he did the exact same thing. It was just so valuable. But I worked with him, trading off the bone for something else, and praising, and giving the bone back. >^_^<

[lkeffect]

I agree I would continue giving your dog the bones and ask for a sit. You definitely want to address this issue now before it becomes a MAJOR issue. Also always feed raw bones.