Does anyone have any suggestions for me on this one? Pongo (age 21 weeks) is generally very gentle and calm. But when he gets excited (including at puppy classes for example) he is starting to 'snatch' when I give him rewards / treats. If I tell him to 'be nice' first then about half the time he'll take it nicely. Otherwise he just grabs at it and leaves me with nipped fingers. I don't want to do the 'yelp, you've hurt me and walk away' bit, because he might start to associate getting a treat with making me yelp (NOT an association I want to encourage!). He is teething at the moment (has got about half his adult teeth in, still quite gappy), but I don't think that can be the cause, can it? Has anyone else had this? Is it a phase, or is it something I should act on? And if so then what might work best?
Re: Snatching for treats Penny definitley gets grabby with treats. What I've done is when I offer her a treat and she goes to take it nicely then I let her have it, but if she goes to snatch it I quickly move my hand away so she can't get it - then she doesn't get it until she takes it nicely. It seems to work but I don't know if anyone else has any better ideas - you have to be pretty quick!
Re: Snatching for treats we had a spell of the snatching treats, i just used to say gentle, he grew out of it, it could just be the teething
Re: Snatching for treats We went through it too. I would quickly swipe my hand away if she didn't take it nicely. I now always say nicely if she is in an excitable mood
Re: Snatching for treats Greedy treat snatcher here too. My technique for this is to cup my hand with the treat held between my thumb and the base of my index finger and almost close my cupped hand over the treat. I then place my hand pointing backwards at the level of my knee. This means that she has to stand or sit in the heel position facing forwards and cannot snatch the treat but has to stick her nose into my cupped hand and gently remove the treat. This really works well but if I haven't explained it well I'll try and get OH to take a photo and post it.
Re: Snatching for treats Like this IMGP2593.JPG by , on Flickr then IMGP2594 copy.jpg by , on Flickr and finally IMGP2595 copy.jpg by , on Flickr And sorry for the hideous sofa cover in the study...... [size=8pt](Edit to make images bigger - Rachael)[/size]
Re: Snatching for treats I do something similar to Lochan.....so that I can turn my hand and prevent Riley getting the treat if he gets snatchy. He knows now that he has to take gently and if I prevent him getting the treat he instantly corrects himself. You'll get there, as with all these things you have to insist on the right behaviour so they know how they're expected to behave ;D
Re: Snatching for treats love the photos lochan ,....just walked out with mark tagging behind me as i teach him how to get jasper to walk to heel, ....hek i have got to teach jasper and mark,.....he said hey mum, you're treating him well, i just hold the treat in my hand, i don't give it to him.....oh my word, i have got to undo all the mistakes to be honest mark was surprised at how well we are doing with the heel walking,....mark is still banned from touching the lead
Re: Snatching for treats I found teaching "leave it" with a treat helped. Now, for most things he'll wait for me to say "take it", particularly if it's high value, he doesn't want to take it without me saying "take it" in case that's not ok. If you have the Happy Puppy Handbook there is an exercise in there to teach this. (Charlie is the dog in the pic who is being outrageously naughty snatching the treat! ;D ;D ;D - so better not give too much advice!) food fist 8 by JulieTandCharlie, on Flickr
Re: Snatching for treats Oh look at that lovely Charlie, he has the most lovely coat, with a little touch of auburn. Otis is a very dark chocolate, with a hint of auburn underneath. Hugs and licks to you Charlie from Otis and Maggie X
Re: Snatching for treats Simba can get very grabby at treats, too (go figure :) when he gets that way I don't let him have it, then offer it again saying, "Nice!" It usually works. : :
Re: Snatching for treats I'm going to start using Lochan's approach (great pictures, thank you, very clear!). Thanks again everyone, really helpful! Rosie and Pongo
Re: Snatching for treats [quote author=JulieT link=topic=5719.msg72975#msg72975 date=1399066616] I found teaching "leave it" with a treat helped. [/quote] Yep, that was the approach that we took too. We have the odd Snatch & Grab followed by a 'Oops, was I a little too eager with that one?' look (you all know what I mean don't you?) but mostly it's no longer an issue.
Re: Snatching for treats My Tatze is as soft as it's possible to be taking treats. My friends dog snatches for England! There used to be teeth too when he was a pup - even the trainer didn't give him treats to his mouth. Now it's a handful of slobber you get when giving him a treat. He's just SO enthusiastic for the food. He's called Zaba - so I call him 'Slobber-dobber-do'! He's coming to stay for two weeks at the end of June so I'm going to have a go at training him to take treats nicely. My friend says 'good luck with that!!'
Re: Snatching for treats I put a treat in my hand and hold it out to her at first she sniffed and pawed at it. Then I gradually unwound my fingers from the treat, if she tried to grab it I would close my fist. Next stage. The treat lay on my open flat hand, then I told her to "Take It" at which point she was wonderfully co -operative She learnt this trick very quickly, I guess she was motivated. My seven year old Grandson loves feeding her this way. It calms them both down.
