How to save your dog's life by training it to refuse food from anyone but you

How to save your dog's life by training it to refuse food from anyone but you.

by Dennis Fisher. 

The refusal of food from anyone but you is very much more than a training exercise, it has unfortunately become a necessity if you live in an area where is a great deal of crime. There are more and more cases of dogs being poisoned by burglars and criminals who know your home is guarded by your dogs and throw poisoned meat to your dog.

How do you go about training your dog never to accept food from strangers?

First of all make it a rule that no one besides members of your family are allowed to feed your dogs. Also make a practice of feeding your dogs in their own dishes.

You can train your dog to refuse food from anyone by asking a friend to try and feed your dog a tempting hamburger. As soon as the dog attempts to reach the tasty food, you tell him NO very firmly.

Repeat the process a number of times, especially with a dog that has been trained to understand what the reprimand NO represents.

 After repeated sessions of training in this way, the dog will understand that it must not accept the food from anyone but you – or members of your family. You can extend the training by allowing the dog to accept the food as soon as you give the command OKAY, or some similar sounding command.

This is very useful training exercise because there may be times when you are away on holiday and your dog may have to spend time at kennels.

If you arrange to have someone stay in your home while you are away on holiday, it is a good idea for the person to arrive a week earlier than the date of your departure. In this way the dog can be trained to accept the food from the comparative stranger in your home.

You can start with a NO-LEAVE IT command. Make the dog wait. Then allow the dog to eat the food once you have given the OKAY command.

After the visitor, who is going to stay in your home while you are away, has been at your home for a few days, you can allow him feed your dog, first of all in your presence, and then while you are not present.

It is unfair to expect a young pup, with very little training, to accept this restriction simply by your NO – LEAVE IT! command. But once the dog has been trained to accept that NO means he must immediately stop doing what you disapprove of, he will respond.

The dog should also be trained not to accept anything except food which is offered in its own special dish.

Don’t allow your dog to pick anything off the ground. Be quite definite with your NO command so that the dog knowz exactly what you mean.

If there is a high wall in front of your house, it is a good idea to arrange to have someone throw tempting food over the wall while your dog – or dogs – are outside.

You can be watching, unobserved, from a window in a room inside the house. If the dog makes an attempt to pick up the food from the ground you can act very quickly and reprimand the dog very firmly.

Do this a few times and your dog will soon get used to the idea that he is not allowed to accept any food that is not presented to him in its own feeding dish, either by you or someone you have given permission to feed.

With the every-present danger of malicious poisonic of dogs your action in training your dog to refuse food from strangers could save it's life.

For a great deal of information and advice about training dogs in a way that will benefit both you and your dog, visit the following website: http://www.freedogadvice.com

Dennis Fisher has been involved with dog for more than forty years, as a Judge of show dogs and obedience trainer. The website he created was set up with the specific purpose of providing dog-lovers with the benefit of his advice based on many years of experience with dogs. For information and advice about many areas of dog care, visit the following site http://www.freedogadvice.com

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