Issues With Food and Your Dog
12.07.25Puppy Behaviour. Dog Behaviour. Feeding your pup and preventing resource guarding. Feeding a Puppy -One common idea I still come across among puppy owners, is to take their pups food bowl away occasionally as their dog eats. However, experience suggests, the only thing that this teaches the pup is that something negative is likely to happen when people come near as they are eating—these people may snatch the food.Even if the removal of food is synchronized with a reward, the dog may still consider the abrupt removal of their food more threatening than any benefit from the reward.Another common thought is to put your hand in your pup’s bowl as they eat, so they get used to the close proximity of people during meal times. Once again, a dog with a nervous temperament or a high food drive might feel this is too threatening and become more reactive in the situation. What would you think if someone came and did this to your breakfast?! Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog training and behavioural tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins ‘Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood’ thank you 🐾
08.03.25
Dog Training. Dog Behaviour. Good and not so good dog training and dog behavioural modification.
There are good and not so good ways of doing things right?Some examples I come across in the dog training realm include -1. Teaching the ‘Sit’ by applying pressure around/on the rear end of your dog, whilst saying “Sit.”You do not need to, nor should you, physically touch your dog to train a sit in my opinion as 1. You will not always be close by to cue this action. 2. Your dog is not then necessarily undertaking the ‘Sit’- you are manipulating his or her body.When training, if indoors, you can walk your dog backwards towards a corner of a room, offering treats up just above their nose and back towards the top of their headand he or she usually sits. If out and about, step in front of your dog with your body, offer the treat in the same way, whilst asking for the ‘Sit.’ With this, no touch cue is needed once taught 🙂2. When teaching pups about ‘resource guarding,’ some advice circulating is to regularly take your pups treats etc. away whilst he or she is eating them. In my opinion and experience, this can increase a guarding tendency, as dogs become protective that you are going to come and take items away and quite frankly, fair enough, it seems like a scarcity of resources is in place. Instead, you must train a ’swapsies’ with other desirable objects from the get go… Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural and training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins ‘Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,’ thank you 🐾
29.06.24Dog Training. Dog Behaviour. Teaching your dog the 'Leave' it command.The ‘Leave’ -*This command is useful to get a dog to move back away from an animal (for example a cat or person - so the dog stops licking them if this is an issue) or object (inappropriate food for instance). Keep hold of an especially favourable treat (or super interesting toy) in your hand and wait for your dog to lose interest - which they will eventually. The instant your dog has turned to go away, exclaim “Leave!” and offer the object. Repeat at least ten times.Sometimes to get at least the first few ‘Leaves,’ we need to lower the value of the item if the dog just won’t leave it alone. This food or toy still needs to hold some value though, for it to be seen as reward for the ‘Leave’ action Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural and training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins ‘Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood’ thank you.
11.12.2020
With this being the season of family gatherings -Let’s look at your dog’s stealing food from the table.Dogs steal food because -- Food has been given to them when they are begging at the table and they are coming back for more.- Your dog is bored - make sure they are getting out and and about exercising and have sufficient mental stimulation. [Read More…]
© Dogs Best Friend Limited N.Z. 2025.
Selina McIntyre of Dogs Best Friend, a qualified Dog Behaviourist & Dog Trainer in the Hamilton, Waikato, Tauranga and Rotorua areas of NZ since 2004.