# difficult around food?



## Huginn

Everytime I eat, I make sure that I have fed Huginn first. I try to get my food ready, then give him his and go to eat mine. I don't have a dining room, and I have yet to get stools for my breakfast bar so I eat at the coffee table, usually in front of a text book or my lap top. Huginn will finish his dinner, lick the floor a bit and then come over and try to leap into my plate. At first I was like ok, its a puppy thing he doesnt know any better. He does how ever know his sit really well so I move him back make him sit and give him a toy. As soon as I am not looking directly at him he is back at trying to jump at the table, so I start over, and we repeat until my dinner gets cold or I am not hungry anymore and I pick it up when he finally settles down and ignores it, I put it in the kitchen and reward him with a game of fetch. If I have one I will give him a bully stick once he ignores my food. 
He was doing really good, but the last week has gotten 1000x worse. Today he absolutely refused to back off, sat next to me growling and barking, I got him to calm down and he layed down next to me and started whining. About thirty seconds later he leaped and took a snap at my general face area. I grabbed his collar and led him away from the table and made him lay down in the living room until he calmed down. I have been working on leave it, but he gets so worked up over food that sometimes it is difficult. 
So, my question is should I continue working with him on resisting the urge to jump on me or my food when I am eating or should I just remove the chance and start crating him when I eat? I understand that at 13weeks he is still really young and I cannot expect too much from him, but I am not ok with him starting to bark/growl/snapping at me for not giving him my food. 

BTW, he has gotten really good with his nipping while playing, to where he almost never does it and if he does it is gentle.


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## Scarlett_O'

I would separate him when your eating, either leave confined him in the kitchen some how with his food, or crated.

When Keeva got here she did this a little, but for her now the "off" works. Every once in a while she will do it to Daddy still and I will bark either "leave it" or "off" at her and she goes and lays down....but for her first week here(the ice storm week) she had her crate out here and when we where eating she got put in it(I just gave her her food just before we ate ours and then left her till a little after we were done!:wink


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## xellil

Personally, I would get a good grasp on down/stay and make him lay down in the other room while you eat. It's kind of freaky to think he's jumping and snapping at your face while you eat. 

ALot of people also ban their dogs from the kitchen - don't allow him around food at all except when he's eating it or is invited in when he can behave himself.


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## Huginn

Off worked for a little while, but being a boy he continues to test me lol. I think I will start crating him for now, he has such an issue over food. I hate that we use treats to do anything in our training class. . . it makes it that much harder to get him to listen cuz he just gets over excited about the treat and gets too reactive. Lol, plus last night he just wanted all of the other puppy's treats. We have a lot of way to go.


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## Huginn

xellil said:


> Personally, I would get a good grasp on down/stay and make him lay down in the other room while you eat. It's kind of freaky to think he's jumping and snapping at your face while you eat.
> 
> ALot of people also ban their dogs from the kitchen - don't allow him around food at all except when he's eating it or is invited in when he can behave himself.


Ya, it worries me that at this young of an age, before testosterone has even kicked in, he is being this dominant. I think I am going to crate him and work on his down&stay, once he has that down good we will work on staying out of the crate. 
I have worked on keeping him out of the kitchen, he has a habit of trying to jump in the dishwasher when I am loading it.


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## xellil

yep, we went to several of those classes where you do nothing but dump treats in their mouth. It makes it harder when the treat is no longer a motivation, or they are full. They need to mind whether there is a treat involved or not.


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## Scarlett_O'

Huginn said:


> Off worked for a little while, but being a boy he continues to test me lol. I think I will start crating him for now, he has such an issue over food. I hate that we use treats to do anything in our training class. . . it makes it that much harder to get him to listen cuz he just gets over excited about the treat and gets too reactive. Lol, plus last night he just wanted all of the other puppy's treats. We have a lot of way to go.


Ya, and I think it will help once he is able to have his full amount of food too.
Have you tried tiring him out really good before you eat??

Can you not work with toys?
After our first 2 classes I refused to take treats and instead took Rhett's favorite tug toy instead.


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## xellil

yes, people who stopped all those treats early had a good idea, i think. 

When your dog is sitting there staring at your pocket and drooling through the whole class, maybe you are giving too many treats 

But on the good side, heel is no problem. The nose is always at the hip!


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## Huginn

Right now we are working on removing the treat lure, but every time we start a new command we use the lure. I think I need to sit on a different edge of the room, the other two herders in the class always sit next to us and they have their whole family there so they take up a lot of space and their kids keep moving in on Huginn's little space, while giving the pups commands. Ugh, I am not a children person, so it drives me nuts. I never use treats at home. . . and he does pretty well here.

Abi, we can and I tried that one night, but all he did was leap at the other people in the class and try to get their treats.


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## Scarlett_O'

Huginn said:


> Right now we are working on removing the treat lure, but every time we start a new command we use the lure. I think I need to sit on a different edge of the room, the other two herders in the class always sit next to us and they have their whole family there so they take up a lot of space and their kids keep moving in on Huginn's little space, while giving the pups commands. Ugh, I am not a children person, so it drives me nuts. I never use treats at home. . . and he does pretty well here.
> 
> Abi, we can and I tried that one night, but all he did was leap at the other people in the class and try to get their treats.


Ah that sucks.......

Yaaa....kids........

I wish we were closer to each other! We could work on toys and voice praises together!!


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## Huginn

I spend half of the class getting him to ignore the others lol. But he is getting pretty decent at that, until the little kids start waving treats around and talking very loud. . . lol.


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## xellil

Huginn said:


> I spend half of the class getting him to ignore the others lol. But he is getting pretty decent at that, until the little kids start waving treats around and talking very loud. . . lol.


I have to wonder about your training class. I don't think children should be allowed to distract the dogs. If they are not handling dogs, they should be sitting quietly on the sideline.


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## Huginn

xellil said:


> I have to wonder about your training class. I don't think children should be allowed to distract the dogs. If they are not handling dogs, they should be sitting quietly on the sideline.


The ones that come with their whole family rotate through where each child gives the command three times, then each parent does it. . . so for one family there is like four or five people doing training one at a time. Mainly, we are just doing this for the socialization right now and that I got the class for free. It's a petsmart training class lol, and the trainer is great, but she has to follow certain policies established by petsmart even if that means letting kids be there and do most of the work with the dogs, she doesn't like it but she has to allow it. As an employee I get one free class, so I am using it and then moving onto the spokane dog training club, or possibly doing the intermediate class which will get me his CGC and no kids are ever in that class lol.


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## luvMyBRT

What I would do is crate him while your eating so you can eat in peace! LOL. :lol:

Maybe feed him in his crate so that when he's done he hopefully will learn to relax until your ready to let him out.

Then I would begin working with him when your not eating. Maybe have him learn a command like "go lay down", which would mean for him to go lay on his bed or in his crate. I would also work on a "leave it" command, using your food as the item to be left alone. You'll have to use small amounts and work up to a plate full.

Duncan is EXTREMELY food motivated too. Like crazy food motivated. A lot of times he gets to nudging my hand for a treat when he gets over stimulated. When he does this I just stand there, still. He can nudge at my hand all he wants....but he won't get the treat until he is sitting calmly and giving me direct eye contact. Also when he gets too stimulated we do a lot of focus exercises, which teaches him to focus on me and not the treats. I guess I'm kinda blabbing now! LOL...hopefully this kinda helped.


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## Huginn

It does help, I think a lot of it is going to take time. But I have definitely come to the conclusion to crate him when I am eating and work on his lay down and stay down command.


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## monkeys23

I would crate him while you eat. Lily will be insanely obnoxious given the opportunity... my concession is that she can stare all she wants, but she'd better be laying the f down quietly. All the dogs have to follow this protocol. Spaz is just learning down so basically he's not in a down, but he has learned to leave me alone. My roomie on the other hand will pet him when she eats... Lily got very pushy with Spaz around because he has no manners yet and she is food guardy with other dogs.... so I've been cracking down on polite behavior when the people are eating.

Wow, that poor dog that that family is "training"!!!! How exhausting for the dog! Seems like the kids should be working on that stuff at home and not taking everyone's time up....


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## xellil

i woun't mind just sitting and staring. Snorkels does that. 

But Rebel sits/lays and stares and then the waterfall starts running out of his mouth. Very distracting when trying to eat


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## Liz

We do long downs during meals - adults who know better and get up get tossed out of the house for the rest of the humans meal time. Pups learn n leash to lie down and one person steps on the leash and ignores the during the meals. After the table is cleared the pup (who has usually fallen asleep) is given a release word and calmly praised. It doesn't take too long to have a quiet meal and offenders who know better usually don't get kicked out more than once or twice a year. 

We work with our babies on a watch command so that by the time they are old enough for class they knwo what that means and I don't have too many distraction issues plus it makes heeling a dream.


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## jiml

yep, we went to several of those classes where you do nothing but dump treats in their mouth. It makes it harder when the treat is no longer a motivation, or they are full. They need to mind whether there is a treat involved or not.>>>>>


treats/toys or whatever are the reinforcement and the motivator. being a treat dispenser for a highly distracted dog thats fairly new in classes should be par for the course. there is a time and place to fade the treats but that is not when the dog is learning new behaviors in a class setting (at least not early on)


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## Scarlett_O'

jiml said:


> yep, we went to several of those classes where you do nothing but dump treats in their mouth. It makes it harder when the treat is no longer a motivation, or they are full. They need to mind whether there is a treat involved or not.>>>>>
> 
> 
> treats/toys or whatever are the reinforcement and the motivator. being a treat dispenser for a highly distracted dog thats fairly new in classes should be par for the course. there is a time and place to fade the treats but that is not when the dog is learning new behaviors in a class setting (at least not early on)


This might be true for some.......however the OP's Border Collie is more then smart enough to not always have treats poured down him!!:wink:
I have his full sister and half brother, they can both be worked with verbal reinforcers...no treats/toys *needed*(not that I never use any....but they never know what they might get!:wink


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## jiml

every respectable trainer I know (or would care to know) uses food/toys initially to teach new behaviors (esp in a highly distraction place) for most all dogs. "good boy" rarely does it in these circumstances (not saying its not enough in this case), and it has zip to do with the dogs intelligence. I would agree at some point you want to switch to verbal praise and keep them guessing.


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## magicre

Liz said:


> We do long downs during meals - adults who know better and get up get tossed out of the house for the rest of the humans meal time. Pups learn n leash to lie down and one person steps on the leash and ignores the during the meals. After the table is cleared the pup (who has usually fallen asleep) is given a release word and calmly praised. It doesn't take too long to have a quiet meal and offenders who know better usually don't get kicked out more than once or twice a year.
> 
> We work with our babies on a watch command so that by the time they are old enough for class they knwo what that means and I don't have too many distraction issues plus it makes heeling a dream.


when i first read this, i thought you were talking about human adults who know better....getting tossed out....


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## chowder

We've always found it best to just not let the dogs in the same room when we're eating. Especially when we had multiple (4-5 dogs at a time). It didn't bother me to be stared at, but it made my husband crazy. And now that we have Shade, he is a drooler. When he's in the same room as you, there's a huge puddle under his face by the time you're done eating. 

It's easiest to teach them 'out of the room' from the time they are babies. Ours would learn to actually back up until the last paw was just off the kitchen floor and then that's where they'd stay.


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## Liz

Re you crack me up - but there are some human adults I have wanted to toss into the yard due to the lack of manners.


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## Scarlett_O'

jiml said:


> every respectable trainer I know (or would care to know) uses food/toys initially to teach new behaviors (esp in a highly distraction place) for most all dogs. "good boy" rarely does it in these circumstances (not saying its not enough in this case), and it has zip to do with the dogs intelligence. I would agree at some point you want to switch to verbal praise and keep them guessing.


Well I suppose we will have to disagree then.

I dont, and wont, start my dogs off with thinking that treats come when they do the good work.
They will learn the work, and THEN learn that they will(some times)get treats(or a toy.) I am not a treat dispenser, *I*(my voice/pat) IS the first treat they learn to love, those that I have trained my self(and am always continuing to train) are not trained to treats first.

But I am a little more......hmm...how do I put this so someone will understand....I am to always be the center of my dog's universe, and that is what I train for. (Thus the reason I also wont go to training classes till my dogs have a firm grasp on the "Mommi first" concept.) But hey...that is just me....


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## Huginn

I honestly don't mind giving treats, I just wish kids weren't allowed to dispense treats. . . I can't wait until the second level of this class.


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## MollyWoppy

Ok, me in all my ignorance has to admit that I adore the dogs that push you, I love the battle of wits, the constant tenacity because they know exactly what gets a rise out of you. 
When Mol was young, I wanted to teach her to leave us alone when we were eating, not to stare at us or try to steal food, but to lie there, some distance away and let us eat in peace. I remember one night, I had to calmly get up 26 times to block her and put her in a lie and stay 10' away. I won that battle, but I made sure I won every single battle, no matter how long it took. I personally thought it was quite funny and admire her tenacity, but it was a right pain in the arse sometimes when other people were around, But, with Mol, me winning the battle of will's was the answer. 
She is 5 years old now, and every now and then she'll push it, but that's fine, it's her personality and I enjoy it, I just make sure I win. She knows though, her tail is wagging the whole time, she know's she's pushing my buttons. 
But, welcome to herding dogs, they keep you on your toes, thats for sure. I think Huginn's is just testing his boundaries right now, I really don't think he's trying to be dominate. Just be strong, stick to your guns, don't let him win, keep a sense of humour, and enjoy his puppy years. He'll turn out absolutely fine in the end.


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## jiml

I just wish kids weren't allowed to dispense treats.>>>

they should not be.


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## magicre

MollyWoppy said:


> Ok, me in all my ignorance has to admit that I adore the dogs that push you, I love the battle of wits, the constant tenacity because they know exactly what gets a rise out of you.
> When Mol was young, I wanted to teach her to leave us alone when we were eating, not to stare at us or try to steal food, but to lie there, some distance away and let us eat in peace. I remember one night, I had to calmly get up 26 times to block her and put her in a lie and stay 10' away. I won that battle, but I made sure I won every single battle, no matter how long it took. I personally thought it was quite funny and admire her tenacity, but it was a right pain in the arse sometimes when other people were around, But, with Mol, me winning the battle of will's was the answer.
> She is 5 years old now, and every now and then she'll push it, but that's fine, it's her personality and I enjoy it, I just make sure I win. She knows though, her tail is wagging the whole time, she know's she's pushing my buttons.
> But, welcome to herding dogs, they keep you on your toes, thats for sure. I think Huginn's is just testing his boundaries right now, I really don't think he's trying to be dominate. Just be strong, stick to your guns, don't let him win, keep a sense of humour, and enjoy his puppy years. He'll turn out absolutely fine in the end.


this is the reason bubba did me in, because i would not give in. he'd stare me down, he'd jump up onto my lap and try to get to the plate, he'd to all kinds of things.

whilst i never got him to lie down, i did get him to stop staring. 

my dogs are not allowed to beg...and any behaviour i don't like, i correct.....took two years and a whole lotta drinking, but he's a real dog now with better manners than when he came in.

i'm with you, penny.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma

I would definitely crate him if he is being that big of an SOB. I got lucky. Buck will sit where I put him and just drool. Ok, so those who hate drool won't consider me lucky, but hey... Haha. The closest he ever gets is resting his drool covered chin on the arm of the couch (we don't have a table either). 

I would give him a while before you let him be around you while you eat meals. I would start by eating snacks in front of him. You aren't so hungry and snacks don't usually require a plate. They are also usually less messy should a puppy knock them over. But I would still crate him when you actually eat your meals. Once you can eat a snack without him disturbing you, then you could try letting him out while you eat. 

Don't forget that he is still very young. He doesn't have much patience yet. He might also be one of those dogs who, like Buck, always seem to be starving. I would give him some time to mature.


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## jiml

Scarlett, Im curious about your training methods. Are you saying you use affection as the primary reward teaching new behaviors or primarily early on for attention? do you use punishment (training collars)? I had thought you were into more food based marker training from earlier pics you posted.

not criticizing, just curious to what works for you.


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## Scarlett_O'

jiml said:


> Scarlett, Im curious about your training methods. Are you saying you use affection as the primary reward teaching new behaviors or primarily early on for attention? do you use punishment (training collars)? I had thought you were into more food based marker training from earlier pics you posted.
> 
> not criticizing, just curious to what works for you.


Feel free to PM me, I dont feel like taking over Tiffany's thread!LOL
So just an overview....
The only collars I have on for training are martingales.(Im not sure what type of "training collar" you are talking about.:smile

I guess its kind of difficult to explain when Im not in person with someone, but no...they dont get treats off the get go. I dont like them looking for treats at all times, even when young and just learning. Now that Keeva knows sit, down and a decent stay I will start lightly using treats, but I also will be using toys, and of course still some times neither.

I use to take treats everywhere with me, and make that my primary way to get them to do stuff, but it got annoying that when I didnt have treats they(at the time Brody and Rhett) where always looking for them. So I nipped that, started Rhett all over(which wasnt hard since he is VERY Mom driven,) and now hardly ever take treats anywhere with us, I still do sometimes...but I get the same response from them either way!:biggrin:
Keeva how ever has yet to have a training session that involves treats, and has done really well!:wink:

Oh and about the OP...I think I also might have figured out another reason Keeva hasnt acted this way since our first week. She is only ever offered something from the "doggy" freezer or from the Tupperware that is for their food, never directly from our fridge/freezer or counter.(Since like you said on FB I am much more stringent and they only get meat/bones/organs!:wink So I know the others(excluding Brody) dont even look for me to give them food when Im cooking, prepping, etc...they all sit watching their freezer waiting for something to come from it!LOL (Just a thought I had this morning as Jesse was getting soemthing to eat and they were all watching him, but not looking to share his banana or to get something out of the fridge! Well all but Brody...he thinks ALL FOOD is for him!LOL)


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## lauren43

MollyWoppy said:


> Ok, me in all my ignorance has to admit that I adore the dogs that push you, I love the battle of wits, the constant tenacity because they know exactly what gets a rise out of you.
> When Mol was young, I wanted to teach her to leave us alone when we were eating, not to stare at us or try to steal food, but to lie there, some distance away and let us eat in peace. I remember one night, I had to calmly get up 26 times to block her and put her in a lie and stay 10' away. I won that battle, but I made sure I won every single battle, no matter how long it took. I personally thought it was quite funny and admire her tenacity, but it was a right pain in the arse sometimes when other people were around, But, with Mol, me winning the battle of will's was the answer.
> She is 5 years old now, and every now and then she'll push it, but that's fine, it's her personality and I enjoy it, I just make sure I win. She knows though, her tail is wagging the whole time, she know's she's pushing my buttons.
> But, welcome to herding dogs, they keep you on your toes, thats for sure. I think Huginn's is just testing his boundaries right now, I really don't think he's trying to be dominate. Just be strong, stick to your guns, don't let him win, keep a sense of humour, and enjoy his puppy years. He'll turn out absolutely fine in the end.


I totally agree. Its a matter of being more stubborn than the dog, I admire you for your patience, I think this is where Avery and I fail many times...I am simply not as patient or as stubborn as he is, I am trying really really hard to get there though.


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## Huginn

Scarlett_O' said:


> Feel free to PM me, I dont feel like taking over Tiffany's thread!LOL
> So just an overview....
> The only collars I have on for training are martingales.(Im not sure what type of "training collar" you are talking about.:smile
> 
> I guess its kind of difficult to explain when Im not in person with someone, but no...they dont get treats off the get go. I dont like them looking for treats at all times, even when young and just learning. Now that Keeva knows sit, down and a decent stay I will start lightly using treats, but I also will be using toys, and of course still some times neither.
> 
> I use to take treats everywhere with me, and make that my primary way to get them to do stuff, but it got annoying that when I didnt have treats they(at the time Brody and Rhett) where always looking for them. So I nipped that, started Rhett all over(which wasnt hard since he is VERY Mom driven,) and now hardly ever take treats anywhere with us, I still do sometimes...but I get the same response from them either way!:biggrin:
> Keeva how ever has yet to have a training session that involves treats, and has done really well!:wink:
> 
> Oh and about the OP...I think I also might have figured out another reason Keeva hasnt acted this way since our first week. She is only ever offered something from the "doggy" freezer or from the Tupperware that is for their food, never directly from our fridge/freezer or counter.(Since like you said on FB I am much more stringent and they only get meat/bones/organs!:wink So I know the others(excluding Brody) dont even look for me to give them food when Im cooking, prepping, etc...they all sit watching their freezer waiting for something to come from it!LOL (Just a thought I had this morning as Jesse was getting soemthing to eat and they were all watching him, but not looking to share his banana or to get something out of the fridge! Well all but Brody...he thinks ALL FOOD is for him!LOL)


When he gets veggies, or something else its never while I am eating and only at times. I think part of the reason he gets way too worked up over treats is that I hardly give them.


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## Celt

Huginn said:


> I think part of the reason he gets way too worked up over treats is that I hardly give them.


I'm not sure if giving treats seldomly could be why he's so treat focused. I know my Scotty gets a lot of treats (I swear he gets treats for breathing. Not from me, but...) and he is still gets worked up even for "low value" treats. In fact, I've been "training" him on proper treat behavior. I have to say that the boys are my first "treat trained" dogs and I regret training them this way.


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## doggiedad

your dog is young and not trained. be consistent in your training. your dog
doesn't know "no", "leave it", "stay", "go to your bed", "go to your crate", etc.
once you have some control of your dog it's going to easier to teach her not
to beg for food. once she learns not to counter surf it's going to be easier.
with training you'll be able to leave food anywhere and she won't bother it.
don't wait untill you're eating to train her not to beg or take food off your plate.
have training sessions daily and several times a day to teach her not to beg.
untill she learns some things crate her when you eat.


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## xellil

Celt said:


> I'm not sure if giving treats seldomly could be why he's so treat focused. I know my Scotty gets a lot of treats (I swear he gets treats for breathing. Not from me, but...) and he is still gets worked up even for "low value" treats. In fact, I've been "training" him on proper treat behavior. I have to say that the boys are my first "treat trained" dogs and I regret training them this way.


yep, I could give Snorkels a million treats and she'd act the same whether it was the first one or the last one. Rebel will actually get tired of treats if I give too many. I think it's the nature of the dog.


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## Huginn

Just a little update. Huginn has been doing great around food with me, let me stress that _WITH ME_. If anyone else eats around him he continues to do his little bouncy routine, on their heads and in their lap and tries to make his way to their plate. No more biting and barking lately though. I've recently started carrying some treats around with me, working on recall and I want to have them whenever he comes until he gets good at it, and he is getting a lot better around them. After about an hour of me ignoring him and not giving him anything he went over and laid down on his "bed" with a toy. I think we are making progress.
For what it's worth he does "know" leave it, it's just that he is so young that sometimes he pretends he doesn't hear me. But when he does want to hear me, he leaves it right away. It's another reason I am starting to always have treats with me so that when I want him to leave something he _REALLY_ loves, my sock or glove for example, I can give him something he loves just as much. He's improved drastically within the last couple of days. I am so proud of him.


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## MollyWoppy

He's going to be a gem when he's older. Patience, perseverance, a sense of humour, and don't let him get away with anything, ever. Enjoy him, you are going to miss these times when he gets older. He reminds me of Mol a lot actually, and she's turned out to be the best dog in the world!


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## Huginn

MollyWoppy said:


> He's going to be a gem when he's older. Patience, perseverance, a sense of humour, and don't let him get away with anything, ever. Enjoy him, you are going to miss these times when he gets older. He reminds me of Mol a lot actually, and she's turned out to be the best dog in the world!


I keep trying to remind myself that I am going to miss it, even the moments that aren't so easy. I am confident he's going to be a good boy, every now and again I just wonder if I am cut out for this and then I thank the godz that I don't want human children.


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## Scarlett_O'

MollyWoppy said:


> He's going to be a gem when he's older. Patience, perseverance, a sense of humour, and don't let him get away with anything, ever. Enjoy him, you are going to miss these times when he gets older. He reminds me of Mol a lot actually, and she's turned out to be the best dog in the world!


I remind her of this quite often!:wink: :smile: I miss Rhett being the age that Huginn and Keeva are, I kept telling Rhett that when we had the 3 of them playing a few weekends ago!!Lol

And Tiff, you will make it....your doing great!!:thumb:
Always just remember, with puppies especally there are no quick fixes, and not everyone's ideas, suggestions, theories ad tips will work for the 2 of you....find ones that do and that you are comfortable with and use them!:thumb:


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## Makovach

I place trained my dogs. I put down a rug/towel/blanket/bed and teach them when I say "Spot" they get in their place and lie down. 

Annie was easy because she already knew "stay". So I just had to get her used to the "spot" command. I did this with a clicker and treats and weaned off the treats with in days. I worked with her while I ate, watched T.V., did school on the computer or just bored around the house. It has come in handy because Annie is an emotional support animal and travels with me everywhere. When we go to friend/family's house, or a hotel/motel I can use the command to get her to stay in one place while I am busy or there is a bunch of people. I also use this when letting people into the house so they are not bombarded by the dogs when they come in. It helped to better their greeting of people and stay calm when people came over. 

Tucker was taught from a pup. I started out with a lead tied to something he couldnt move untill he learned his "stay" well. He caught on to the "spot" command pretty quickly with toys. I would keep his toy untill he got in his spot which i told him, click the clicker, then give him his toy. For Tucker, staying was the hardest part. 

Now I can just say "spot" and they both go lie on something somewhere in the living room. nothing imparticular, because I use so many things. At other people's houses' I take a blanket with me so they know that is their place.


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## magicre

Huginn said:


> Just a little update. Huginn has been doing great around food with me, let me stress that _WITH ME_. If anyone else eats around him he continues to do his little bouncy routine, on their heads and in their lap and tries to make his way to their plate. No more biting and barking lately though. I've recently started carrying some treats around with me, working on recall and I want to have them whenever he comes until he gets good at it, and he is getting a lot better around them. After about an hour of me ignoring him and not giving him anything he went over and laid down on his "bed" with a toy. I think we are making progress.
> For what it's worth he does "know" leave it, it's just that he is so young that sometimes he pretends he doesn't hear me. But when he does want to hear me, he leaves it right away. It's another reason I am starting to always have treats with me so that when I want him to leave something he _REALLY_ loves, my sock or glove for example, I can give him something he loves just as much. He's improved drastically within the last couple of days. I am so proud of him.


i don't think he's pretending.

i think he's a puppy who doesn't have it 'down' yet. no impulse control....and that won't come until later..it's kind of like wanting a three year old to learn calculus.....

i also think i hear some stress in your 'voice'.....that too passes on to the puppy....they need calm....i think you do too....

puppies are frustrating...we think they will never house train, sit, leave us alone whilst we're eating, stop jumping on people, no manners, wild animals, too hyper, too this too that......until one day, they learn. 

it will come. but he's not even four months old.....16 - 20 weeks is when they begin to house train...leaving food alone or your hair or your stuff...that comes later...and just wait until you get to the terrible twos....yep. dogs do it too.

if you don't calm down, you're going to be institutionalised and the dog will be at abi's house LOL. 

just kidding, but just sayin'.


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## Huginn

Ya, I keep reminding myself he is just a puppy and that I need to cut him some slack. I'm getting better about it, I just have to be constantly on myself about it. I knew this was coming too, I was the same way with my foal, but I was hoping that with ten years under my belt I would be better about making my expectations realistic. 
I understand the stress thing, it's something I have been working on my whole life. I have to focus on being calm, I used to ride my mom's mostly blind horse and I had to work really hard to control my stress with her. She would pick up on it and would think there was something after us, or something like that. I am trying really hard to remind myself that I don't want him to deal with my stress and anxiety. I get so concerned that I am failing him is part of it, he has so much potential. 
Anyway, he's coming along well and I am very pleased with him. Its me that needs the work lol.


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## magicre

Huginn said:


> Ya, I keep reminding myself he is just a puppy and that I need to cut him some slack. I'm getting better about it, I just have to be constantly on myself about it. I knew this was coming too, I was the same way with my foal, but I was hoping that with ten years under my belt I would be better about making my expectations realistic.
> I understand the stress thing, it's something I have been working on my whole life. I have to focus on being calm, I used to ride my mom's mostly blind horse and I had to work really hard to control my stress with her. She would pick up on it and would think there was something after us, or something like that. I am trying really hard to remind myself that I don't want him to deal with my stress and anxiety. I get so concerned that I am failing him is part of it, he has so much potential.
> Anyway, he's coming along well and I am very pleased with him. Its me that needs the work lol.


see, that's the beauty of animals...they have more forgiveness in them than any human....

you're not failing and if you continue to be concerned, that's just self fulfilling prophecy....so knock that one off right now, missy 

i'm with you on the 'me that needs work'...you belong to a super large club, of which i am a platinum member....remember, you're not alone in the anxiety that you're going to mess this dog up with one raised voice, one iota of frustration..you're not.

honest.

don't beat him with a baseball cap...try not to yell....which sorry, can't be helped sometimes...as the words die in my throat....when he's peeing on my antique whatever....or my favourite stuffy that he just ate...

feed him raw and do the best you can. he's a well balanced breed that didn't come from a broken home....and doesn't hang with jerks and creeps.

you've given him food, and warmth and love and shelter and that's what a dog needs. plus boundaries....it's not cruel to crate. it makes them safe. not cruel to teach. it gives them freedom within a circle protected by you.

that's your promise to your dog..that you will do those things...and, above all, protect him from others and himself.


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