I've just become the new mum to a 9 week old lab puppy who looks like he's going to be pretty quick at picking his basic training up. After just an hour he learned what sit meant, I've been rewarding him with kibble but he snatches them from my hand so quickly and hard he's bitten me quite deeply a number of times in his hurry to get the treat so now I find I'm having to drop the rewards on the floor when he's done good. I know we've got a long way to go and I really don't want to keep dropping rewards on the floor or I'll end up needing a hospital trip to repair the damage he's done to my hands. Has anyone got any ideas how I can get him out of this please, I know he'll come good in the end but I do need to keep my fingers. I'm pretty sure he carries the hungry gene and am an experienced lab owner but I've never had this from a pup before.
I've been having some 1 to 1 training with my pup from a local registered trainer and one of the games she first taught us was to hold the treat in my closed hand and only release it when my puppy waited and didn't try to 'mug' it off me. Then I opened my hand (treat flat of my palm) and let her take it with a 'Yes!' or 'Good Girl'. Just a stand alone game that we still play again to reinforce and it took no time at all for her to realise that snatching got her no where whereas waiting does. Hope this helps (maybe gardening gloves to begin with!!)
Thank you so much for your reply @SandiP i'll give that a go, it's got to the stage where my fingers are so sore from his razor sharp teeth I'm now having to drop training treats on the floor for him. The way he's going I think I'm going to have to find a local trainer myself. I don't know if I've just been very lucky with my puppys in the past but I've never had one as greedy, naughty or as vocal as this one is.
Yes, the open palm was suggested to me too but sometimes I forget. Little red dots on my hands hardly noticeable. ; )
