I've seen it recommended in a number of different articles to play with your puppy when they wake up in the morning (after a wee, of course), and to only feed them a bit later. My puppies are waking up at 5:00am at the moment (we're in South Africa, and that's roughly when it gets light). They have access to a small enclosed yard where I've been leaving toys and small treats for them to amuse themselves until about 6:00am. When we go out to them, they are very excited, and ready to eat (both understandably). Herein lies the problem. It's pretty much the only time of day that they are off-the-wall excited (jumping up on me, biting my shoes and ankles, etc). I know with time and training these behaviors can be changed, but at the moment, it feels like I'm rewarding the behavior when I feed them. On the other hand, I know they are genuinely hungry, so it seems unfair to make their breakfast contingent on good behavior at the moment. So, do I get up with them at 5:00am for a while to try play calmly before they eat? Or am I totally overthinking this and I should just let it be and rather work on training them to greet me politely in any circumstances?
It's the behaviour they show just before feeding which matters. So teach them to wait for a signal before being allowed to eat after putting their food bowl down - not for long, 10 - 15 seconds. I start this with the pups from day 1. Get them to sit, have the bowl in your hand, then wait a couple of seconds and put it down on the cue (we use a whistle). Then slowly get to the stage where you can put the bowl down and they'll wait. If they move, pick the bowl up and start again - they soon learn with such a huge incentive!
We always take our girl for a walk before feeding in the morning, the reward at the end of the walk is breakfast. It fits our lifestyle and may not be suitable for everyone.
