Any trainers out there.....

mjb

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#1
Here's a kind of old and VERY LONG post for background.....sorry....

I will try to link to it, not sure if I know how:eek:
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76644

My question, if you get through the repeated post, is, would it be wise to start working with Spanky, maybe with clicker, getting pushed/prodded when someone has food that he is interested in? Or is it best to leave well enough alone and continue to moniter him and be sure he's not put in the position to be reactive in a food situation?

We've had NO problems since those 2 incidents. No signs of any kind of aggression. His usual passive, friendly self.
 

corgipower

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#2
OK, first off, stop beating yourself up about it. You didn't do anything bad, you couldn't anticipate that dispensing treats freely would create an issue, and you are addressing it with a behaviorist and with help from us. You did well with him so far and this is just a bump in the road...although not a bump to ignore.

My question, if you get through the repeated post, is, would it be wise to start working with Spanky, maybe with clicker, getting pushed/prodded when someone has food that he is interested in? Or is it best to leave well enough alone and continue to moniter him and be sure he's not put in the position to be reactive in a food situation?
What did the behaviorist say? Since he's seen the dog in person and has seen the dynamics of the household, did he say that the crating and such is going to be ongoing? Did he show you any ways to work through this?

I agree that all free fed treats should stop. Make him earn them. Also, I would work on teaching him to go to a place or to go to his crate - rather than you putting him in there and when he is able to go to a place, then every time you're eating send him to his place. Eventually it'll become habit and he'll just see that you're eating and he'll go to his place.

Or block off the room so he doesn't have access to it while you eat. Over time, he'll learn that he is not allowed to enter the room while you're eating, but initially, it'll probably require a barrier.
 

adojrts

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#3
Personally I would train it with a clicker, BUT it has to be done carefully.
I would start with his meals in his bowl, hand feeding him and touching him etc. Progressing to being able to push him away or better yet teaching him to back up and wait from a light touch.
I would also teach him the food self control game.
Have rewards in your pocket or near by. Sit, put a reward in your fist, place your are on your leg, with the hand out in front of you. Your dog can push, paw, lick whatever, other than bitting (walk away from him then) to try and get the reward out of your hand. You say and do nothing, when he backs away and looks at you, give him the reward from the other hand. Then progress to opening the hand with the treat in it, close it very quickly if he even starts to move towards the treat, when he backs away and looks at you, reward.
This will teach him that by behaving and sitting calmly along with showing great self control that he gets something that he wants.
Good luck.
 

mjb

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#4
While I didn't talk to the behaviorist specifically about training to be pushed/moved when eyeing food, he did talk about keeping Spanky out of situations that he would fail at. We have been gating him from the family room if we're ever eating in there. That's easier than crating him because we can just prop a gate at the doorway. Otherwise, we're at the table, and he's either under it or beside it but just laying on the floor.

It's really working out fine the way it is, and I think the behaviorist's intention is that it would be a way of life to have Spanky out of the way when we're eating. I just thought sometime down the road when all of this is a VERY distant memory, we might could relax a little bit with him, not about giving him treats......but if we've done some conditioning training with him that he could be in a room with us eating on the sofa, and if he got too close we would have conditioned him that he could be moved or given a command to stay away.

As I'm writing this, though, I'm thinking that we're probably doing good just the way we are. We're having no issues. Everyone's happy. We don't have a dog with any aggression, no bites. We should probably leave well enough alone. Maybe a long time from now, a year or 2, we can address it again.
 

corgipower

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#5
You can teach him to go to a place. Then, when his training is more advanced, you can have him with you and you'll be able to send him to a place with a command.
 

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