[BrooknHannah]

She doesn't mean too, she's a puppy and just needs to learn. What do you all do.. or have done.. to help with yours taking a treat or something soft from your hand?
I try to reward her good potty behavior, so i dont' want to NOT give her the treat b/c she's grabbing it.
I am working on saying SOFT SOFT with a treat at diff. times than reward for something else times. How would i teach this?

 

[LarrytheLab]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

We had to teach Larry the same thing. When you start to give your pup a treat, say your command word (we used "easy"), then offer the treat. When she starts to roughly snatch the treat, bop her on the end of the nose and do not reward her. By "bop", I mean simply bump her hard enough to get her attention and realize that she has done something wrong. Repeat until she realizes that she has to be gentle when getting a treat.

It shouldn't take too long for her to catch on. Just be persistent.

 

[BrooknHannah]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

THANKS!! ;D

 

[Heids533]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

Hi there,
What we did with Grace when she started "snatching" it was hold the treat in a closed fist, at first she would be pretty rough and latch on, nibble, and eventualy lick. When she stopped is when we would give them the treat. At first with Tundra we had to put a glove on because he would "nibble" pretty hard with the pupy teeth. We would just keep saying "easy" and when they stoped all contact with our hand is when we would open it up. While we were opening up our hand, if at any point they lunged at it, or snatched it up we would start over amd close our fist up, untill they would stop again. It was really effective, and worked in just a couple days. People are amazed when they give our pups treats how they tilt there head to try and make no contact with there hand. You will get there! Good luck....

 

[patm]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I remember when we had a "puppy reunion" at our house, and how one of the people told his dog "gentle" when he gave him a treat, and how one dog almost took my hand off when I gave her a treat. My 2 were somewhere inbetween that - so we started working on "gentle". I'm not sure how I actually taught it at the time , but I know 2 things now. First - your dog will get "grabby" if you toss a lot of treats for them to catch. At least mine did. They get used to reaching out and snapping at the treats. If Skippy gets grabby, which he can do if he gets an espcecially tasty treat, I just say gentle and literally put my whole hand in his mouth with the treat.He won't bite my hand so he backs off and takes it gently. Might not work with every dog.

 

[AngusFangus]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I have been working on this lately. I think Angus' grabbiness is a result, like Pat mentioned, of tossing too many treats. I almost exclusively tossed them for a year or more in class. :-\

I start by handing the treat and saying, "GENTLE." If he grabs, I say "EH EH" and pull it away quickly. He will gladly cooperate to get the treat. He just has to be reminded almost every time. :

 

[myfavoritedog]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I did what LarrytheLab did...only I did withold treats, or in many cases, playing retrieve or tug o war. I also rewarded good behavior, in this case, grabbing, by giving a treat, praise, extra play..you just have to time it immediately so they make the connection!

Good luck...those baby teeth are razor sharp!

 

[georgie]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I would say "easy" when Molly would try to snap it up. If she started to be too grabby I would close my hand. With 5 liitle grandkids I had to have her be gentle. They can put one cheerio in their hand & Molly will lick it off.
I'm still working on Abby. :

 

[mollyrock]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I got have 2 sharks here..careful ...they will take your hand off..

"EASY"!!! and don't release a treat until they take it nicely..

great advice if you are consistent and not lazy like me... :

 

[Buckyball]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I used to hand feed Buck's meal..well only a couple handfuls and then let him eat the rest on his own.

I started off with just giving him a couple kibble at a time. I'd say EASY first and every time I felt his teeth or he got too grabby I would simply take my hand and the food away from him. He caught on after a few days what "EASY" meant.
When he gets really excited he gets grabby but a quick reminder helps him remember his manners.

 

[Snowflake]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

Annie never had this problem and neither does Sally. But our male Basset Hound (Buster) is the biggest "goble jaws" I've ever seen! What I do with him is to say "nice" and then offer it. If he starts to snatch it, I close my fist and offer it again with the back of my hand first. While he's sniffing it, I slowly rotate my hand so the treat is at his mouth (all the while saying "nice"). Since he's been gentle sniffing, he gently takes the snack.

I think the key is NOT to let them have it until they take it nicely.

 

[Suegene]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

We had to teach Larry the same thing. When you start to give your pup a treat, say your command word (we used "easy"), then offer the treat. When she starts to roughly snatch the treat, bop her on the end of the nose and do not reward her. By "bop", I mean simply bump her hard enough to get her attention and realize that she has done something wrong. Repeat until she realizes that she has to be gentle when getting a treat.

It shouldn't take too long for her to catch on. Just be persistent.

This is what worked for Cooper too. The nose-bop. He got it very quickly.

 

[BaileyDawg]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

Bailey is still the mouthiest dog I've ever had, and teaching him to be gentle has been a bit of a struggle. We have been holding the treat in our fist and letting him calm down while we tell him 'easy' but kinda drawn out and slow so that our tone doesn't wind him up any more than he already is. When he is calm, he gets the treat. At first I would open my hand to a flat palm as you would when giving a treat to a horse so that he couldn't grab fingers so easy, and now he is at the point where he will take it more carefully even if the palm isn't completely flat. Of course, I gave him turkey on Christmas as a treat and fed it to him by hand while we watched some Christmas TV, and he has gotten MUCH better about snatching from fingers. I just had to keep telling him 'easy' and praising gentle taking of the treat.

 

[TBGSAM]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

We taught all of ours to take treats nicely the same way Heids533 did, make them sit hold treat in hand the minute they take their nose, lips, tongue etc off the hand that is when they get the treat. Bailey has it down pat a child can give him a treat, Tootsie you have to make sure she sees it but she is pretty good about taking nicely, Coleman you have to tell him easy before you give treats and still watch that he doen't get your fingers if he is excited. Sarah is still learning the concept of taking treats nicely.

 

[BrooknHannah]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

Wow! Thank you all for the tips. I can't wait to try them out. She is doing WONDERFUL on the potty in the house. We cleaned all the carpets and "THE SPOT" with urine spray. She's barked to go out every since and we have a routine and scedule down pat now. THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL so much!
;D

 

[imported_zoezoe]

Re: How to do I teach her to "SOFTLY" take a treat and not bite off my hand?

I got have 2 sharks here..careful ...they will take your hand off..

"EASY"!!! and don't release a treat until they take it nicely..

great advice if you are consistent and not lazy like me... :

That would be me!! ;D I'm a tosser ... with 7 pairs of eyes fixed on you; they sit and I toss! Actually, River is the only one that is a shark ... Zoe can be at times, but most of mine are good about it ... excpet RIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!