[nagdu] Some people are assholes/food refusals

Tue Oct 7 05:30:18 UTC 2014

Hi,

This is just my take on it.

"Leave it" is a command that we all know and love, and that's great for things on the ground that the dog has seen without any human guidance.  

However, when the dog sees a human offering food, A command shouldn't need be given.  Instead of teaching a dog to do something, you're teaching the dog to not do something.

To me, this is easier to do because you know what the dog wants, and you will give it to it. 

Now onto the training:
What I'm doing with Zion is:
during breakfast, I put some food in my hand.  He's used to eating out of my hand, so he knows that if i have food in my hand, the bowl's of limits.  Hold your hand in a fist, and say "command". For me, I use "take it".  After I say the command, I open my hand and give him the treat.  
This is a bit like clicker taining, I know.
Gradually open your hand, and correct if the dog goes near your hand, praise when she backs off. Say "Take it" a few seconds of her waiting. Right now, those few seconds can be short, since you don't want to make her fail.  
When she takes the food, praise.  As your hand gradually opens, make her wait a little longer for the food before saying "take it".  
When she's gotten it down, move your hand around her, starting with a closed fist and repeating the process before mentioned.  This is to insure she can generalize it.  I have to do this a lot with my dog because his generalization is one thing we do spend more time on. 
Once you feel that your hand can be open around your dog, and she will not take food unless you say "take it", drop some food on the ground. If she goes for it, correct. If not, praise. 
This might help with you guys who have the floor food stealers. :)

This is just the general idea.  ONce your dog has this down, where nothing from the hand or thrown by humans is taken unless the "take it" command is given, then try somewhere in a more distracted area, or bring along a friend to throw some food for your dog.  Always make sure that when you're raising the steaks on your dog, you start back at square one.  So when you try it at a park or something, start with the food in the closed fist.  It will insure your dog does not fail.  If she catches on quickly, great, you can move faster, but never skip steps.
Another way this "take it" command is good is when you have kids over.  If the kid is the dog's hight and the kid has a cookie, you don't want the dog grabbing the cookie.  

If you're in a hurry on some days, and you don't want to do the whole food in the hand, only allow your dog to take food from his bowl when the command is given.  Put the food down, make him wait, give the command.  Keep doing this, but to make it more challenging, you can step away from the food or turn your back on the food after several easy repitions.  

The final stage of training is going to be having people test your dog by atempting to give it a treat.
I don't know if you want it so only you can give the "take it" command, or anyone can, but if your friends can give the "take it command" they need to make sure that she shows no interest in the food before they say "take it".  

Basically what you're looking for it disinterest in the food until that "take it" command is given.  Got to love classical conditioning in some cases. :)

Sorry if this was long.  I just try to be as instructive as I can when I describe training.  

Hope this helps, and if any dog trainer wants to add or amend anything I've said, I'd love to hear it.

Zion hasn't gotten it down yet, but we've only practiced for a week.

One more final thought: I am aware that labs are food hogs.  So I know this is not going to be as easy for you lab owners, but labs are smart.  They will catch on.

I do a lot of pack structure i my home, which might be another reason Zion does well.  I try to eat before Zion.  I know that seems trivial, but the higher rankings always eat before the subordinants in a pack.  When I set his food down, I kind of have this "This is mine until such time as I choose to give it to you" aditude.  Seriously, if you think in that way, your dog will know. I back away from his bowl, still with that mentality, and correct if he goes near it. Sometimes I'll turn away when I feel he can handle the challenge, and sometimes I'll walk away to add more of a challenge.  Then I go back to his food and tell him to tack it. Then, and only then, is he allowed to take it.  

I do this with his toys too.  I give him food in a kong genius, and he must wait for me to say "take it" for him to take the toy.   So you can use toys as another way to teach the command.

Okay, I'm done rambling now.
Hope this helped. :)

Good luck.
On Oct 6, 2014, at 10:05 PM, debby phillips via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> I'd really like to teach my dog food refusal, except from me.  There's another dog handler at work who treats her dog when the dog does something right.  That's all fine and good, but one day she gave my dog a few pieces of kibble.  Now Neena goes crazy when she sees this lady.  Now I have to keep her from going crazy when she sees her.  I don't like using food treats unless it's absolutely necessary.  I will use the clicker with treats when I feel that it's appropriate.  But not just because she goes to her kennel at work and stays there.  She gets praise for doing so, and a hug good-bye when I have to leave her to go to work.  Can you please explain how you teach food refusal? I know that a pretty good explanation was given but I want to do this right.    Peace,    Debby and Neena
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