If you continue to try to bully him its likely you will end up with a bite situation.
I suggest working on training him instead of trying to be the alpha (which is not really the way a pack works). The rolling on the back technique is not considered smart or safe to do by trainers and the one who wrote it up in the Monks of New Skete dog training books, Job XXXXXXX XXXXX, later went on to explain in every lecture he gave why it was not the right way to train and how dangerous it was for people to do that.
If you have seen it done by a trainer on TV you may find it interesting that a consortium of top behaviorists tried to get a certain show off of TV because they felt it set dog training back 20-30 years due to the old cruel methods being used.
This site has a good training method for working with a dog that food or object guards
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002b/objectguarding.htm
Teaching the dog that its worth his while to give up what he has to you works great and leaves you in the leader role while encouraging him to see you in that position and make him happy that that you are the leader.
For more non violent help in being seen as the leader in your pack I recommend the nothing in life is free program which you can read about here
http://www.paws.org/cas/resources/fact_sheets_dogs/nothingfree.php
Your puppy is going to continue to get bigger, stronger, and more powerful in his ability to bite etc and so teaching him 'might is right' is not the best choice. You want to teach him to follow you as a leader not as a bully.
This site down the bottom has clicker training videos for another choice in how to train a dog to do what you want. Scroll down past the ads to see the free videos
http://www.clickertrainusa.com/clicker-training-videos.htm
I retrain dogs other people have had no luck with and the leadership methods work far better than the 'alpha' rough stuff ever has.
Hope this helps you!
There is no need to be rude.
I've given you real answers, based on real training methods, and the same answers you could go out and pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to learn from top behaviorists.
So far what you are doing hasn't worked, so changing methods to get the results you want is a good strategy.
If you don't know that rolling a puppy on its back is a poor way to teach it any particular behavior then that is good new information for you.
Lets see if I can put it in human terms. You sit down ready to eat a nice snack and someone bigger than you rushes over, whacks you, throws you to the floor, holds you down by the throat, and takes the food. Are you going to like the person who does this? Will you try to defend your food the next time? Will you start by warning the person verbally to stay away from you when you have food, and then move on up to a physical response to protect yourself? That is what a dog often does. To the dog that is a perfectly reasonable response to the situation as the dog sees it.
Instead you can teach the dog that giving things up to you is a positive thing for him to do. What if the person who rushed over gave you a little bit of steak or candy bar or a dollar bill or a hundred dollars and took away brussels sprouts? would you like the person? would you have a problem with him taking the food? would you feel you needed to defend yourself against him coming near you when you had food?
I've trained an awful lot of food aggressive dogs to be fine about food being taken from them and handled around them. Typicaly the dogs I've worked with were in the 100-200 pound range (though some small ones too) and already taught to be aggressive over food by previous owners. Its a common behavior problem and a risky one for the dogs as often they end up out of a home or worse dead because of it.
I find training as outlined in the above answer works far better than force to fix the issue. Sure there are some dogs who will give in to force and 'submit' every time, the problem is the dogs who don't and who get large enough to decide they can really challenge a person over food. Those dogs can end up a danger to any person of any size or age that comes near their food and often the dogs end up dead as a result.
I happen to like the stronger personality dogs like this vs the very submissive ones, but I want their cooperation not an aggressive response to me. If I want to take something right out of their throats its OK with them.
I think you can do lots better than you have been in the training of your dog just by changing your training methods.
Certainly you can try it to see if it works for you as it does for most people.
Try it for a week or ten days, stopping the alpha stuff and working on the NILIF program and the food bowl/chew treat training and see if you see changes for the better. I know its not easy to change one's training habits (I used to force train but this is so much easier once you get the hang of it!) but its worth doing as I find you get a better more reliable dog out of it and that sounded to me like what you wanted.
Hi Gone Away....Nancy actually gave you some incredibly good advice and as one of the top experts on JA, she has shown over the years that her methods are sound and do work.
That being said, since Nancy has opted out I'll go ahead and add my two cents worth to the conversation.
Your dog doesn't hold the deed to your house or the title to your car, but he does know the concept of ownership. From her viewpoint, the treats and the food bowl - empty or full - are his most prized possessions and, even if they show no interest in it, he must ensure that people don't attempt to steal his possessions. This common type of resource guarding harks back to his ancestors' need to protect food and other resources in order to survive. Snapping and growling at other members of the pack was a way for dogs to tell them to back off and leave their food alone. Despite being domesticated, some modern day dogs extend this territorial thinking to favorite toys, bedding and even a certain location in the house, like a sunny spot near the window.
At just around a year old, your boy is also beginning to feel more like a grown up and like all young adults, he is testing the limits of authority. He wants to know if he can chase you away from his bowl and if you will yield to his threats. From your description, his turf defending is growing in intensity and range. Unchecked, this behavior can become dangerous, with your dog escalating from growls to snapping, even to biting. As natural as it may seem, do not yell at him or physically punish him (including the 'rolling' technique) for guarding his stuff. You risk making the problem worse. He will feel a greater need to protect his treats and bowl since it will appear to him that you are angry enough to fight for it.
This problem did not surface overnight, and it won't go away in one day. Stopping resource guarding takes time. The first step is to establish a new dinnertime protocol. You and your family must call the shots at meals. Your goal is to teach your dog that positive experiences occur when people approach his food bowl and that you reign as the Keeper of Great Chow, worthy of his respect.
Do not let your dog be a free feeder who nibbles all day. Take his bowl away between meals and store it out of sight. During your retraining period, bring out not one but two food bowls - one empty and one containing food. Call the dog to a new feeding place that isn't a high-traffic area in your home. Moving the bowl into different locations in your home will reduce your dogs natural territorial tendencies.
Place the bowls on a counter or shelf out of her reach. Ask him to sit and stay and then put down the empty bowl (watch the surprised look on his face!). Then drop a piece of food into the empty bowl on the ground. Do not bend over. Wait until he eats that peice before dropping another. If he shows no protectiveness, try putting a few pieces of food in your hand and invite him to take them.
Alternate between dropping food in his bowl and hand-feeding him. When he starts to eat from the bowl, drop more pieces into it. Once in a while, drop in a 'jackpot treat' like a piece of chicken or steak, something much tastier than regular dog food. It may take several meals before he accepts this new method of dining.
Once your dog shows no signs of tension, you're ready for the next phase. Partially fill one bowl with food and place it on the floor. Call him and again have him sit and stay before you give him the 'okay' sign to approach him bowl. The goal is to make him work for the food. As he starts to eat, place a second bowl with some premium food about 10 feet away. Call him over to this bowl. As he starts to eat from the second bowl, go back to the first bowl and add special treats to up its food value before you call your dog over. Continue switching between bowls until he has finished her meal, then take them away and hide them.
Over a few weeks, gradually move the two bowls closer together as you feed him. You need to watch your dog's reactions to determine how quickly you can merge the two bowls. He should be displaying relaxed body posture. This dual bowl tactic is designed to build positive associations and increase your dogs trust that you, or other people, make feeding time fun and exciting, not tense and upsetting. You are using positive reinforcement rather than threats or physical force to show that food time is not a time to fight. He is learning that by giving up resource, he is rewarded with something even better. Eventually, you will be able to present him with a single bowl, though he should always be expected to sit and wait for your signal before eating.
I've followed these steps with several of the pitbulls I do rescue work with, and within a couple of weeks, their guarding behavior either disappeared completely or was drastically reduced. We turned mealtime into a fun game of doggy dining etiquette. They would happily leap into the 'sit' position, watch me put down the bowl, heed my 'wait' cue and my 'watch me' cue before approaching the bowl. Once I gave the 'okay' signal, I was eventually able to pet them as they ate, praising them. It worked for me and my most difficult cases, and it can work for you and your husky without making dinertime a stressful period for either of you.
If you don't feel that you can stop this behavior on your own, however, I urge you to seek help from a professional behaviorist. This is a serious behavior problem that can eventually threaten the safety of you, your family, and your visitors.
I hope this helps!!
Certified Veterinary Technician
Associates Degree in Veterinary Technology. State and Nationally certified.