food crazed!!

[cearasmommie]

ceara is such a little pig when it comes to food. when i set her plate down she eats it up in seconds practicaly!! and when i get a treat out for her she wiggles and cries and is uncontrollable. when she takes a treat from my hands she could almost take my fingers off! she will be 9 weeks this fri. whenever i give her a treat i make sure shes sitting, but she doesnt sit for long, becuase she has yet to understand any commands. she hardly chews her treats, she moslty swallows them, coughs them up and then chews it:huh: what can i do to get her not to be so excited about treats, and to slow down when shes eating??

[Patt]

I wish I could help, haven't had puppies in years. I'm sure others with pups will be able to give you good suggestions. :D

[Juneysmom]

Break up the treats into very small pieces, about the size of a dime. Then hand feed her one piece at a time. Each time she takes it nicely, tell her she's a good girl. If she grabs it, don't say anything. Hand feed her the dog food, too. Remember, she just came from a litter where all the puppies were in a "me first, me first, me first" attitude where food is. They all grabbed, never ate nicely. Have patience, because she WILL learn, but slower because she doesn't have an older pup to help her. You have to act the part of an older pup.

[TessieMom]

She sounds like a typical dachshund. Probably is used to litter mates trying to get all the food!

[Heide]

Faye, I would do like she suggests and see how that goes.
I buy the larger treats for my standards, then break the other one's up for the smaller babies.

[Me&DappledDuo]

Yep- she's still a little young to have lost the "sharkiness" towards food and treats. One command that you can start teaching (Lynx was great at it by 10 weeks), is "Leave it". It teaches restraint- and can help curb that behaviour on it's own.

As for the gobbling of meals... all three of ours still do! I avoid being clobbered as I set out their bowls by putting them all in a sit-stay, and vary the release times so that they don't learn to associate me stepping back with a release. It's hilarious to watch them restraining themselves- they want to break the stay soooo badly! But all that practice pays off- and keeps obedience skills fresh.

Now is a great time to start working on stay- it can be tough with a puppy's short attention span, but it was one of the easier things to teach, IMO. :)

[jenfer]

I always made Gigi sit or down when I feed her, not always work, but I tried. As for treats, I usually only give it out when we are practicing commands. And I cut them VERY SMALL!


Originally posted by Me&DappledDuo
It's hilarious to watch them restraining themselves- they want to break the stay soooo badly!

LOL. Gigi does that too... she was shaking and she was moving her little behind. heehee... funny.