How do you start training your dog to sit and wait for his food?
First, you’ve got to get him in a space where he can’t practice avoidance behavior because that’s the first thing he’s going to do when you start working. I had this pup (lab puppy) cornered in half of the bathroom. He had space to walk around in about a circle, but anytime he tried to walk passed me, I blocked him with my form so he had nowhere to go. Blocking a dog with your form takes anticipation on your part. You have to see signals of oncoming movement from your dog to do it, but luckily, this isn’t hard to do. It simply takes focusing. Anyway, I’m not much of a talker, so I body block him until he has no other choice but to stay put and normally by this time, any dog that has been trained to sit (or attempted trained to sit) will sit down and be patient if only for a few moments. Once your dog sits down, he’s ready for the next step. This first stage could potentially take five minutes to fifteen minutes, but do not give up. If he jumps for his food, move it out of his reach. If he actually is successful with getting the food, move as much as you can from his reach.
The next part, once he has sat down, is to make that position home base. You are free to start slowly lowering the bowl to the ground once he is sitting. If he stands up (which he will), you start over again, lift the bowl all the way back to starting position and get him sitting again before you start lowering his bowl again. This will likely take going back to step one and body blocking him. Warning, your dog will get frustrated and that is GOOD. Frustration is the key to learning.
Continue slowly lowering the bowl down until it is touching the ground. This point causes excitement for the dog and it is important that even if he is excited, stay in control. Yes this may mean lifting the bowl all the way to square one all over again and that’s okay. If he’s hungry, he’ll do what you want. Don’t feel bad for him because he’s not listening to you.
When I am at the point where I am constantly raising and lowering the bowl because of the dog’s actions, I insert one word. That word is called “focus” and focus means that he needs to focus on ME and not his food. This is another step that should be started in the beginning, but you won’t see results from this one until a few days of constant training later. Whenever he is getting too close to his bowl, stop the progression of the bowl to the floor, say “focus”, wait for him to snap out of staring and potentially drooling at the bowl, and then continue.
When the bowl is finally on the ground and your dog is still sitting patiently waiting for the command to eat, step away from the bowl just a foot or two. This is your dog’s cue to eat. Normally, if this is your first time doing this with your dog, he will probably be incredibly confused when you walk away. Why? Because you have claimed the bowl as your own and he knows, by your actions, not to mess with it. This is a GOOD thing if this happens. Funny, cute, and good. This is when you can give the command “Go on” or “go ahead,” or whatever works for you and motion towards his bowl until he gets that he can go ahead and eat. It may take one or two times of saying it. However, you can always say nothing and just walk away (that’s what I do).
I encourage anyone who’s never had their dog wait for his food to try this! I want to hear how it goes. Really, I do!
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