Training Baron to take a treat

I'm still trying to train Baron to take a treat. I've been using the suggestion of having him lick peanutbutter from the palm of my hands and that went fine. I then moved it up to him licking the peanutbutter from my fingers and he tried to use his teeth so I went back to the palms then later back to my fingers.

He went to licking my fingers without any problems but this hasn't resolved him from using his teeth to take treats from me.

Today I went through the Yahoo group list and combined all the suggestions I received when I first brought up this problem with Baron and I'm going to try again however I need something other than peanutbutter as Baron quickly loses interest in it.

I don't think I should have to encourage him to lick it off my hands . Also maybe a higher valued treat would help get this lesson across to him.


A summary of suggestions given to me previously...

On treat delivery...I agree that tossing is useful sometimes, expecially when
the dog is a few feet away, like on a mat, and you don't want it to get up to
come over to you. But I also agree that in a nippy dog, it can make the issue
worse. So as is often the case, it's all about timing!

One more option for treat delivery to consider is to put a box next to you, or a
small tray table about the same size. Then you can set the treat on that
instead of tossing or dropping it on the floor. This does two things--it gets
the treat still before the dog takes it, reducing the excitement level, and it
has the dog take it from a position of control, so it doesn't have to lunge or
snap to get it in its mouth.

Later when you're practicing taking treats from the hand without nipping you can
even just put the treat on your hand on the box in the same place the dog is
used to picking it up. Still treat, still hand. The idea again is just to
build the dog's confidence that the treat will be there, he doesn't have to
"catch" it to get it and your hand is no longer the signal that he HAS to move
fast to get it.

FWIW,
Robin J.



My suggestion: Put the peanut butter inside your palm, and close your hand on
his nose (letting the nose escape) if he is rough. And be really, really fussy
about your definition of rough. And no clicker. And don't hesitate to holler
'OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!' even BEFORE he touches you, if he is exuberant.

You said, "I often end up with him biting me or snapping at me when I'm too
quick in delivering the treat to him." but, no, he doesn't bite you because you
are too quick. He bites you because he has not learned how not to bite you. Or
maybe, he has not learned the correct way to use his teeth on you.



When she was a puppy, I worked on this a lot and one way that I did this
was to crate her and give her her treats through the wires of the crate.
I would present the treat so she could tongue it.
When I felt her tongue is would mark the tongue lick with "yes"
and reward by letting her have the treat.
Just some more ideas.
Maybe one or another might be helpful.
Lynn

I don't know the answer to that, but I once had an entire litter of 6-week-old
Giant Schnauzers who were just EVIL with their teeth. I'd never heard of this
solution, and I really felt that I'd be pulling back bloody stumps, but I coated
my hands in liverwurst and amazingly, they all licked my hands clean and after
that they were very gentle with their mouths.

I'd combine the gooey-stuff solution with Lynn's great suggestion of feeding
through crate bars.

It seems to confirm, in their minds, that hands really are different. If this
works, you can then put the peanut butter on the 'nubby bits' of your hand, i.e.
the fingers. Around all the knuckles, top, bottom, and sides.

Time to revise and revisit this.