how to take food from puppy

patty8957

New Member
I have a shih-poo who is a year old this month. Excellent little dog and very smart but I am encountering one problem. When he gets something that he is not suppose to have, he gets very aggressive and growls a lot. Has tried to bite me when I try to take something from him...I call him the junk yard dog as he will eat anything at all. Each time we have a real battle when he gets something he is not suppose to have..Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated. I have to stop this behaviour asap..thanks!!
 

bdale777

New Member
patty8957;10287 said:
I have a shih-poo who is a year old this month. Excellent little dog and very smart but I am encountering one problem. When he gets something that he is not suppose to have, he gets very aggressive and growls a lot. Has tried to bite me when I try to take something from him...I call him the junk yard dog as he will eat anything at all. Each time we have a real battle when he gets something he is not suppose to have..Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated. I have to stop this behaviour asap..thanks!!
Sounds like he has object/food guarding issues. I had a dog that displayed this behavior and I started hand feeding him every meal....just my 2 cents as to how to start the process to break his bad behavior.
 

fickla

Experienced Member
I highly recommend the book "Mine" by Jean Donaldson. It deals with resource guarding step by step. But basically you need to teach the dog that whenever you approach it's an amazing thing. 95% of the time you give them a really good treat and give them back the object so your approach does not mean the end of playtime. Depending on how bad the guarding is, at first you may just want to approach, throw a good treat and then walk away without even trying to take the object.
 

szecsuani

Experienced Member
I have the same problem with my dog, she eats everything, even if it's not food.
Here are some things I tried, and now she doesn't eat that much things and I can call her back if she finds something food related somewhere.
I will list the ways to teach the dog to leave things if you want him to, this way if he doesn't get stuff you want to take from him, he won't be agressive.
1. Hand feeding can be very useful. If he learns that the only good food comes from your hand, it can be very useful.
2. When you see he notices something that he wants to get, like some food left on the ground in the park, try to be more intresting than the object he wants to get. If he goes back to you, play with him, or give him a huuuge praise, or food he really likes, the main point is that he has to learn that YOU are more intresting than anything he can find on the ground.
3. This is the most dramatic, but most useful way to teach the dog not to grab things from the ground.
When dog sees something on the ground and goes there to sniff it, you say "Leave it" calmly. If nothing happens, throw the leash (or something else) around him. NEVER EVER HIT THE DOG WITH IT! You only want to scare him a littlebit, just enough for him to run back to you, or to leave the thing there. This way, he also learns, that hehas to obey to what you say, even if he thinks you can't reach him. I tried this with my dog, and only had to do this twice on the first day, and a week later once again. Now she always leaves the food she finds on the ground.

If he still gets stuff, and becomes agressive if you want to take it from him, try the second option. Dog gets something, won't give it to you. Don't take care of it, just take out a thing he like really much. Like a ball or a really delicious treat. If he really wants to get it, he will need to drop the thing in his mouth. If dog drops the object, praise him a lot, give him the 'jackpot' he really loves, and see if this method works... :)

Hope I helped, and my English wasn't too confusing... :D
And I hope I answered to the questions you asked... :D
 

dreamr802

New Member
I would definitely try the hand feeding idea. That allows him to know what you are doing. Also one good thing to help the dog get over taking control, get a spray bottle, and fill it with water. Whenever you see the dog getting really attached to an item spray the dog in the face (like do it from a foot away). It doesn't hurt the dog it only stuns the dog long enough for you to get the object away. We use to do that when our dog would try to get on our leather chair and she learned after a while.
 

snooks

Experienced Member
always trade for something of higher value. don't take unless it's really dangerous, try to trade. train trading with a low value large treat like a huge bully stick, leashed puppy sitting in front of u. Put the stick in his mouth, pop it out with ur thumb since it will be sticking out and offer a hand full of great wonderful smelly meaty treats of higher value like a hand of roast bits or chicken or something puppy LOVES.

Ask puppy to sit and wait for his food. if he rushes pick it up and start over. do not chase if puppy get something he shouldn’t have, walk calmly and offer a trade. practice trading every every day.

don't take things from him unless u just have to like razor blades etc.
 
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