I have a yellow lab that is being trained by me as a service dog for my son. My son is cognitively 2-3 years old, and consequently unable to issue commands.
My problem is that my dog steals food from my son, and I believe that this is a dominance issue. I need to teach him that he can not take food from anyone unless given the ok by me. I am now teaching the "leave it" but we are still working on that.
I received the dog at the end of April this year, and he had no training up to that point. I need to know if I should work on it as a "leave it" issue or a dominance one?
Any input or suggestions are extremely welcome. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Thanx, Phyllis

There is a lot that needs to be addressed here. How old is this dog? Was this dog deemed fit to be a service dog? Are you qualified to train a dog to be a service dog? Some one correct me if I'm wrong but don't most service dogs come from "foster trainers" the first year or so of their life before they are placed? I know that very few dogs ever end up being fit to be service dogs. Phyl, forgive me if you are past all these questions already. Just curious to find out before the conversation goes any further.

Just let me clarify that whether or not this dog is a true "service dog" does not mean that it can not be trained by yourself to be a wonderful pet and companion to your son. I'm just refering to the pure meaning of the word "service dog".

Hello Chuck, These are very good questions.
I will answer them to the best of my ability.
The dog is a neutered male 11/2 years old.
I got him from a training school, but the imprinting hadn't been done. Unfortunately I didn't realise this until after he was flown here and the trainer was here with me for 4 days. I am now making the best of a difficult situation.
I am not a service dog trainer, however I have been working with a head trainer of a reputable school near by. She has graciously agreed to work with me on her own time, as she received a dog from the same school, that was a wash out. She has had numerous conversations with me and realised that I am able to do this, due to my ability, attitude, motivation and willingness to learn. I understand basic obedience and the use of prong and e-collar.
I am currently using the clicker to train targeting, and am doing basic "find" training as well. We are also working on retrieve, however to firm it up I think I will have to go to forced retrieve. take, hold, give. The dog has a good temperament and is fairly high in pack drive and medium high in prey drive.
On the Volhart test prey 65 pack 75 flight 30 and fight 10 This is based on a 11/2 year old dog and what I have seen. I don't know what experiences he has had. I do believe that he would have scored higher on the pack if tested as a pup. The trainer concurs.
Based on what I do know, the dog was fed once a day, and given little time to devour it before another dog would. This I believe to be the biggest problem. There are other issues that need to be addressed, but I feel that I know how to handle them.
Although I am not a service dog trainer I do understand basic obedience an fully intend on having him tested for the access test when the training is done. I know this could take a year, based on his age and the fact that he needs to become a multiple exceptionalities dog. Seizure response, bracing, minimal tracking etc...
I hope this answers your questions if not, feel free to e-mail me privately.

Thanks for your detailed info. As far as training a dog to do service work goes, there are people on this board who are way more knowlegable than me. I'm sure they will chime in on this subject.

As far as the food issue goes, you said that(before you had the dog) the dog was always fed in a manner that he had to eat it fast before another dog would eat it. This is a problem. Dogs should not be fed together at the same time. I'm sure many people do it and get away with it with no problems, however it isn't a good idea. One thing to do would be to place the dog in another room when your son eats. Also, always make sure that your son eats before the dog gets to eat. The lowest "pack" member always eats last. Then, after the dog starts to realize what is going on, you can start letting him be near your son when he has food. You said that the dog has good temperament(as any service dog must have). Since this is the case, I would let the wear a prong collar with a line attached to it. Any time the dog went to steal the food I would issue a correction. I would make it the lowest level correction necessary to get the desired results.(I wouldn't want the dog to mis-interprate the correction and possibly bite your son...being that we have established that this dog is of sound temperament, I don't feel this would happen)This how I would deal with this dog. Of course please don't just listen to me alone. I'm sure there may be other points of view on this.

Hi Chuck, Thanks for your reply.
This is a good point. I had been using an e-collar and the sound was discouraging enough for him, but I was afraid he would think the negative was because of his closeness to my son. I didn't even think of the prong and longline. He wears a prong a good deal of the time. This is one of his training cues, as well as his vest. This is very simple and logical, I don't know why I didn't think of it? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
Actually when my son is eating, he is fine lying on the floor beside him. It is when he gets food out of the kitchen, or when I leave the kitchen. He gets garbage and table food in the same way. I have the e-collar on as correction for that. I was using food as a treat for good behaviour because I know he is highly motivated by it.
Only my son and I are the ones that he is allowed to take food from (he doesn't know this yet) I am doing the corrections for that. I have to somehow show him that taking food from my son is alright at certain times, but I don't know if this is possible. It's like saying it's ok to jump on me when I'm in sweats,but not when I'm in nice clothes. Perhaps I will have to rethink this and be the only one that gives food. He will get it for being in the vicinity of my son, and doing what I expect, but not from him. He can't issue commands, so I am the handler anyhow. Sorry thinking out loud. Food for thought. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Phyllis,

It may be thinking out loud, but it is good thinking.

Phyllis,


Funny you should mention the dog going through the garbage. My Lab used to do it all the time. I swear Labs are incredible scavengers! A healthy Lab will eat almost anything, not to mention eat themselves to death! I stopped my lab from this behavior with a prong and a lead(not to mention a mouse trap or two in the garbage!) I do think it would be extremely difficult with any dog, let alone a crazed food lovin' Lab to teach him that its ok sometimes to take food from your son. Difficult, but we can't underestimate what these dogs are capable of.
Well, didn't mean to stray off topic, but you brought back memories with your garbage story! I am enjoying your posts.

My Lab too! He is SO food oriented, he could convince you he's starving to death if you didn't know better!

My personal opinion would be that it would be difficult to the dog to teach him that he can take food from your son sometimes, but not others. This is just too inconsistent. Having some sort of signal that it's OK to take the food would be best, and any time he tries to take food without the signal, then it's a "leave it" thing.

I am actually thinking about a signal. I do use the clicker for certain training. I trained him to bark on command using clicker training. I'm wondering if I use the clicker and treat then, but no treat without the clicker? This might be the best method under these circumstances. He is now responding to the leave it command. Even in the garbage. Just if he gets a taste, I'm in trouble. He's really fast.
Thanks for your input.