today the first time my pup had growled at my when I tried to take his pig ear treat was taken away. That scared my thinking he may then bite me. Now I am afraid that quincey may bite me. What I did was clap very loud and say no. He then let me take it away. Was that the right way of going about that? Should I have just let him finish the pig ear. Was it right to still take it away? My friend said to hit him on the nose and say "no" . I dont then start having a growling dog. thanks

Jennifer, did you tell the dog to 'drop it', or trade it for something else?
Or just take it out of his mouth?

no, that I did not do, didnt think of it. He does not know the command. I did not take it out of his mouth, he just put his head low over the pig ear. Guess I should teach the drop it command.

 Quote: Jennifer Schnegg

Guess I should teach the drop it command.

It's a useful one...

If I need to take away a high value object I will give the 'drop it' (or 'leave it') command and sometimes also trade for a treat.

And yes, you were right to take it away.

I knew not to back down on what I wanted to do. I am not afraid of Quincey. Just that I may do the wrong way of training and make the problem worse. But thanks everyone. This a helpful advice. Ill do the command training.

Mike did a very good job at explaining.

I would like to add one thing. When my dogs eat their meals I walk over and pet each one EVERY time they eat. I have done this from day one. For them, my presence and touch during feeding of ANY kind is a non-event. This helps as they don't feel threatened that I will take their food away - I'm just there.

Now, once they were comfortable I would begin by taking a bully stick away, sniffing it, and then handing it right back. This allowed me to teach them eventhough I may take something away they will get it (or something else) in return. In the wild the pack leader does not take food away from the pack - so I always return what I take or replace it with something else.

Ok ok, yes there are exceptions to every rule but let's just say for now, in general, they get it or something else back.

Once the "treat" behavior modification is working well I then take it to the meal - same thing, just this time I remove the bowl or in my case take the chicken back or turkey neck or whatever they have directly out of their mouth.

I also can not stress the point about the leash any more. It is a VERY useful tool to have a dog on lead in the house. This way, if the dog decides that he wants to hold on to something I can grab the leash and make the necessary correction for insubordinate pack behavior (not a light tug). When I do this, invariably the dog will drop what is in his mouth - have had to do it only twice.

How old is the dog? I don't know if any of mine are food aggressive cause they sit, i put their food down,and i let them eat, i don't touch them or screw with them for the entire 30 seconds it takes to eat. I always wonder why people need to mess with a dog while it's eating. If it's a toy or a ball or bone etc. teach the leave it command,
AL

Mr. Curbow,

We learn from the successful techniques used by others, and I can appreciate your approach to feeding a dog. By and large I sit the dogs, put the food down, either release them as a group or by name to eat, and pick the bowls up in thirty or forty seconds.

But I don't think it has anything to do with screwing with a dog to stop if from doing some thing, even eating. As you noted you don't know if any of your dogs are food aggressive because of your feeding technique - I think you do.

I know mine are not food aggressive because of my approach. I mean, a dog is a dog is a dog. We train them. I'm not sure what would constitute screwing with a dog. It hardly is a means of tormenting a dog to have it respond to a stop, or to remove its food.

To answer the why I interact with my dogs when they eat is because it gives me an understanding of their likely reactions to a situation.

Too many people do not know their dog is food aggressive and find out when a child or guest unexpectedly gets too close at the wrong time. That is another answer to the why I would mess with my dogs when they eat - they can not react to an accidental intrusion on two of their favorite times of the day.

I usually don't command the dogs to stop when they are eating but if I choose to, they had better sure as the devil stop. And if I give no command and simply reach down and remove their food, they sure as the devil better demonstrate no attitude. But that's just me messing with them.

Generally, I find meal time a great time to emphasize commands with new dogs. In my mind, it reinforces me as the leader and provider and taker awayer.

I have adopted food-aggressive dogs. The most recent one was (at first) hunched over his bowl, scanning the room, warning the other dogs away, etc., etc.

My usual system of policing the feeding, never allowing a dog to approach or even hover near another's food, and never allowing a dog to "clean up" the others' bowls until the one whose bowl it was had left it, rendered it non-verbal (no warning growls) within days and gone within weeks. As for humans, I regularly added tid-bits to the bowl.

I have had this protocol for a long time. It has worked for me. The dog was food-aggressive and now the dog is not. I know the dog is not because I have had to move the bowl. My dogs are not allowed to approach each other's food, and they all know they are safe from each other, and I would never in a million years allow a strange dog in the room where my dog was eating.

I use mealtime more as demonstrating me as the source of all good stuff, who must have commands complied with before the giving of the food. But yes, I can pick up the bowl if I want/have to. I generally do not, and I don't want to. I want the dog to be allowed to eat in peace.

We cannot all agree.

But I do agree with Al.


ETA: Oops. Off topic. It's not about meals; sorry. A good "leave it" is my advice, too, as Mike said way back.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (06/05/2009 03:05 PM)
Edit reason: ETA