The Houndsley Brothers Guide to Clean Eating for Dogs Aug. 2016 | Page 13

AVOID FOOD GUARDING
Some dogs get very possessive around food or bones and addressing this behaviour may require a gradual approach. If your dog
is still young you can teach good habits from the start using the following strategies:

• Don’t interrupt your dog during meals by lifting its bowl, as this can cause a sense of protectiveness over food.
• Help your dog feel relaxed eating in your presence by dropping in tasty morsels during its meal.
• Once you are happy the dog is relaxed in your presence and understands basic obedience, give a ‘sit and wait’ command midmeal and add something mouth-watering to its bowl before releasing it to eat again.

USE FOOD IN TRAINING
Food is a very simple yet effective means of distracting and rewarding your dog. It works in three ways: gaining its attention,
keeping its attention and finally, as a reward. Here are a few ideas:

• Sharpen and reward the recall process by offering a well-timed reward when your dog returns promptly to your call.
• Distract your dog from something that frightens it, such as other passing dogs, traffic or domestic machines. Place the dog on
a lead for basic control, then gradually introduce the item it fears, rewarding calm behaviour with food.

• From puppyhood it’s important to teach your dog to sit when greeted by people and not jump up. When meeting another
person, simply place your dog into the sitting position with all four feet on the ground, if this order is obediently followed,
offer food in reward.