I taught AJ the command "Bite."
Some folks here will say, "What the devil for???"
When I give him a little piece of something soft, like chicken meat or a piece of beef, I don't want him trying to snatch or pull the whole thing out of my hand. Therefore, I taught him to take it little bite by little bite with his front teeth.
His previous owner already gave a good basis for this by teaching him to have a very soft mouth, so I merely built on what she already did. So now, when I offer him something he really likes, I tell him, "Bite." and he takes a little nibble off the end of it.
The purpose is twofold: it keeps him from the possibility of choking on something because he tried to swallow it whole and I don't have to spend a bunch of time cutting things up.
Interestingly, previous owner also taught him the command "Chew it." If he is given something and this command at the same time, he will take the time to chew it up rather than just swallow it.
We all have such smart dogs! 
That's good because you want to keep the tips of your fingers. My last R/W Ringo was like a shark. Even if you put your thumb and forefinger together with nothing in it he would bite your fingers without even sniffing. Now Buddy is very, very delicate taking food.
I think that is a great trick..Otis is very softmouthed when food is given to him, not Moses though, he takes the food and half of your arm..but we are working on it..
Otis will even drink/lap the remainder of my green smoothies, from a straw..so funny..
That is a perfectly natural thing to teach a dog…. I think that most of here have done it, while we might use a different word, concept is the same.
My Maggii was one you needed to count your fingers after giving her a treat...ggg
We have a rule here, "Treats should not be eaten with the fingers", though many have tried!
We have a rule here, "Treats should not be eaten with the fingers", though many have tried!
Exactly MacPack!!!!
That is a perfectly natural thing to teach a dog…. I think that most of here have done it, while we might use a different word, concept is the same.
My Maggii was one you needed to count your fingers after giving her a treat...ggg
True… we use the word, "Easy".
Lisa trained him to "Be Nice" by holding the goodie tight in her hand with only a little bit sticking out. If he lunged at it or tried to snatch it, she would bump him on the nose lightly rather than give him the treat. He learned that if he wanted the treat, he had to approach nicely. If he didn't, there was the bump (not hit) and no treat.
You have to control the treat carefully. Only leave enough sticking out of your fist that the dog knows it's there, but can't get any kind of grasp on it. If the dog continues to snatch, the treat gets put away rather than awarded to the dog for poor behavior. Any dog who is food driven will learn in a hurry.
True… we use the word, "Easy".
That's the word we use, too. With a gentle voice, drawing out the eeee sound.
I think that's what we used when we taught toddlers how to pet kittens, too. Same concept!
True… we use the word, "Easy".
Easy is the same word we use not only on our dog's but also on our kid's as they were going up.
Rita Jean
We were taught at our puppy classes to hold a treat in a closed hand, the pup tries to get it from your hand, when they don't succeed they pause or back off, then you give them the treat. They learn that being pushy or snatching doesn't work but being polite does. This is a lesson they catch on to very quickly.
We were taught at our puppy classes to hold a treat in a closed hand, the pup tries to get it from your hand, when they don't succeed they pause or back off, then you give them the treat. They learn that being pushy or snatching doesn't work but being polite does. This is a lesson they catch on to very quickly.
I was taught the same at my puppy classes with Aaliyah.
We were taught the same thing in our classes…We use the word "gentle" here in our house..easy works too, but gentle is the more common word used.
We taught Petey "bite it" meaning to bite or chew a chunk off of what I am holding with his back teeth.
I use it for things like Chicken Quarters. I will hold the drum, and he will gnaw off the thigh, and take it off to go eat, then I can give the drum to Aries or Katie. I also use it if I can't break a biscuit. I tell him "bite it", and he bites off his chunk.
We use "gentle" for taking a treat with a soft mouth.
We taught Petey "bite it" meaning to bite or chew a chunk off of what I am holding with his back teeth.
I use it for things like Chicken Quarters. I will hold the drum, and he will gnaw off the thigh, and take it off to go eat, then I can give the drum to Aries or Katie. I also use it if I can't break a biscuit. I tell him "bite it", and he bites off his chunk.We use "gentle" for taking a treat with a soft mouth.
Did you loose your Joyce Chen kitchen shears? Looks like you don't need them with Petey around.
Did you loose your Joyce Chen kitchen shears? Looks like you don't need them with Petey around.
We did! My mom stole them! We need to buy new ones, but it's still nice for Petey to "shear" off his own portion sometimes too.
I got my boy at 5 years old. I don't even have to use a word with him. He is so-o-o gentle when it come to treats from the hand and as far as food, he almost ignores me. If I do give him something I will put it in his bowl and some times he doesn't even react until I say "check your bowl". I'm sure I've said it before, and I'll say it again, whomever you were…thank-you previous owners!
I got my boy at 5 years old. I don't even have to use a word with him. He is so-o-o gentle when it come to treats from the hand and as far as food, he almost ignores me. If I do give him something I will put it in his bowl and some times he doesn't even react until I say "check your bowl". I'm sure I've said it before, and I'll say it again, whomever you were…thank-you previous owners!
My boys have always been like that… ggg... now the girls, totally a different story... My poor OJ could never figure out the "art" of eating a treat with his nose in the air so that the girls could not steal it from him until he was 10 or 11 (slow learner...ggg).... they would forever be stealing the treats right out of his mouth.
AJ learned to have a soft mouth also by stealing peanut butter sandwiches out of the (then) three-year-old's hand while she wasn't paying attention. She wouldn't even realize it was gone until she went to take a bite of it. Then she'd look around only to see AJ in the corner cleaning peanut butter off the roof of his mouth. :eek:
Everyone here knows, "lick-lick" and then "nice.". Nice was acreal challenge with Jetta! I had to be SO fast getting my hand shut if she snatched. And she was veryveryveryvery persistantly. Shed lick and nibble and paw for five minutes straight!
Jetta has a lot more self control now but it's still hilarious how shell push right to the limit. I just finished a bowl of radishes and had her sitting behing me with her head OVER my shoulder, watching every bite.
Of course, for her restraint, she got all the leftover pieces. 
