Only eating food we give him?

[daemon]

Hi

Here is Izu!!


He was 5 weeks this past weekend, we are going to go pick him up in 3 weeks from now. For now he will be crated inside our house.
I would like to teach him as soon as possible to only eat food that we give him or perhaps food that's given in a certain way, e.g. from your left hand or only after a command - maybe sit - etc. something like that.

Reason is, unfornatly where we live (South Africa) burglars throw meatballs with two step (temik) poisen in it, to kills the dogs and then break into the house.

Any ideas or suggestions how I can teach Izu to ignore food that's just lying on the ground?

[nitemares]

Oh I'm interested in teaching that too, almost same thing happen hear, except they use it to control the stray population. So a walk on the street is potentially dangerous.

[Kittilicious]

I had a friend who had a rottie that wouldn't take food from anyone unless he said it was ok - and even then the dog would hesitate. I'll have to ask him if he taught him how to do that or if it was just his personality.

[martemchik]

You can teach this but it will take repetition and it won't happen until he is mature enough to understand what you want. If he has crazy food drive when you get him it might be difficult, but if you start young you can definately do it. Start with teaching him "leave it" and then move on to other people giving him food and you telling him no. Sadly, as a puppy you might want other people to give him treats and him to accept them so that he is well socialized with people and understands not everyone is a bad person. I never taught this but then again I don't really have to worry about other people poisoning my dog. I think for the time being you will have to keep him inside until he is completely solid with leaving food. I know when my dog was a puppy he wouldn't leave a single scrap.

[Kittilicious]

My dad had a dog years ago that wouldn't eat meat on Fridays (Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays). A priest came over and dad had him try to give him a hot dog and said "Pete, it's Friday" and the dog wouldn't take it. The priest was impressed

[wyominggrandma]

The downside to this type of training is that you might have to leave the dog one day at a vet clinic, or get sick and be in the hospital,or something like that and because the dog has been trained to only eat from your hand or whatever, then he would not eat while at a boarding facility or vet hospital.
Train him to eat after giving a specific command, but let different people you know feed him after they give the command, so he knows its okay to eat when he is fed by someone else. Not strangers, but people at the vet clinic, family members, that type of thing.
My girl has to sit and wait before she eats, and I always have the clinic folks have her sit before giving her a treat, etc.
Would she eat something thrown over the fence if I was not there? Probably and I think it would be mighty tough to train any dog not to eat something that smells yummy . While on leash, she is not allowed to eat anything off the ground, but that would still not stop her from eating something thrown in the back yard.

[Kittilicious]

I asked my friend and it was basically not allowing them to take a treat from someone until they say it's ok (the owner). A LOT of repetitious training. Part of it was the dogs' personality, though.

[daemon]

Thanks for all the advice, just going to have to put in lots of training for this.