# Help with treat aggression



## Orange (Jan 21, 2010)

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## Todd (Jan 13, 2010)

Orange said:


> I have had River since he was eight weeks. He is 3 1/2 months now. I have worked with him on his food and he now waits patiently until I tell him to get it at feeding times. Now when I give him a bone with meat on it for a treat its a different story. As soon as I get close to him to take it away he will growl and snap. He has not bit me but I am thinking this is not going to be good when he gets older. I can not seem to figure out how to beat this problem. This happens only with the bones.


my dog is the same way. she only does it with bones and her new prey model diet. never did it with kibble. she is also a bit aggressive toward other dogs when i give her or them a treat in the same area.


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## Orange (Jan 21, 2010)

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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

You have to keep in mind that raw foods are more "valuable" for a dog, and they feel compelled to guard it. I personally don't try and take things from my dogs while eating or chewing. It is considered rude and improper to a dog to take something away in the middle of a meal or treat time. With that said, I think you should be able to do so without being hurt just in case he has something you know is dangerous for him or whatnot.

To do this safely, you want to teach him a command something like "drop it" or "leave it" so he knows that he is going to get something better if he drops what he has already.

Start off small, make it easy for him to learn. Give him something pretty low on the "valuable" scale to him, like a toy. Tell him the command whatever that may be "drop it" and as soon as he redirects his attention to you give him something more valuable and praise him. Gradually start working your way to things more and more valuable until you are able to take anything from him.


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

My cavalier got a little aggressive at first too. I couldn't do 'leave it' with him because he is deaf. 

I male him work for his food, sit, down, etc, and when I give it to him, per the advice of someone here.  The last time I touched him when he was eating he just ignored me.


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## dogtrainer1507 (Feb 7, 2010)

Sometimes its also better in that situation to have a trainer come in to assist you. And if you are a person who wants to do it all positive then a good trainer will have no problem helping you out. Sometimes its better to have someone outside come in with the right kind of training that your comfortable with to assist you. Usually they will have good tips on how to help you in other ways to gain respect with food and things like that. A lot of dogs have that issue with things like bones and rawhide if someone uses those. Kinda of brings out the dogs natural instinct to protect something it hold as high value. Being a trainer I would handle that in a positive manner but I would also be likely to give you some other things to go along with it. Picking someone to come in your home is probably best since the dog is on it own turf. Just my thoughts


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## Orange (Jan 21, 2010)

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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Its good that you are doing food/treat waits, but have you considered working on a "drop it" or "leave it" command like I suggested in my previous post?


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## Orange (Jan 21, 2010)

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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Orange said:


> I have a little, but I really do not think its good enough to make him drop it. I will concentrate on leave it for the next few days and see what happens. Thanks. :wink:


But that is why you take baby steps in training. I wouldn't expect him to drop a RMB right off the bat, you have to work up to that level. In the meantime, just don't try and take his food away while he is eating, because obviously you can't stop feeding him. 

Start with something like a toy, get him to play with it. Have something slightly more "valuable" to him, and tell him to "drop it" (the toy) and immediately give him the more valuable item whether that be a treat or a better toy. 

Then go for something like a bone or chew toy and do the same thing. Always have something he is going to want more than what he has currently. When you get to the point of his actual food item, offer a food item that you know that he likes the most and would gladly give up any other type of food for.

That is how you get him to know the "drop it" command, which I think is more appropriate in this case. Because with a "leave it" command you use that for items that he can't have or shouldn't have...like shoes or cats. I shouldn't have mentioned the leave it command now that I think about it more. You would want to use leave it for the times when he has something in his mouth that you don't actually want him to eat. Drop it means "give it to me" but he knows that he will eventually get it back.


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## dogtrainer1507 (Feb 7, 2010)

*Clicker*

Have you ever tried a clicker? Basicly what you do is what we call conditioning. You can get flickers at just about any pet store. I would recommend for at least a week if not longer that one time a day or more but each session 10x in a row you click then immediately treat. In a weeks time or a little longer he will then realize that sound means Something good. Make sure you use a high value reward and he only gets it when you use the clicker. Once he's conditioned then you can start with teaching drop and use a ball or something he likes to play with. If you need more info let me know oe if you have any questions.


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## Orange (Jan 21, 2010)

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## dogtrainer1507 (Feb 7, 2010)

if you have any other questions about how to proceed after the conditioning let me know. But you have to make sure you do it slowly you can't go from a ball to a steak or bone in a week so take your time.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

Just wonderng why the posts were deleted 

I think with alot of patience and time. Your pup will get better. These guys have given you alot of valueable information.


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## John Rambo (Sep 27, 2010)

clickers work good..


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## Tracmec (Dec 13, 2010)

Rye&Ted said:


> Just wonderng why the posts were deleted
> 
> I think with alot of patience and time. Your pup will get better. These guys have given you alot of valueable information.


If you look at the date of the OP it was back in February when this thread was started. Orange must have had a reason for deleting His/Her post. But, If anyone else is having this problem then the suggestions given on this thread are very good ones.

I know that this is an old thread but I would like to add our training tip to it.

When the dogs are small we feed them their treats in a closed fist with the treat held behind the thumb and the index finger. We hold the closed hand out to the dog where he can snuffle at the unexposed treat. When the pup bites at the hand we say no! and take the hand away. Then we offer again, If he bites at the hand or licks at the hand we do the same thing. When he sits and looks at the hand expectantly then we give the treat and tell him, Good Dog! Once they learn that if they bite or snuffle at your hand when you have food in it, they will not get the food. You will then be able to take anything out of their mouth (Because even if the food starts out in their mouth, once your hand closes around it it's then 'in your hand'). But, you do it with the treat first until it works Every Time. What they learn is that if they are aggressive about their food in any way then they don't get it. But as soon as they are calm and relaxed then they do.

We have used this method to teach what I like to call 'Food Calmness' to every type of dog from little three pounders up to 150 pounders over the years and I don't have any dog that I can't reach into their mouth and remove whatever I want to. An added bonus is that the dogs also learn not to be aggressive toward each other over their food.


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