Dog Obedience Training For Your Pet Dog

Food has been made an integral part of dog obedience training because it appeals to a dog’s survival instinct; it’s an effective motivator. But when that food becomes a mechanism for aggression, causing a dog to guard his meals with violent means, that dog’s food instinct has overcome his enjoyment of that dog training motivator.

Your dog’s ancestors guarded food because they often didn’t eat for days at a time. When a kill was brought back to the pack, the wolves that fought for the right to eat got to eat the most, and the best, meat.

This instinct sometimes carries over into modern day mealtimes. A submissive dog might guard his food from more dominant ones, or he might eat it hurriedly, to prevent his food from being stolen. Or, a dominant dog might guard his food from other dogs who could, at any moment, pounce in an attempt to usurp food power.

Just because a dog behavior is natural, doesn’t mean that it belongs in modern day society. The best way to deal with this particular behavior is to properly train your dog and stop it from developing. These dog training techniques can help to keep food guarding habits from forming:

Divide your puppy’s meal into segments, adding a few pieces of food to his bowl at a time, then picking up the bowl, putting more food into it, and replacing it.

Pet your puppy while he eats.

Hold the food bowl in your hands while she’s eating.

Ask your puppy to sit. Reward her. Then place her bowl on the floor. Partway through her meal, interrupt her eating to ask her to sit again. Reward her with a treat that’s much better than what’s in the bowl; a chunk of steak or hot dog is perfect.

Interrupt mealtime and ask your puppy to sit. Reward her. Now take a piece of steak or chicken and put it into her food bowl. Stir the contents with your hand. Allow her to continue eating.

Train your puppy by picking up his bowl while he’s eating, adding some tasty meaty treat to it, and then replacing it for him to finish.

Invite other members of the family, and visitors, to perform these exercises.

These dog obedience training techniques will teach your puppy or dog that his food is safe, that mealtime is meant to be free of stress, and that when you’re around, mealtime is full of bonuses. Add clicker training techniques to these food guarding prevention tips, and you’ve got the perfect way to accomplish all of this, quickly and easily.

If your dog has already developed a habit of lip curling, guttural growling, dog barking, the showing of teeth, fixed eyes, and gluttonous eating, do not attempt the above dog training techniques; you could be bitten. These dog training tips are only meant for preventing food guarding.

The ultimate message to your dog is this: food guarding is no longer necessary in this new, safer world. Sending this message during puppy training is the best way to make this belief part of your dog’s life.

Your dog’s survival is in your hands, now. He can feel confident in placing his trust in you, for dog training success in, and out of, the food bowl.

Learn more about dog training tips. Stop by Dr. Nortey Omaboe’s site where you can find out all about dog obedience training and what it can do for you.