I went to a seminar by a french trainer, he was here to judge a mondio trial and train the Reno Nevada police department. Food refusal was one of the topics and one of the hands on we did. In order to tech it you need a person who is not a pack member. u want to put the dog in a down and then kneel down next to your dog. Have a short leed on your dog, put the leed under your knee. then u have a person stand close enough that the dog can sniff the food as it is offered. When the dog starts to sniff you "gently" reach your hand around from behind the dog and brush his muzzule toward you. At this time the person (not part of the pack)pulls the food back to them standing upright. I hope u understand this. it is very simple to do. it will take several times doing it this way but it does work it is a way to teach your dog with out getting to excited. Remember you dont slap the dog you gently brush the dogs nose towards you. very shortly your dog will under stand that taking food off the ground while under command is unexcptable. also while training your dog with food never let your dog eat off the ground. Habits, always practise good habits. hope this helps.....

I can see how this can work, but in Ed's basic obedience he tells you (and shows you) while teaching a down, to toss the food in between the dog's legs on the ground. I guess once he learns the command, then a long way down the road, you can teach your dog the food refusal & it won't conflict.

Basically this is only happening when I am not looking.

When we is on leash, or off leash and I am looking at him, he will not touch random food, because he knows he's going to get corrected.

So really he's just being a sneaky little bugger, only eating stuff if he thinks I'm not looking.

I suppose I should start full on food refusal training.

Thank for the advice!

ted

The snake comment gave me a laugh and right now, I needed it. I just moved to Michigan and bought a really nice house. I started a job Apr 2 and was told today that May 11th would be my last day. It was supposed to go until Sept but one of the women who was going to be out for surgery cannot have the procedure done.

The only snake I have left is my big one. If strummer found him in the hole I would not have to worry about Strummer digging anymore. I also wouldn't have to worry about vet bills, feeding him, brushing him etc.

I tried putting their poop in the holes but he just dug next to it. Little turd, he's really tearing up my lawn. He's even started pulling folded tarps and camoflauged netting that's been neatly stacked. He even rips off the wooden latice work from around our porch. He chews the handles off garden tools, steals wire brushes from the garage (when it's left open) and has found every little toy the previous owners lost under the porch. He's an awsome little dog, still a puppy, and very playful. He keeps Bruno exercised too. They play for hours. Yesterday Bruno was chasing him full speed! It was awsome! Bruno caught him like a lion catches a gazelle. Strummer yelped, rolled, spun around and launched into Bruno's neck pulling out a load of fur. Bruno tried to side step and threw himself right into the tongue of my trailer. It hurt me watching. Bruno was done playing after that. I love those guys.

Eric, this is a suggestion but from reading what you just wrote, it seems Strummer should be under more of your control, outside with a lead on since he's a puppy and getting into everything. It will help him to gain some self control if you guide him and lead him around the yard, doing things that are acceptable to you so he begins to learn what is ok and what isn't. How young is he? If he's very young, and on a lead, then you can divert him from the mischief to some other form of acceptable play, without having to correct him.

Strummer is just over 1 year now. No doubt he needs to be on leash. We're hoping to address him more intently this summer although we may need to get second jobs to stay afloat. Bruno's training was very very consistent since he was a puppy. Strummer was given to us in October of 06 from a woman who kept him in an apartment and really did not do much with him as a very young puppy. He got bored and got into everything. It worked out great because he's the puppy my wife was looking for when we got Bruno. The 2 dogs get along great so it fit well, we just need to spend the time with Strummer as we did with Bruno. He's picked allot up just from living in our house and I'm sure he'll get allot better with consistent, proper training. He's not aggressive at all so he should be at least a little easier than Bruno was.

Over a year, well still a puppy then . My Lear just turned 10 months and is still much the maniac. I'm looking forward to more maniacal behavior before he calms down. He loves life, that's for sure