Cathy

Thank you! We actually started some training last night. We have food and just sat nearby (within 2-3 feet) and kept talking to let him know we were there. “Good boy” “supper is yummy” things like that. At a few points, without touching him, we got his attention and gave him a small piece a dried beef liver which is loved. We the just let him continue eating while using encouraging, friendly tones. His tail wagged the whole time and his body posture was very relaxed with no growling. Breakfast this morning went the same. While we do not agree with our trainer about being able to put hands in the food bowl, we do have small kids who are very active. If they just happen to run by him while eating I want both of them to feel safe. We very much like the idea of starting from a distance and just offering him a treat or two while eating to let him know it’s ok for us to be near him while eating. My husband and I also see no point in being able to put our hands in the dish of food.

We have a 16 week old German Shepherd who we’ve had since 8 weeks. Around 9 weeks of age he was diagnosed with parvovirus and survived. Since March 17th he had been eating a bland diet, on antibiotics, and no other treats of any kind (to stick with the bland diet). We recently put him back on a special dry kibble to help him gain weight. Our trainer had us practice putting our hands in his food and petting him while eating. Sometimes, he’ll growl when we do this, sometimes not. I’ve read up on Adrienne’s approach of giving him a high value reward while walking by or standing by his dog dish. Sometimes, he’ll growl with us just standing there and sometimes not. If he growls, do we still give him a reward? I understand the concept of making them excited to have you walk by, but it also feels like we are rewarding negative behavior. I’d love to hear input on this please. I should add, he is other wise mostly cooperative, we can take toys from him without any issue. He is fine around other dogs and no other aggressive behaviors seen.