Food Refusal Vs Treats At Home

[charli73]

Hello All,

So at school my GSD is learning food refusal. I get focus then say 'eat' and then she eats the treat. She has been going really well but I thought of a problem with this....

At training they say food refusal is a great tool as it could one day save the dogs life (a couple of dogs were poisoned in our area from having poisoned food tossed over the fence) the aim is to teach her not to eat food until we give the command.

But with treat balls and Kongs which we leave out for puppy to keep her mind active while alone at home, she has to get the treats out then she eats them, no-one there to say 'eat'.

If its ok to eat the treats from the kong/balls or treats Ive hidden in the yard for her, god forbid if someone were to feed something that would make her sick, or if shes eating treats off the ground Ive hidden for her, how would she distinguish the two?

Sorry if this sounds confusing, but Im wondering whether this whole food refusal, then leaving treats out for her is confusing my pup?

Any advice???

Edited May 24, 2008 by charli73

[Kavik]

How are you teaching food refusal?

[haven]

In the situation you describe i wouldn't say that your dog will be confused, they will just not apply the food refusal training to applying at home so no, I wouldn't expect it to hold up in a situation like someone attempting to use food treats to poison your dog. Having said that, it's unlikely that even if you didn't leave food out at home for your pup that they would generalise food refusal training if the only place you apply it is at the training school.

[charli73]

How are you teaching food refusal?

We are teaching it at school by getting the dog to look away

or refuse food put under their nose by us or another person . They can not have the treat unless we give the command to eat. Is that what you mean?

[dogdude]

Your dog will not be confused at all. It is just an obedience exercise like everything else. The chances are the dog will not offer the behavior by himself without command. Don't rely on it to save his life at home.

[Kavik]

I agree with Haven, it should be fine, I wouldn't expect it to hold up to someone throwing food in the yard to poison the dog though, that is a very different scenario to how you have trained.

[charli73]

Thanks for your replies, lucky i have great neighbours with dogs themselves so its not something i was really worried about, more of

a hypothetical situation..

thanks again..

[poodlefan]

At training they say food refusal is a great tool as it could one day save the dogs life (a couple of dogs were poisoned in our area from having poisoned food tossed over the fence) the aim is to teach her not to eat food until we give the command.

How does this help a dog to refuse food thrown over a fence when you only train them to refuse food offered by another when you are with them?

How would a dog trained to refuse food except from its handler go being kennelled.

Most obedience dogs don't seem to have too much trouble differentiating a formal exercise from taking treats. I don't have any difficulty with the exerise but the idea that it might save a dogs life is a bit of a stretch for me.

[charli73]

At training they say food refusal is a great tool as it could one day save the dogs life (a couple of dogs were poisoned in our area from having poisoned food tossed over the fence) the aim is to teach her not to eat food until we give the command.

How does this help a dog to refuse food thrown over a fence when you only train them to refuse food offered by another when you are with them?

Im not sure, they mentioned it at training thats why I started this thread..

How would a dog trained to refuse food except from its handler go being kennelled.

Good question, why do they teach this at training then to refuse food unless from the handler..

Most obedience dogs don't seem to have too much trouble differentiating a formal exercise from taking treats. I don't have any difficulty with the exerise but the idea that it might save a dogs life is a bit of a stretch for me.

I should go back and ask the instructor who said this then...it seems like a great tool but may only work when the handler is present. Im not sure why the trainer said it but it got me wondering how it would work if I wasnt their either so thats why I started the thread....

Edited May 26, 2008 by charli73

[rotty chief]

the only dog i ever owned that i considered baitproof was a female rottweiler i bought as an adult.she would only eat dryfood and it took about a month of watchin the other dogs eating chicken mince and lambsnecks b4 she would touch it.she had been trained this way to work in a nursery,how or who trained her i dont know.