 |
| Greer fka CP Raelynn is delighted to be hand-fed when she stops at the local pet shop, but did you know that hand feeding at home for the first few weeks or months can make all the difference in the world as far as establishing your leadership role and gaining the absolute trust of your new Rescued Cairn? |
Editor’s Note: I hand feed treats throughout the day, as
recommended below. All treats come
directly from my hand – Never from the floor!
I prefer to hold the dog in my lap at regular meal times however, have
them sit patiently looking at the bowl in my hand, then say “OK!” when I let
them start to eat. This way I have one
hand on the dog at all times and the other hand holding the treasured food
bowl. It is an excellent way to bond and
establish trust. When the meal is done
and I set the bowl down, I always bring my free hand to the dog’s face and
gently stroke (or groom!) for a few seconds, then continue to sit for a few
moments, allowing the dog to relax fully.
By Michele Ryan – Rowdy Rover Blog
Work To Earn = Better Focus!
I
wish the dog trainer I had in 1991 told me to hand feed my two pups! Since 1991, I have been hand feeding my
pups and dogs, for trust, bonding, training cues, and if they needed
a “check in”. As a trainer, I always tell my pet parents to hand feed their pups for
a while, or their teen/adult dogs if need be! Below are the reasons why it’s such
a great idea!
Hand Feeding: The
foundation to a good working relationship.
Hand
feeding isn’t the answer to all behavioral problems, but it is a way to take a
dog that has trust issues and turn them around. So whether your dog has a specific phobia or
is shy around people, hand feeding is the first step to changing those
behaviors. For people that are training
to do competition dog sports, hand feeding is the way to get the dog to bond to
you to the point that they never take their eyes off of you. For
people that just want an all-around great pet, hand feeding is one of the steps
I recommend. It’s for any dog, any
owner that wants a special bond with their dog.
In
order to make training fun and enjoyable, it must be rewarding. If your dog doesn’t care one way or the other
about treats, doesn’t like to play with toys and won’t bother to walk across
the room for an ear scratch, how are you going to reward him? If he sees no reason to work for what he gets
because it’s always available, gets it on demand, or is easily stolen, changing
his meals to scheduled feedings and teaching him to work to earn can help
repair a rocky relationship.
Why hand feed?
If you do this for the first 6 months
of a dog’s life, you will have a dog that is more bonded to you than you have
ever had before. Training will be extremely easy with those
dogs. It’s just getting people to
actually do it. Most people say they
just don’t have time. But it doesn’t
take much more time than putting food in a bowl for the dog. This is also a great way to work your training
cues while hand feeding. Remember the
“Nothing in life is free” rule! It’s
easy to have a well mannered dog, you just need to put the time and
commitment into him or her!
Hand feeding teaching the dog to
focus on you! You control the food, the goodies, the treats.
And you are making them work for
it, even better yet! This makes
for a non demanding dog, or a request barker later.
If
your dog is pushy, bossy, or rude, hard to motivate, disinterested, or has its
own agenda, (or even if it isn’t) hand feeding will improve your relationship
with your dog.
Hand
Feeding:
- Teaches your dog
that all good things come from your hands
- Teaches your dog
to have manners around food
- Teaches your dog
to drop everything and come when called
 |
| Hand feeding is an important element in Caruso's training routines |
So how do you do this?
Find
a spot on the floor, this can be where your pup or dog eats now, or better yet,
for socialization, you can feed him in different areas of the house. Put the dog food in his bowl. Hand out the kibble here and there without
asking the dog to do anything. If the
dog naturally comes to you, immediately give the dog some of it’s kibble. If they are sitting there staring at
you, give them a few pieces.
Make sure NOT to reward bad
behavior. If you give a
dog kibble that is jumping up, barking, pawing at you, or
misbehaving, then you reward that bad behavior, and you don’t want that. I ask
that the dog is standing or sitting patiently, acting calm before I hand feed
them.
Once
the dog has the routine down, start asking the dog to do things for the food. Sit, watch me, down, shake, spin, and so on. Great time to work in your training skills you
learned in class! So in the end, they
are working for every kibble they eat. Remember the “Nothing in life is free”
rule: Dogs want a leader, and they want a job.
By hand feeding like this, you accomplish both.
It
doesn’t have to be just one person in the house that is feeding the dog as long
as the food is pre measured so you don’t over or under feed the dog. Kids do really well with this. And you wouldn’t believe the bonding and
understanding that kids and dogs have when they have hand fed. This will also help with the recall. A dog
that is hand fed will almost always come to your hand if you put it out. You just better not try to trick them too many
times by not having food in it or they get wise to this trick!
Have
you ever seen the dogs that never take their eyes off their owners? Hand feeding is the way to accomplish that.
Yes, hand feeding can be a pain. And yes, you have to be committed to doing it
for months to make it work. But once the routine is established, then it
becomes much easier.
And
you will have a much better dog because of it.
Now
that is worth it to work the work to earn rule!
Read the original Blog Post here:
