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Puppy Crazy At Meal Times


Mason_Gibbs
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All is going much better now he sits for his food and i make him look at me before i put his bowl down

Don't forget your pup is a lab - generally food crazy!!!! He will eventually get it. My current lab pup when she was younger would some days have to wait for a few minutes because I would not put her food down until she was sitting nicely. I only needed to do this a few times and she she learnt. She still does not have the self control to wait when the bowel is down for me to release her (I use "eat" as my command)........but we will get there.

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All is going much better now he sits for his food and i make him look at me before i put his bowl down

Sorry I had to laugh when I read this gotta love a lab who thinks you MUST FEED ME NOW :rofl: Sound like Mr Gidds is starting to understand you exist beyond the food and his 'feeed meee nooow' plead isnt working. I think Mason spoilt you for expecting good manners ;)

One of my girls was a manic feeder and I used the food to teach the word 'settle' - I would get dinner ready sit the dogs - feed immediately the ones who sat first and were quiet I'd tell the others to settle - my nut job Lab would sit, drool, fidget, whine and she did not get the food until she sat quietly. She was always fed last until she clicked that if she sat and shut up she would get fed first - bingo - the lights went on. Every Lab is an individual - you just have to work out the key to that little groover's brain - beyond the food.

Now that you have Gibbs is starting to listen - give it a week or so - up the anti and require him to settle before you feed him. Worth a try. :)

Edited by Tapua
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All is going much better now he sits for his food and i make him look at me before i put his bowl down

Sorry I had to laugh when I read this gotta love a lab who thinks you MUST FEED ME NOW :rofl: Sound like Mr Gidds is starting to understand you exist beyond the food and his 'feeed meee nooow' plead isnt working. I think Mason spoilt you for expecting good manners ;)

One of my girls was a manic feeder and I used the food to teach the word 'settle' - I would get dinner ready sit the dogs - feed immediately the ones who sat first and were quiet I'd tell the others to settle - my nut job Lab would sit, drool, fidget, whine and she did not get the food until she sat quietly. She was always fed last until she clicked that if she sat and shut up she would get fed first - bingo - the lights went on. Every Lab is an individual - you just have to work out the key to that little groover's brain - beyond the food.

Now that you have Gibbs is starting to listen - give it a week or so - up the anti and require him to settle before you feed him. Worth a try. :)

This is like my current pup. I have not got the whining - but she would jump around like a mad thing!!! When she was young I use to have to tell her to calm down. One day she jumped into a bucket of water. :rofl:

I also had to change her to a go slow bowel as she was just as mad while she was eating and was making herself sick.

Sound like Gibbs may be a crazy food puppy like these girls!!! ;)

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I love the lab puppy craziness!!!

They are one of the most fun puppies I reckon.

Always up for a game, food, cuddles, dont think I've ever met a quiet or shy one :laugh:

Me too! My lot seems to grow out of it, so like to enjoy it while they are young.

Mason was not so crazy at home but as a pup when I took him out he was very full on, loved other dogs and used to just want to play! :D

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Eh kids! My 6 month old thinks she is a mountain goat - if she can get up on something she will, crates, freezer, tunnels anything - she just sits there and wants a pat - so she gets a pat and gets off. I dont mind this becasue when she is searching for items she doesnt hesitate to look high or low.

The last few months she has been facinated by the front loader spinning - she is a crack up to watch with her head going round & round :thumbsup: Its a big wide world for puppies - I love the innocence and fun they make of it. :rofl:

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Eh kids! My 6 month old thinks she is a mountain goat - if she can get up on something she will, crates, freezer, tunnels anything - she just sits there and wants a pat - so she gets a pat and gets off. I dont mind this becasue when she is searching for items she doesnt hesitate to look high or low.

The last few months she has been facinated by the front loader spinning - she is a crack up to watch with her head going round & round :thumbsup: Its a big wide world for puppies - I love the innocence and fun they make of it. :rofl:

This is funny stuff :rofl::rofl: You should record her.

My 6 month old also thinks she can get up on everything. Unfortunetly she has been doing this since she was very young. Instead of walking around the coffee table - she does over. :o

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Mason one thing you need to consider in the training aspect is you need to teach the dog the difference between sitting for food & standing in the show ring for food.

Generally people who train automatic sits end up with a pup that sits in the show ring .

At this age with our show dogs food is all about standing & doing a great free stack ,once they understand the stand we have introduced the sit .

You can certainly train both as puppies but you will need to put the added time in to ensure pup understands both & it can be very hard to unteach the auto sit before a good stand

Training the pup to be calm for food in the ring is just the same

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:clap: Thankyou RallyVally, at last someone that agrees with me. You put it very nicely. I have found this method has created a very well mannered puppy & he has the most fabulous stay, during all distractions, not just at dinner time. His startline stays for agility, are fantastic & he is not quite 6 months old. To him, it's a game, & he loves it :)

That's all well and good if you think having good manners is important in a sport dog, IMO I would intentionally be training any new pup of mine NOT to have manners ;) :laugh:

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:clap: Thankyou RallyVally, at last someone that agrees with me. You put it very nicely. I have found this method has created a very well mannered puppy & he has the most fabulous stay, during all distractions, not just at dinner time. His startline stays for agility, are fantastic & he is not quite 6 months old. To him, it's a game, & he loves it :)

That's all well and good if you think having good manners is important in a sport dog, IMO I would intentionally be training any new pup of mine NOT to have manners ;) :laugh:

I don't have a sport dog, I have a pet that I enjoy sports with, so does the OP ;) I live with a family and my dog lives in the house so they need to have manners to co-exist with each other.

How would you train a pup not to have manners and why? Do you think a dog being able to listen to a command (i.e do not take food unless offered from a hand or a bowl/plate ect. without permission) will somehow lessen it's desire for that reward?

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Not saying everyone is the same or should be RV, just what I would do. I see heaps of people who train their pups to be well mannered, correct them for excitedness, reward them for calm behaviour etc and depending on their goals that's fine but just not what I'd do with the way I train. I'd encourage "bad manners" and channel it into drive work and then teach self control. I do see dogs who've been trained to be well mannered struggle with drive work because it goes against what they've been taught/rewarded for (calmness around the handler, don't snatch/grab/chase things or jump around etc)

Co-existing and behaving in the house comes pretty easily once the dog learns the difference between being on in work and off for down time.

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Manners IMO ar always important - I have to live with the buggers and basic manners improve our mutual understanding. Dog communication IMO is more to do with subtley than over obedience - the conditioning and leadership which is quietly reinforced by being around each other and rewarding by recognition desirable behaviour is important.

Training to show and training to sit is a piece of cake - I occassionally show and I do obedience/retrival. So for me I have the pup in her show lead, stand infront and cue the show stand position with the term 'showing' which means I ma in position infront - where-as the 'stand' in obedience is cued from the left side with a hand signal. Auto sits are of course left side also. I know this is spelling out the obvious but I know the pups learn the difference very very quicly based on my position more than the verbal command.

Edited by Tapua
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Huski I am not sure if you are on the same planet as me or not but a dog thats allowed to do whatever and whatever it wants ie have no manners is not going to be a dog I would want. Plenty of dogs who have manners do well in obedience anyways. I want a dog I can live with and I am happy with - i dont give 2 hoots if I never win an obedience class but I do care if my dog is thug who jumps on people and knocks people over because he has been allowed to do what he wants. Obedience is giving a dog a set of commands and expecting him to follow them, so I dont see how you would get from a dog with no manners and then expect them to have manners in the obedience ring..... ;) doesnt add up in my books....

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ETA I think waiting for a treat or for food is actually not really training manners but more training self control in certain situations. I dont care if puppy gets excited for other things but I had dogs who mugged me before for their meals and I wont go down that road again. Yes his food drive is making him easy to train - no I wont kill his excitement when training other things, and he can act feral then but certain things in this house is not allowed.

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Huski I am not sure if you are on the same planet as me or not but a dog thats allowed to do whatever and whatever it wants ie have no manners is not going to be a dog I would want. Plenty of dogs who have manners do well in obedience anyways. I want a dog I can live with and I am happy with - i dont give 2 hoots if I never win an obedience class but I do care if my dog is thug who jumps on people and knocks people over because he has been allowed to do what he wants. Obedience is giving a dog a set of commands and expecting him to follow them, so I dont see how you would get from a dog with no manners and then expect them to have manners in the obedience ring..... ;) doesnt add up in my books....

Wow hold on - sorry for the confusion but where did I say anywhere that I'd let my dog do whatever it wants :confused:

All I said is that I wouldn't initially teach "manners" in a new pup i.e. reward for calm around food etc. Personally I think this is a mistake when we're raising sport dogs but again - that's just my opinion and certainly doesn't mean the dogs are out of control or impossible to live with, or do what they want! Many people would look at the way I'd train my dogs or a new pup and think they were being badly mannered. Chasing food, going wild for a tug, jumping around in excitement etc are all things that many people train their dogs NOT to do because they see it as bad manners. That doesn't mean I'd let my dogs do whatever they want :rolleyes:

ETA: I think you get what you reward for. I see people ALL THE TIME who have taught their dogs to show calm around food, and then they wonder why their dogs won't pick up in heelwork etc - they won't go into drive when they've only been rewarded for being calm and quiet. I have a dog here who was taught to be well mannered and getting him to lose that bit of control with me and chase food or tug is hard work because he has a strong reward history for being calm and 'well mannered'. You can easily train self control while still keeping the dog in drive and without rewarding for calmness IMO

I wasn't aiming my comments at any specifically, just picking up on what Sheena said about finding it desirable to have a well mannered dog when it comes to dog sports.

If I had a puppy who was "crazy" at meals time I'd think, awesome! lots of potential there :) I'd be harnessing the crazy :D

Edited by huski
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