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By putting your hands in his dish and taking his bone away from him - you are inadvertantly teaching him that his food/bones NEED to be protected. Stop. Take a deep breath and lets look at this from a slightly different perspective. Please bear in mind that I have a very confident, well bred 17 week old rottweiler puppy in my house and we are going through many of the same issues.
First off - it takes your puppy about 5 minutes to eat a meal. Leave him alone to eat in peace. If you must, walk by and drop a bit of something yummy in the dish. Teaching your pup that good things come when you walk by his dish is much more productive then teaching your pup that the dish will disappear, or your hand will go in it. If you have young children in the house to worry about - feed your puppy in his crate or in a closed room.
Your bone issue, this one is going to take a bit more work. Again - if you have small children to worry about, bones should only be given in a crate or closed room. If you want to take a new bone from your puppy - you need to teach it that this is not a bad thing. I use string cheese. If your puppy lets you have the yummy bone - he gets a yummy piece of string cheese in return. And in a few seconds, he can have the bone back. Remember - don't do this too often.
It really is ideal for your puppy to be able to chew on a bone in peace. After all, I am sure you don't like other people taking away your bowl of ice cream or sticking their fingers in your dinner.
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Sandi
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