How can I train my dog not to grab my fingers along with his biscuit?

Question

I have 2 greyhounds - one of which is very gentle when it comes to food, but my male dog Max is really motivated by food and when I give him a biscuit or treat he snatches it out my hand and often grabs my fingers along with it!
I have tried keeping hold of the food and saying "no" when he grabs at it, and only giving it to him when he takes it gently, but half the time he manages to get the food anyway - its hard to keep hold when your fingers are being bitten!
He doesn't have food aggression, he isn't trying to bite me, but he gets so overexcited and has such a huge mouth and I guess he just doesn't think that he should be careful!
Any ideas how I can train him to be gentle?

Answer 1

Try holding the treat in your fist with a small amount sticking out on the thumb side of your hand. It will take more than once doing this. Don't hold it tight, let him easily slide it out.
That is how I taught my mother's dog, that also became excited with snacks! lol
After doing it like that for a few days I was able to hand it to him. I would also talk quietly and tell him what a good boy he was. I hope this works for you!

Answer 2

Okay first of all, if you have to, invest in some sturdy gardener gloves or such, to protect your hands - if your dog is really a grabber.
Next, you must teach your dog what 'GENTLE' means.
I want you to take a cookie, put your gloves on, hold the cookie tightly with your fingers, at the end of the cookie.
Tell your dog to sit. Say 'GENTLE' and offer the cookie. If your dog snatches at the cookie, immediately pull back the cooking and say very firmly NO!. And say 'GENTLE' and repeat the above. You're going ot have to do this a few times a day for a few days. I assure you that your dog will eventually get it. IF YOU LET the dog get away with getting the cooking aggressively, he's going to continue thinking it's okay to act this way and he'll still get the cookie. You have to do everything in your power to make sure he does not get that cookie!
If you do this for about a week or two and it's not working, I suggest you get a water bottle that can spray and put just plain water in it and spray the dog with water if he grabs the cookie. This is only in the worst case scenario if your dog does not respond to the above. You need to nip (sorry bad choice of word lol) this in the bud before he could possibly, accidentally, bite someone.

Answer 3

You got it - some dogs get excited about treats.

OK that said, take a gooey treat he can't resist - like mashed potatoes mixed with gravy. Cooked chicken livers that can be mushed up is also good - and he can't resist it.

Put Fido on lead and then put him in a sit / stay and tell him he's a good dog. then offer the gooey treat and firmly say, "Gentle." He'll be forced to lick the goo off your fingers - and if he gets excited, pull your hand back, give him a smart snap correction and again say, Gentle. Gentle is a command - just like Sit or Stay - so say it firmly.

As long as he is gentle, he gets to lick your fingers. When he gets excited, give him a correction pull back your hand and say "Gentle."

Eventually you can work into harder treats - soft chewy ones and then biscuits. But always make him sit/stay and always command "gentle."

He may never learn to do this well - my 15 year old border collie will gobble your arm off - but this may help.

With that in mind, don't allow small children or uneducated adults to give this particular dog treats. Even if he has a reliable "Gentle" command, I would still advise you not to let others give him biscuits until they completely understand that he may become excited.

Answer 4

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://bitly.im/aMSwz

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 5

What do is hold the entire biscuit in our closed hand. Only allowing a tiny bit to show. Then we make our big dogs sit and keep telling them gentle. If they take the tiny piece that is showing in their mouths gently, then we give them the whole thing. If they are not gentle the treat is put away and we try again later. They do not like this but they soon learn.This has worked well for us. Good luck.

Answer 6

I took my dog to an obedience training session and they taught us to have your dog sit first , put your treat in your hand with only a little bit showing ,not enough for your dog to grab onto. when your dog tries to go for it you say LEAVE IT! as soon as your dog puts his head back away from your hand give him the treat. Do this a couple of times and eventually lengthen the wait time. Start out with 5 sec. then 10 sec. etc. Also make sure your other dog is not around. Good Luck

Answer 7

My english setter and golden retriever were the EXACT same way. What my trainer told me to do was to cover the treat completely with my hand. Allow them to smell it so they know its there. They ONLY received the treat when they were calm using the command "take it nice" or sometimes just "nice". After a few times of that I moved to larger treats and just wrapped my fingers around it instead of my whole hand and used the command. It took about a month but I can now give treats with out grabbing a bandaid afterwards.

For strangers I advised for them to lay the treat in the palm of their hand so they wouldn't get bitten.

Good Luck

Answer 8

Hello! try this: Hold the cooky inside your fist, your dog will know it's in there and he will try to get it, but as your fingers are closed, he will be unable to bite them. Use the command "gently" (rather then NO) and turn your fist palm up and slowly open it. Your dog will try to lick your fingers to get the cooky. If dog bites or uses his teeth at all say "GENTLY!" , close your fist tight and try again when he is calmer. It is important you keep at this until dog finally gets the cooky without biting, or dog will be confused and unhappy. Greyhounds are very mouthy, this method works, but takes patience as you have to get the timing just right. Good luck.

Answer 9

One of my foster males was a huge, young greyhound who was a lot like your Max. Try putting him in a sit stay in front of you. You need to be very calm, keep telling him "easy" in a low, quiet voice, hold the treat a bit lower than his head level rather than high. It seems when it's high it encourages them to jump at it more enthusiastically. Or you could try putting him in a down stay so he can't. Don't give him any treats unless he's in position and he should learn quickly.

When you have a dog who jumps at treats, it's instinct to kind of pull your hand back a bit which in turn, encourages the dog to jump at it more so you can't take it out of reach.

Answer 10

try holding the treat in your fist and let him know where it is. When he is sitting calmly open your hand with the treat on your flattened palm, bending your fingers backwards. he can then get the treat by taking it from above your hand and going nowhere near your poor fingers. I taught my 5 yr old to do this with our puppy and he's had no accidents so far.