Hi. I don't post on here often, but thought maybe you guys could help me w/ a recent problem I'm having.

I have an 11 month old Beagle/Cocker Spaniel mix. I got him when he was about 8 wks. old from my niece who had gotten him as a Christmas present & she couldn't keep him, I couldn't stand seeing how the ppl she had left him w/ were treating him, so, being the sucker that I am, took him. Well, right after we got him, he was on a weird kind of food, so I fed him & my other dog separately, gradually introducing him to the kind of food I use. He would always try to get into my other dog's food, but I would keep him out of it. One day, I told him "NO" for trying to get to my other dogs food & he kind of growled at me. DH & I thought this was funny, b/c he was about the size of a small cat (only weighed about 5 lbs.) and was acting like such a BIG dog. We just laughed it off & never thought anything else of it until he growled @ my St. Bernard & chased him away from the food bowl one day. I finally got him over growling at my other dog, but now he has started growling @ me! Not w/ their regular dog food, but when he gets a special treat, etc.

For example, just tonight I had gotten my dogs some ham bones @ the grocery store & gave them to them. Bailey, my St. Bernard, was very gracious & he just waited on me when I picked his up to put it on a towel so it wouldn't stain our carpet. Well, when I tried to do this w/ the Patch, the beagle/cocker, he was also fine. But then, I noticed Patch had a smaller piece bitten off & I was afraid of him possibly choking (I monitor my dogs probably too closely when I give them something like this) so I showed him the bigger piece & tried to take the smaller one out of his mouth & he growled @ me. I grabbed the nape of his neck & tried again & he did the same thing. This went on for a good minute, if not more, and finally he growled again & it slipped out of his mouth. I grabbed it & he was fine. After that, if I'd get close to the bigger piece, he would growl, so I finally took it from him & put him outside (they have a large fenced in backyard, so he's safe). He's now scratching on the door wanting back in, but I thought maybe leaving him out would kind of put him in "time-out".

In any other situation, he's a great dog, he does get a little wild when playing w/ other dogs, but not aggressive, just excited, he's kind of a high strung dog. He's been great when he's around little kids, again, he gets excited & jumps, but never gets mean. He listens well 90% of the time, there are those moments when he has his mind set on something & you have to really snap him out of it before he'll listen to you. But, this food thing is very new to me, my St. Bernard has never been aggressive w/ food, he's very protective of me & doesn't like strangers, but he's never been aggressive w/ me at all. The only other dog I had was a Lab & he wasn't aggressive about anything, he was very laid back. So, I don't know what to do!

Anyway, what should I do about this food aggression? Should I just not give him "treats" like this anymore? I really feel like that would just be avoiding the problem & not fixing it. Also, I can't give one dog a treat & not the other, so I think it would be unfair to my gentle giant, Bailey. I really can't afford obedience classes or I'd attempt that. What should I do? Any suggestions would be appreciated!