Q: how to train a dog to eat only when given an ok command?
There are people who have taught their dogs to only eat when told to, for safety (to prevent poisoning) and just to stop having to worry (I left my pizza on the coffee table!). How is it done? How do you teach a dog to be so well behaved, they won't eat without someone giving the command?
Photo Credit: Bennilover/Flickr
My dog is a black lab/Schnauzer mix, and he already has a fairly significant training. He heels when walked, knows his role in the pack, and would drop a ham sandwich if you told him to before he swallowed it. He is so intelligent that he quickly learned to open doors with the lever door knobs.
My dog is my baby, and everything this is about is for HIS safety, not my laziness.
Answers and Views:
Answer by Bob
You must practice with your dog, Ma'am! Keep him on a leash and place his food in front of him. When he goes for the food without your command, pull him back.
That's it, Ma'am!!..
Answer by Greek God AKA Greekm
Its done the same way all other training is accomplished in the real world. You praise/reward the dog for doing a behavior you want to see and you keep repeating that behavior for 4K-6K reps till it becomes second nature and you correct the dog, hard, when it does not obey.
This correcting thing is where 98% of people fail because they don't want to do it…they feel bad for the dog, attach emotional issues to it, whatever. The point is this, Cause=Effect in all things, training included, and if your dogs earn a correction, don't disappoint it, correct it hard.
In closing, in the absence of compulsion, neither human nor canine education is possible. Hope I helped.
Answer by MamaBas
I guess it is possible to train a dog to eat at the command, but having had years of living with Basset, the only thing that stops mine grabbing what's available, given half a chance, is PREVENTION. Yes, they know not to grab off a coffee table if we were there eating but I'd not assume that would be the same if we got up and left something on there.
By no means am I suggesting you are a lazy pet owner but I do think you may be expecting too much of A DOG. But again, it depends on the breed and the individual dog. I'd stress, again PREVENTION. And I don't leave my hounds with access to the outside when I'm not at home because I don't know what might happen. 'Leave' or 'drop' is an essential piece of obedience, however.
Answer by Lacey UD, RE
Does your dog have a good sit stay with distractions? If so have your dog do a sit stay for its meal. Put the meal on the floor and step back. Your dog should stay in a sitting position until released. This dog cannot be allowed to eat any food unless it in the bowl or from your hand. Eating on the floor or ground is off limits. The release command must be used every time that you feed the dog. Keep in mind that this type of poison proofing also has its issues if the dog is boarded often or if other members of the family is feeding the dog.
Since your dog is "your baby" you most likely will not like my following suggestions. You will have to have aversives. the aversives will have to be stronger than the reward of the food that the dog is getting into. The aversives will have to be used for at least one month depending on the dog. They will have to be faded slowly so as not to train the dog to look for them when he gets into trouble. The aversive that I use for the trash stealing is a shock mat or a scat mat. This mat emits a shock when something steps on it or touches it. It gives the same correction every time it is touched (as long as it's plugged in". It will correct when no one is home. Finally, it keeps the owner out of the correction process so the dog learns quicker. Do not step on the scat mat with your bare or stocking feet. If you do so, you'll do it only once.
To keep the dog from eating trash off of the ground also requires methods that are worse than the food. For this, I use a remote collar. I just don't put the remote on and shock the dog but go through a series of training steps first before I even correct the dog. Your best bet is to find an e-collar trainer in your area to train you how to use this device properly. You will have to have the collar on most times that the dog is out. You will also have to be in a position to correct the dog every time he tries to eat something that he shouldn't.
I know that the do-gooders will not like my methods but have been proven to work. Most police and military dogs are poison proofed using many of the same methods. In order to poison proof, the correction has to be worse than the tasty food that is being left out or offered to the dog.
Flameproof suit on. Let the TDs fly.
Know better? Give your own answer to this question!
Christine Banks says
I trained my first Lab to only eat when I said “OK”. We would have fun and say “ohhh nooo” or “Oklahoma” and other “o” words, and our Lab would always wait specifically for “ok”. Our second lab followed suit very quickly. Our first Lab passed away, and ever since then, our second Lab will not eat when we say “ok”. He he’s on r attention when hungry, and sits and waits while we fill his bowl without being asked, and watches us for the release word, but then will not budge when we say “ok”. We have to coax him over to the bowl every time. It is so odd. Sometimes he goes and sits back down and looks at us expectantly.
Any suggestions? Wondering if I should start from the beginning and retrain him using a different release word.
Dora says
Everything has changed after your first lab passed away. Seems like a good idea to start from the beginning with a new word.
RussianDog says
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HomieSensual says
CALL Caesar milan….. he can help ! if not.>!> maybe consider buying a squirrel?
Beckayy says
Dogs aren't actually greedy creatures, they eat to survive not for pleasure. So i would suggest that the reason your dog is "foraging" in the garbage is because he is looking for extra nutrients and minerals, dogs are very sensitive to when they are lacking in something within their bodies. The same thing happened to my dog except she started to become not only a food hoarder but aggressive. You may want to change his diet, I switched my dog to a part raw and within a week i saw results, and she is a much happier and healthier dog today.
So change his diet to part raw [you can feed him a chicken carcus every second day and feed turkey necks and beef bones on occasion too] and for the time being to start hsi training you ARE going to have to pick up your trash, make sure you don't leave anything where he will be tempted otherwise you are just basically setting him up to fail. Also when you feed his meals make sure he sits and waits before YOU allow him to eat.
Maxi says
The issue is not you being lazy or training a dog not to do something…….dogs are opportunists and so will take the opportunity to get food, raid the bin ( which is full of food and toys as far as the dog is concerned) and once it uses that opportunity and finds those toys and food, it has learned that raiding the bin works and dogs do what works……………….. so you have an uphill struggle as the easier way to train this is by never allowing it to work…so the bin is ALWAYS empty, ALWAYS washed out… now the dog has found it works, it is harder to train, it can be done, but you have to train it for longer and I would not be confident that a working breed dog would not take the opportunity since it has 'worked' in the past………. there is n point in disciplining the dog once they have done it, as it is a self praising 'game'…that is they get the goodies ( self praising) so it doesn't matter that you discipline when you find it as it is too late………………..I have one bin raider, I am an animal behaviourist, I have 4 dogs but at the time I had 13 dogs and this BC was a pup and a friend took her over a couple of days as I was in hospital…my friends dog is a bin raider and 8 years on this BC is a bin raider if I leave anything in the bin IF she is anxious in any way and that is the only time she does it…………. now I have watched via CCTV and all my dogs will sit and watch and not touch the bin at all when/if she raids….so a couple of days given the opportunity that is all it took…………….