If a vegitarian can eat animal crackers, why can't my dog eat...............

It was three o'clock in the afternoon. My mother was so upset that 'Baby' wouldn't eat her breakfast. I was curious so I asked her. "Momma, has Baby had anything else to eat besides her dog food?" "Not much" said Momma "Just a couple of "Beggin'Strips" a little piece of my sandwich at lunch and a bit of milk I had left over from this morning's cereal." by three o'clock 'Baby' had eaten more than any self respecting Bichon should ever have in a day and none of it had come from his bowl!

Even if snacking isn't the issue, we often fret about our dog's diet and too quickly change dog foods to please the little con artists. Most dogs cleverly pick up on our 'feeding habits'. If we get concerned each time Rover walks away from his chow in the morning (a natural behavior for pooches from time to time) and in the evening we change his dog food, be sure that Rover is on his toes. He will take notice and make the most of this situation! "Aha!" your canine con-man is thinking, "If I simply don't eat for a few hours (or days) my human will go out hunting in the concrete, known as Walmart, jungle for something even more interesting (or at least different) than this reasonalbly good stuff she has been feeding me lately. I think I'll just hang out awhile and see what she comes up with." You see, in nature, a dog doesn't have a big meal every day.

Another issue is 'training with treats'. Often owners find it difficult to reward their dogs with food because the dog doesn't seem interested in what we have to offer. Store bought treats are usually just yucky junk food packaged to attract humans, not dogs. The few packaged treats that are good for your dog and atractive to their senses are simply cost prohibitive! Are you serious about training your dog with treats? Here are some tips that you might want to consider to make this a more effective tool for motivating Fido:
1) Dogs don't normally need to eat two meals each day if their health is good, especially if you are training with healthy treats.
2) Try not feeding your dog in the mornings at all. This way you have all day to use healthy yummy treats to reward your dog for good behavior!
3) Be prepared, you have taught your dog that you will feed him twice a day. It might take a couple of days before she gets sufficiently hungry to respond to your greatest advantage.

Want a dog that can't wait for you to get the training session started? Here's the plan!  Feed all food (that means every calorie that your dog consumes each day) directly from your hand to his mouth. If you have a small dog this shouldn't be hard at all. The larger dogs, you might want to give most of the dog food from your hands and the rest from a bowl in your lap. Doing this creates a strong association between training, food and YOU! You become the Santa Clause of the dog world. The 'Pied Piper' of your little four legged friend/friends. Before long your dog will follow you to the ends of the earth (I know that's a long way since I recently discovered that the world is round!) to get a little nibble. This is also a good way to help a dog that is a little timid become more confident in you.

Be patient! New habits (Homosapien and Canine) don't form overnight. If you do this perfectly it should take three days. Remember the treats should be very small (about the size of his kibble or smaller) we don't want to fill, only to thrill! If things don't change dramatically in three days, either you are doing something wrong or you might want to have your dog checked for medical problems that could be affecting Snoopy's appitite.

TIP for the vet's office: Don't expect your vet to be a behavior expert! Most Vets (in my experience) as well as their staff, know VERY little about dog behavior training. They have dogs coming and going all day long and they usually don't often have the time to really delve into the dog behavior world. They probably wouldn't make as much money if they really took the time to do what is best for the dogs behavior training. Their job is the physical health of your dog. Find a behavior consultant to help you with the behavior problems. What you are asking your vet to do (for the purposes of this article) is to check for things that might affect his appetite, period! Most of the time it is not medical but behavioiral.

Tips for tasty treats that will help your dog keep focused on you!  For indoor training sessions where there are few distractions try using his kibble, if that doesn't work you can try something that will keep his attention better for training like cut up chicken or turkey dogs, roasted chicken, liver cooked and dried a little in the oven at a low temperature. This is what I usually use when I am training outdoors where there are more distractions. These will be cut up in small pieces the size of a pea for small to medium sized dogs and a little bigger for the giant breeds. It is for the taste and smell not for the fill that you are picking your treats. Remember to adjust his feed according to how much you give him during training sessions.

I have a candy jar for my pooches (full of doggy delectables) easily accessible so that I can reward any good behavior right away when the good things happen and they will! Keep smiling and remember, you are both learning a new thing! Don't be discouraged if you can't get your dog excited about food for the first couple of days. As soon as he figures out that the rules have changed, he'll come around.


Happy Snack Training!

Mary