need help curing my dogs over excitement for food

[780kennels]

Hey Guys,

hoping to get some advice on how i can reduce my dogs overboard excitement level for food.
i didnt see a section for this topic so hopefully ive posted in the rite section...

some background: jabba was an obese rotti female i rescued from the maple ridge spca. so obese that she couldnt jump into my truck by herself and her large belly made her look like a giant weiner dog. but she had lots of driveto chase after my male dog Lucky and combined with a reduced diet she lost all the excess weight in no time.

presently: jabba gets way too excited around food. i ignored this for too long thinking it was cute how her bum wiggled uncontrollably and her body would do mini jumps towards the food waiting for the command to go eat. overall, jabba listens farely well but can be a pushy doggy to my other dogs especially around food. therefore, im thinking that there might be a correlation between jabba s pushiness for food and pushiness towards my other dogs.

i exercise her everyday and am a follower of your principlesfor dog training so i think i am being a good leader. i want to take jabbas training to the next level for protection and i feel that her food craziness must be cured so that she listens to me better and so that some burglar scumbag doesnt win her over with a couple measly bacon strips while he makes off with my laptop.

i feed jabba last out of my dogs and make her wait until i say to eat but she still has a franctic wiggle bum and pants like crazy waiting for the command, she even sits with half her body out of the kennel just to be a few inches closer to the food.

being brainwashed by the dog whisperer i thought maybe if i make her wait until shes in a RELAXED STATE OF MIND then give her the command to eat, she ll eventually make the connection that the sooner shes calm, the sooner she can eat, but im waiting over 20 mins and dont see any change.

SO WHAT SHOULD I DO TO GET JABBA CALM AROUND FOOD and when i achieve this do you guys think i will see a better behaved jabba in regards to her pushiness towards my other dogs...

Thanks

PS. i signed up for this site because i saw k9-1 dog training videos on youtube and was blown away. even visiting your sitewas lots of fun and educational, so much that i signed up to be a member to take my dog handling skills to the next level. having a marketing degree and 10 yrs experience with creating top ranking (but cheesey) websites, i would be the first person to think a site was complete marketing garbage, also i have never paid for a thing on the internet. BUT YOUR SITE IS AWESOME AND I CANT WAIT TO SOAK UP ALL THE DOOGY KNOWLEDGE YOUR SITE HAS TO OFFER AND APPLY IT TO MY LOVE FOR DOGS. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

adam

[ChrisNJudy]

Hey Adam,

I will answer you based on my experience and knowledge to help you out until Mike is able to answer you.
For starters, I want personally applaud you for adopting a dog from a shelter as we all know they need homes more than anyone.

The best place for you start will be to read the pack structure section under self help, but also the relationship building section under aggressive rehab.
Mike goes into detail in this section about building relationships, and most or it is geared towards shelter dogs.
This will help you with the get started with your little buddy. Specifically the section on who has the right to food.
important thing is to remember that you control the food and when he eats. So if you see him winning and going crazy for the food, wait until he is calm and go and get his food. Make him do something that he knows for the food, sit, down, etc. Then give it to him. The fact that he excited to eat is a good thing, you want them to eat what you put down right away, otherwise you will have to pick it up. Also, if they are very food motivated, this help with training. As far as I know there is no real way to make a dog not excited to eat. That's like asking a kid not to get excited about candy or something. However, over time you will be able to control their attitude towards the other dogs with the pack structure, but for now consider it a management issue and just keep him away from the other dogs when there is food or treats out.
In regards to protection.. This Mikes expertise, so he will help you. But a experiened trainer should be able to train him to ignore food during an attack.
Just be careful with the protection with a shelter dog, especially if they have bite on their record already, not only for your safety, but the dogs to.
A rotti with a couple of bites on their record will be surefire target to be put to sleep. Mike does extensive work with shelter dogs e, so he provide a point of view from that angle as well.

Lastly, I am sure Mike will appreciate your comments about the site. It is a very helpful tool. always feel free to ask questions.

I hope this helps for now!
Chris

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Hey Adam,

Welcome aboard! I agree in the same direction as Chris. Most of the pushy food issues with the other dogs should be able to be avoided by staying technical with the concepts found in "pack structure" and in the relationship building section in the aggression rehab section.

The intensity and desire for the food is a seperate issue. Rather than try to fight mother nature and supress what is natural to that particular dog - I would think it is better to understand and accept that it is part of who she is and instead harness that to your advantage. Understanding the uniqueness of what you are starting with is part of what the first layer "knowledge" is about.

Strong food drive is a great thing for training and all the advantages that come with it far outweigh the sloppy inching sit while she is waiting for food.

If you enjoyed the youtube videos, you probably recognize the Rott Milo on those. He is the same way. His owner makes him go to a "place" while he sets down the food since there are actual boundries that the elbows can not creep off or else Milo wont get released. But Milo is certainly quivering with excitement!

He doesn't have him wait forever after he puts down the bowl, he just makes sure he is in the right position before he releases him, and since Milo knows that he does extra pretty "place" just very excited.

But, the food also works like a gem for him if he needs to sharpen up his obedience around a distraction, because if he knows food is in the pocket - training just got 100 times easier.

Since the training is not designed for competition and more for relationship building and general real life control you find it sometimes comforting to realize that somethings wont be as important as you might think at first.

For instance, suppose it is a hot day, and I ask my dog to sit. The dog dog sits but pops back up and doesn't want to stay.... If I realize it is because the pavement is hot on his testicles I do not correct him for not staying - I allow the concepts in "attitude" to over ride "obedience" because within "attitude" is "respect". By allowing the dog to disobey at that time i actually have improved my relationship with the dog by building trust and not damaging my image as a fair leader that will not put the dog in harm's way.

So sometimes things may seem backward, but when you rethink what is important you will actually get the most from the team effort with Jabba.

In a nutshell "work with her, not against her. And have patience to give her little wins"

Her overall pushiness around the other dogs I would say is probably a reflection of a more dominant type personality. So you will see similiar behavior with food, toys, position to get your attention, etc..

This too is best managed through the structure exercises and will be best reinforced through later phases of obedience training. But that will take patience.

I'm glad you like the web site! If you are a marketer and believe in the site, we do have an affiliate program through clickbank. And feel free to plug your own sites on your signature or through the testimonial button.

Everything is always appreciated.

Good luck!

Mike

[780kennels]

Hey Chris and Mike, thank you both for your timely responses to my question(s) about Jabbas feeding. I am starting to understand my relationship with my dogs
better, including how to relate to my dogs better as their leader and they as my followers who each have a distinct personality and are motivated by different things.
For example my 2 males are more motivated by tasks and tugs while my female is more motivated by treats and pettings.

Like you say instead of fighting mother nature I am now going to harness that drive into something I want the dog to do. So now I know the name of the rotti that
impressed me so much in the youtube videos, I cant wait to have jabba performing as well as Milo! haha

Before I used to think that I had to win with my dogs 100 % of the time and now I know that its more important to build a better relationship with them, for example
my newest dog, Beau, a Belgium Shepard Malinois, has low self esteem so I allow him to win at tug more often than not just to help get his confidence up... Beau also has
fear agression towards dogs so im gonna read your agression section and posts before I ask you guys for help...

And to read that Jabba may be pushy with the other dogs just to get my attention is an eyeopener, thank you.

In regards to your affiliate program, I plan to make a bunch of websites for my 780 kennel business and will send traffic your way thru these sites.

Thanks again, Im sure I ll post more as I continue to work with my dogs

Adam