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Why does my dog eat when someone comes home?

Well every time someone comes home, my dog will greet them and then run to his food dish and start eating. He does this EVERY TIME, even if we're just gone for 10 minutes or so. He'll do this is all five of us leave and come back, and even if just one of us leave the house and come back.

Why does he do this?

Thanks xx

Update:

Definitely not guarding his food, he doesn't growl or bark when we go near him.

4 Answers

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  • 8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    It's because you are his masters, he doesn't feel it's ok to eat when your not home, but it is very good to demand feed, as time fed dogs gauge themselves and end up fat..

    Source(s): I'm a vet nurse and dog breeder
  • 8 years ago

    My golden retriever does this all the time its because their excited she does it when my husband comes home from work when she is playing and when guests come over its not anything to worry about unless you reach for her food and she growls or barks or snaps out you then its food guarding other then that let her be excited she is a dog .

  • 4 years ago

    A well-trained dog makes everyone happy, including his owner. Take a little time training him, and you'll never regret it; you'll always have an obedient dog by your side. Go here http://onlinedogtraining.enle.info/?D005

    For the potty training: Try taking her out every hour on the hour and don't bring her back inside until she potties! And as soon as she finishes pottying give her a tasty snack and reward and praise her. The best way to potty train is to prevent accidents, so if you can, get some pet scent remover and clean your house from top to bottom. Wal-Mart has some stuff called "OUT! Natural" and it works very well. It smells like lemons and herbs and it also removes stains. Then, if you can, get pee-pee pads. LOTS of them. Line your entire floor with them if you have to securing the seams with scotch tape. Only replace the ones she potties on daily. Leave the rest. After while you can start removing them one at a time until there are only a few left. It sounds complicated but it works. Most people use this trick for small rooms like a bath room or bedroom they have to leave the dog in when they go somewhere. Sooner or later she'll get down to just pottying on one pad, and then you slowly move it a few inches towards your door every day. Then move it outside. You should never punish a puppy for pottying in the house, only prevent it, and reward them for going in the proper place. And don't clean up the mess when they're watching. It's like a mind game for them.

    For the chewing: Get her rawhide toys, bones, Greenies, rope toys, balls, squeaky toys and anything else you find at the store that's made for dogs and she might enjoy. Give her 2 or 3 a day, and rotate them so she only has the same ones for a day or two and she won't get bored with them. I understand you're against physical punishment, but really you should try using a loud newspaper or paper towel roll (that's empty of course), or an envelope with the plastic window thing in it. Just something that makes a lot of noise but doesn't cause pain. I found the envelope works best. Keep a very good eye on her at all times, and when you see he headed for something she shouldn't have tell her NO! If you can stop her before she gets to it that really speeds up the training. If not it's okay, just tell her no, and if she doesn't respond, tell her a second time and follow up with the paper.

    For the crate training: It's best to work on this when you leave the house and no one is around. Doing it at night keeps everyone up and it's just annoying. Put her in the crate, and cover it with an old blanket so she can't see you leaving. When you leave it doesn't matter how much she cries, she'll take the hint that crying won't get her her way. And whatever you do, never ever ever let her out of the crate while she's crying. This enforces the behavior and you'll never get her trained to sit there without crying. If you can't get her to quiet right before you take her out, make a loud noise like clapping your hands and as soon as she's quiet you can let her out.

    I hope it all works out for you... if you need any more help feel free to e-mail me. I can look up some of the sites I got my training info for you. Oh, and Bull Dogs are very stubborn by nature, they take longer than some breeds to catch on to and respond to training.

  • 8 years ago

    I don't know. However I do know that if you leave his food down, he will become a picky eater.

    In future pick his food up if he does not eat it.

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