mealtime training

Hello!

My name is Dan, I'm a dog fosterer and help to train dogs to increase their chances of being re-homed.

I'm not a professional and am still learning but would like to share with you what has worked for me in the past. would be glad to hear your thoughts - if it has helped you, if you have any critique, ways of improving etc.

What I do:

1. Take a holistic approach (focus on behaviour in general )
2. Positive reinforcement (I say 'ah' to correct but never use punishment)
3. Ignore negative behaviour, praise good behaviour (in general)
4. Keep a routine (at first to help them settle)
5. Reward with praise (I rarely, if ever, use treats to train)

Here is my first video on meal time training.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo9jsnnrMj4

Here is a video of Tess who after a few weeks of training...(she is even better now!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjTlGDU9ch0

I look forward to hearing what you think!

All the best

Dan
www.youtube.com/natureclip

I like the food training, it's similar to what I've done for years (and been told is wrong, too!), and I've always managed to have non-food aggressive dogs.

Tess is a real sweetie, I hope she finds a good home soon!

I have trained both my dogs similar to what you do at meal times as well

Good video, I'm working on this with Bella at the moment with advice from Caryll. She will now sit and wait for her food and I can touch her head and dish. Before she would knock the food out of my hand and growl/snarl/snap if I went near her eating. Really surprised me how aggressive such a young puppy could be. She still has her moments but we are getting there.

I think everyone should train their dogs to wait to be fed and to be comfortable being pet or handled while eating. We also remove the food every so often. Food aggresion can be a serious problem and should be trained from the start.

I also think it's important to train dogs to sit and wait for their food from an early age. My trouble now is the older one forgets her manners at times and as she is so deaf and vision impaired it is difficult to reinforce.
Tess looks so gorgeous, hope someone gives her a forever home soon.