Puppy turns crazy when it's Food time.

[CAROLINE KOLLMESCH]

Hi, I have a 4.5 mth old German Shepherd girl. She is very smart, learns quickly but when it comes to eating time, she turns crazy like if she hasn't been fed for weeks. We have an adult dog and she behaves perfectly, is waiting to get the sign for eating, but it seems that the puppy does not want to learn this command. I could not find a lesson in the course addressing this problem. Could you please guide me , thanks :)

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

What an adorable pup you have there!

So with these super hungry pups, it's always a good idea mentioning it to the vet just to be sure everything is OK in the health department. Sometimes pesky parasites rob them of nutrients and cause them to act like they are starving, while in some other cases, some pups have a high metabolic rate and may benefit from an increase in food, but this is something your vet should determine during a consultation. 

Waiting patiently for food delivery is covered in the article on impulse control training, (it's exercise number 4) which can be found here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/

In order to be implemented, a preliminary requirement is knowing how to sit:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/

But of course, with training dogs, not always everything may go as planned, and that's why we have the forums!

So if you are doing everything by the book, and your pup still struggles, we would need to do some troubleshooting. 

Is your puppy sitting but then breaking the sit before you put the food bowl down?

Is your puppy so hyper that he can't even focus to sit?

Is your puppy vocalizing during meal preparation?

Have you been allowing access to the food bowl despite the puppy acting hyper?

Please provide details on what you have tried doing so far, what part your pup is struggling with, and share details on your mealtime routine. A big plus is that your older dog is acting politely and can act like a model on many things. 

Thanks!

Adrienne 

[CAROLINE KOLLMESCH]

Hello Adrienne and thank you for your great work and quick reply!!! - We've adopted "Chinook" 3 weeks ago. She got all her shots, de-wormer and anti-parasite medication. The vet said that she is in a very good shape and a healthy little girl. She was not trained at all when we got her but in a couple of hours she responded on commands like sit, lay down, come and no. She is not responding to "stay", as soon as I take away my attention for a short moment she is up and pawing on me. She also learned to swim the same day. She seams to be intelligent and willing to learn. As we live on a large property in the jungle (greetings from beautiful Belize 😉 ), our dogs are not on a leash nor in the house. They have their dog house and are outside all  the time.  

- Is your puppy sitting but then breaking the sit before you put the food bowl down? : When it's Food time, she is not willing to sit.

- Is your puppy so hyper that he can't even focus to sit? : Yes

- Is your puppy vocalizing during meal preparation? : Oh yes. If I or my husband is holding her while the other one is preparing the bowls, she is whining like crazy, while Kaya, the older dog, is patiently waiting to get her eating command.

- Have you been allowing access to the food bowl despite the puppy acting hyper?: After letting Kaya to her bowl, I hold Chinook for a couple of seconds and then let her to her bowl as well.

I've tried calming her down but she is so focused on that food bowl that nothing around her matters anymore.

The 2 dogs are fed twice a day, in the morning early after sunrise and in the evening. (6am and 6pm) 

Thank you for your advice!

Kind regards,

Caroline

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Caroline,

Thank you so much for the extra details, they are very helpful! Belize sounds wonderful, a piece of paradise for sure!

Glad to hear Chinook has had a clean bill from the vet, so based on the details you have shared so far, I would suggest working on little steps so to make things a little easier for both of you. 

So here are some tips:

1. Prevent Build-Up of Anticipation

It sounds like smart Chinook is very observant and is building a lot of anticipation when meal time is around the corner and the built-up excitement culminates when the food is being served. Smart girl has likely learned quickly to associate all the sights, sounds and chain of events together day after day. 

As a very first step, we therefore want to prevent her from rehearsing these super excited behaviors over and over, so that it doesn't become habit forming. Dogs are into routines, and if we just let them practice certain behaviors day after day, they just stick to those just because they don't know any better. It is therefore up to us, as owners, teaching them how we would like them to behave. 

At her age, we can't expect stellar impulse control yet, and she can't hold a long sit-stay unless we practice for some time, so let's start with some easy-peasy management options until we can get there. 

An important first step is therefore preventing such build-up of anticipation because the more your puppy rehearses this hyper behavior, the more it will put roots and establish.

Not to mention, if your pup gets fed after displaying impatient behaviors (even just wiggling or whining when your husband holds on to her), you'll be reinforcing them, meaning that there are high chances these behaviors will strengthen and repeat over time. 

To prevent such rehearsal it would be therefore important taking steps to lower those high arousal levels at meal time. Here are some ideas:

-If feeding her indoors:

You mentioned your puppy spends a good amount of time outdoors, so you can turn mealtime into a great opportunity to reinforce a desirable behavior. Simply, have a family member spend some time with your puppy in the yard, while you prepare her meal. Then once the meal is ready, open the door, and take advantage of Chinooks great passion for eating by calling her as you hide the food bowl behind your back. As she reaches you at full speed, praise and reward by lowering the food bowl.

-If feeding her outdoors:

If your puppy eats outdoors, prepare her meal in advance inside the house so that it's in the food bowl and ready when you need it. Then head outdoors and when your puppy is distracted, such as playing with a toy or resting, call her, praise her and lower the food bowl to the ground.  

-Work on Training 

At some point, you may want to start adding some more obedience cues to your pup's mealtime routine. However, in order to succeed in this training, you first need to train your puppy outside of the mealtime context. 

So start training your puppy to sit for a treat, lie down for a treat, and go to the mat for a treat. These are all covered in the obedience 101 section: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/

You can also work on sit-stays and down-stays, but they will need to be of short duration. 

While the treat can be initially used as a food lure (a prompt), at some point, start keeping the treat out of sight, pretending as if you're holding it, but then deliver it from your other hand. More about this is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/polishing-up-training/fading-food-lures/

Train often, in a variety of contexts and situations, until you obtain a nice fluent response. 

-Use the Premack Principle 

The Premack Principle, also known as "Grandma's Law," is concept that states that a high-probability behavior can be used as a reinforcer for a low-probability behavior. 

The principle was first described by psychologist David Premack in the 1960s, and it has since been widely used in behavioral therapy, education, parenting and dog training.

For example, a parent may tell a child that they can play video games (high-probability behavior) after they finish their homework (low-probability behavior). 

In dogs, the same principle applies. Dogs are more likely to engage in a less desirable or less preferred activity if they know that it will be followed by a more desirable or preferred activity. More about this principle can be found here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/premack-principle/

Let's see next how we can add this principle in a dog who is too hyper when we carry the food bowl.

In this case, we know that Chinooks' preferred activity is eating, so let's take advantage of this preference and use it to reinforcer calmer behaviors.

-Call her, ask her to sit and then feed her

-Ask your puppy to lie on a mat and then feed her

-Ask your puppy to lie down and stay and then release her and feed her

For Barking During Meal Preparation 

In this cases, I like to use what I call the "good choice game." Basically, I put the puppy in charge of when she gets fed based on his behavior. The goal is this: teaching the puppy in a clear way how barking slows you down or even stops you in the meal preparation process, while quiet speeds you up. This helps puppies make good choices.

This can take a few trials to master, but it's well worth the effort (as long as you can cope with some temporary barking).

The "Good Choice Game" For Impatient Puppies

So here's an example of what I do. I will walk to the meal preparation area. If the puppy barks as I am walking there, I will freeze in spot and wait for several seconds of quiet. If she persists in barking, I will take two steps back or even leave if it's persistent and will go sit on a chair.

Then, when she's quiet for at least 10 seconds, I will progress and walk to the area again and continue meal preparation. I will therefore start grabbing the bag and filling the bowl, but if the puppy barks again, I'll put the bowl away and I'll be leaving the area again if she persists. 

Then, I try again. If she is quiet for at least 10 seconds, and I am able to pour the food in the bowl, I may next walk towards the puppy, but if she barks, I will turn around, and even think about walking away if she persists.

Once she is quiet again, I will try again to walk towards her. When she finally manages to stay quiet until the very end, I will put the bowl down.

I personally like to ask for a sit and then release with an "ok!" once the bowl is on the ground.

Now, I will admit, your first meal preparations may seem to take forever the initial days, but most dogs catch on quickly if you are very clear in communicating that quiet gets you to advance in meal preparation, while barking slows you down. The goal is therefore to teach your puppy that calm behaviors unleash all the rewards, when barking and acting impatient does not.

-Practice Makes Perfect

To make lunch and dinner less salient and help your puppy master the art of calmness, you can also do several rehearsals of what you expect her to do at meal time, but in a more controlled setting. 

For example, rather than feeding her lunch dinner at once, at random times of the day, practice the "Good Choice Game" using her food bowl, but only placing one or two kibble in there. This gives you the opportunity to practice more and do several reps. The more you set her for success and let her practice good reps, the more the desirable behaviors will establish over time. 

-Avoid Behavior Chains!

To work well, when applying the Premack Principle, you need to watch what you reinforce.

Make sure that your puppy isn't engaging in any undesirable behavior right before progressing in your meal preparation and granting access to the food bowl. In such cases, you may inadvertently reinforce the undesirable behavior too due to the phenomenon of behavior chains.

A good method to prevent behavior chains from forming is ensuring that a certain period of time elapses between the undesirable behavior and your meal preparation progression and the release of food.

Counting ten seconds after barking or whining before resuming meal preparation or lowering the food bowl can be enough to break the chain. 

-Impulse Control Games

All puppies benefit from learning how to better control their impulses. This won't work directly on the issue of puppies acting hyper when food is prepared, but it can help them learn better coping skills. 

Being young and with shorter attention spans, you will need to make the exercises a little easier (e.g shorter sit stay and down, stays). Here are some impulse control games:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/

Jazz up and settle down can be helpful too:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/jazz-up-and-settle-down/

I hope this helps!

Keep us posted on how it goes,

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne