Dog Logic

In this day of domestication and pampering, the last thing our dogs need to concern themselves with is eating. We feed them regularly and usually overfeed. Because of this, our dogs know that they will be fed regularly, and even are clearly aware of when they are due to be fed.

This has led to boredom regarding food, and lack of food motivation. Thus we have dogs which are sometimes difficult to train. To change your dog's attitude about food and training, we need to realign the dogs' thought processes. The mere fact that our dog "knows" food will arrive on a scheduled basis, needs to change. How do we accomplish this?

Instead of just plopping your dogs food down at the regular feeding time, you will need to add a bit of effort and creativity.

Begin with a bowl of your dogs regular food prepared as normal for this meal. Make sure you only prepare HALF of the regular portion, because we want to leave the dog a bit hungry. Add a special treat such as pieces of cheese cut into small cubes, some fried and cubed liver, or any other easy to handle treat which your dog loves. The caveat is that the treats must be soft and small, chopped into easy to swallow pieces. We don't want the dog to have to chew, just swallow. The whole amount including treats, must not exceed 1/2 of your dogs normal meal.

Meal time must occur in a quiet location, with no distractions, so do whatever you must to ensure no distractions. Sit in a chair holding your dogs regular feeding dish in your lap. Eat a piece of the food (or pretend to -I use food I WILL eat), making a big deal over how delicious that morsel is. Offer your dog a piece, but after allowing a sniff or a lick, do not allow your dog to HAVE the food.

Holding it at a small distance from your dogs' nose, make sure you have real interest in the food, teasing if you need to, then say "Take it!" and allow your dog to eat the food/treat. Praise your dog for accepting the food! Praise is EXTREMELY important at this point in the training process.

Repeat this until the entire serving of food has been eaten. During this phase, please don't ask for specific behaviors from your dog, such as sit or down, just tease and feed. If during the feeding process your dog loses interest STOP feeding, even if the portion is not finished.

In about an hour, place the other half of your dogs meal, at the normal feeding location, and allow 5 minutes for the dog to finish eating. Whatever has not been consumed at 5 minutes gets picked up and the dog does not eat again until the next meal time. This means NO TREATS, period.

Repeat the above process at the next meal, offering treats and food for about ten minutes until half the portion is gone. If your dogs' interest wanes, stop feeding. and then in an hour, offer the remaining food (5 minutes then pick it up).

What we are attempting to teach our dog here, is that we are PLEASED when our dog eats, and that they must eat when and what is offered. You may find you need to reduce your dogs meal portions by small increments to increase interest in what you are offering.

Once you have your dogs undivided interest during meal time, you may then start asking for behaviors intermittently during the treat feeding. When your dog begins to OFFER behaviors, you may now reduce the amount of food you hand feed. Start with 1/4 of the dogs normal portion, then wait an hour and feed the remaining portion as normal.

Continue this process until you reach a point where your dog will readily work for food at any time during the day. At this point you may resume your dogs normal feeding schedule. If at any time your dog exhibits a lack of interest in food during training, revisit the routine for a day or two!

Good luck and have FUN Training!