That is a separate exercise. I need to work on this with Bucky. Back when he was first out of his crate/pen and I ate I easily and quickly trained him to stay relatively calm as I ate by praising and giving him a grain of rice from my plate. As I sat down he was pretty much acting as he does when I come home, over the top excited and jumping/whining and so on. He gets this excited about seeing a leash too. I led him to the floor with a grain of rice in my hand and fed it to him. He got the idea quickly that he got to eat from My Plate if he was on the floor and I fed him a grain every few seconds throughout that meal. However.... If food is brought to me he has continued to do the same frantic over the top jumping, whining and so on. Probably a repeat of that first lesson as the plate comes to me would work fine but daughter doesn't think like a dog trainer yet.
I got my grabby first dog to finally eat nicely from my hand using doggy zen. She grabbed, my hand closed. I worked it until she could hold eye contact with a treat zooming around her then very slowly bringing it to her mouth. I was trying for lifting her lip and putting it in but never quite got to that point. She mirrored my movements so the slower I moved the slower she moved. I've found that to be the case with the other dogs as well. I want calm I get to act calm as well.
I verbally praise good behavior and leave it at that. Very soft and slow words of course. Since I always praise when giving a treat the praise serves as a mild reward on its own. I use the clicker to mark behavior when training specific behaviors and when dog is distracted but I want to mark something wonderful, never for calm.
I got my grabby first dog to finally eat nicely from my hand using doggy zen. She grabbed, my hand closed. I worked it until she could hold eye contact with a treat zooming around her then very slowly bringing it to her mouth. I was trying for lifting her lip and putting it in but never quite got to that point. She mirrored my movements so the slower I moved the slower she moved. I've found that to be the case with the other dogs as well. I want calm I get to act calm as well.
I verbally praise good behavior and leave it at that. Very soft and slow words of course. Since I always praise when giving a treat the praise serves as a mild reward on its own. I use the clicker to mark behavior when training specific behaviors and when dog is distracted but I want to mark something wonderful, never for calm.
