# Excited Puppy at Meal Time-Need To Teach a Little Control



## Linda1270

Tess goes totally ballistic when it's time for her to eat. I am working on getting her to settle down a bit more so I can feed her. Does anyone else have a problem with their puppy at meal times.

She jumps up to try to get at the bag, runs around me like a little whirlwind and she even knocked it out of my hand one time, sending her kibble flying all over the kitchen floor.  She didn't seem to mind one bit, she ate it up like a little Hover vacuum. Usually, when I put it down on the floor, she puts both her paws in the dish and flips the dish over and eats it that way.  I was feeding her in her crate but I find it easier to feed her in the kitchen now.

I have been working with her on the sit command and she's doing very well with it, so she will sit but then she'll jump right out of that position when I start lowering the bowl toward the floor. So I guess the next command to work on would be the wait/stay command. Is 8 weeks old enough to begin teaching her all these commands? I know her attention span is pretty short right now.

I was surprised this morning when I went to feed her....after her trying her best to jump up to the bag on the chair and my saying "No Tess", she ran over to the area where she usually sits when I feed her and waited there. I was so surprised but credit where credit is due, I praised her and made a big deal out of it so she'd know how happy I was with her doing this.

Can anyone advise me on some ways that I might teach her appropriate behavior at meal times? Does anyone else have this issue and if so, how are you dealing with it?


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## Sunflowers

The thing I did to have a calm dog was force myself to be calm. 

I think many people use the squeaky voice and get all worked up, the energy transfers to the dog, and then they are surprised to find they have a crazy-acting dog. 

Not saying that you do this, I am saying that I inadvertently taught Hans to jump and lunge by being too vocal when he pooed! 

So my long-winded answer is, be very matter-of-fact when you get the food, hold the bowl and calmly tell her to sit, while standing there calmly, and wait until she does before putting down the bowl.

No calm dog, no food gets put down. 

Even better if you teach her a release word that means it is alright for her to go to the bowl. I use, "OK, eat."


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## DJEtzel

Recon gets a little excited for meal time. 8 weeks is NOT too young to make the puppy sit/stay and wait for their food. It's a process to teach, but she should learn it now rather than later. 

If you go to her food area and she's running around acting a fool, jumping, etc. then stand there ignoring her and wait for her to calm down before you advance. Fill the bowl, etc. and if she starts in again do the same thing and wait for her to give up and forget about food. Then have her sit and if she starts to jump up at the food bowl coming down, pull it back up and repeat 30-50 more times until you can sit the food on the floor without her moving towards it and RELEASE her. 

My puppy is 13 weeks and has been waiting for his meals for weeks now.


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## Cassidy's Mom

8 weeks is not too young. I want my dogs to sit and wait while I put their food bowl down as a default behavior, meaning that they do it automatically, without having to be told over and over again. 

When she breaks her sit as you start to lower the bowl to the floor, stand back up and wait for her to sit again. Do this as many times as necessary until she will remain in a sit until the bowl touches the floor. I start very easy with this exercise - the second the bowl hits, I release to eat. (Have you taught her a release word yet?) Gradually I increase difficulty by making puppy wait until I've taken my hands off the bowl, and then until I've stood all the way back up. 

You need to have her far enough away from the bowl that you can pick it back up before she can get at it, but once she's remaining in her sit until released, you can work on having her closer and even with you stepping away from the bowl before you release her to eat. I also add in eye contact, so I don't releases until the puppy is looking at me rather than staring at the food bowl. 

The more food crazy your puppy is, the faster she should learn that the way to eat is to remain calm. Here's Halo at about 15 weeks old staring at my husband with her food bowl on the floor, waiting to be released to eat:










And here's a really bad picture of Keefer rofl waiting to be released to eat - he's around 5 months old, but as you can see he's on the other side of a gate from me, while his food bowl is only a few feet away from him. The only thing preventing him from just going ahead and eating is that he has learned that he must remain in a sit until released or I'll pick the bowl up:










A much better picture, but he's about 3 months older in this one:










I started training both of them as soon as they came home. I cued the sit and watch at first, but now I just wait for it, I don't tell them to do it. And I can put them in a down with the food bowl right under their noses and walk 6 feet away before releasing them, and they won't eat until I do. But definitely start really easy at first.


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## m1953

Feeding time is the easiest time to teach sit/stay position. Never had a pup who did not learn that after a meal or two


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## DJEtzel

Nice pictures Debbie. Makes me want to share, also... I don't know why, but I love taking pictures at meal times! haha..

Frag waiting to be released for his birthday cake sitting right under his nose.









and a few waiting/eating pictures...


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## Linda1270

Awe, what great photos, thank you all for posting them and also for your suggestions, it's all coming back to me now. Cocoa, my recently passed Lab, use to do pretty much the same as Halo, Keefer and Frag at meal times. He would sit and stay without my even asking him and wait for my okay before moving to his dish. Odd that when you don't work with a dog for 13 years you forget how, and at what age, you taught them all those years ago.

I will begin working on this issue with Tess this evening when I feed her dinner and will not put the bowl down until I feel that she will stay put in a calmly fashion. I certainly don't want her to keep knocking her food all over the place due to her excitement. I just wasn't sure what age my Lab was when I first taught him to sit and stay.


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## DJEtzel

Linda1270 said:


> Awe, what great photos, thank you all for posting them and also for your suggestions, it's all coming back to me now. Cocoa, my recently passed Lab, use to do pretty much the same as Halo, Keefer and Frag at meal times. He would sit and stay without my even asking him and wait for my okay before moving to his dish. Odd that when you don't work with a dog for 13 years you forget how, and at what age, you taught them all those years ago.
> 
> I will begin working on this issue with Tess this evening when I feed her dinner and will not put the bowl down until I feel that she will stay put in a calmly fashion. I certainly don't want her to keep knocking her food all over the place due to her excitement. I just wasn't sure what age my Lab was when I first taught him to sit and stay.


All dogs learn at different rates, but it's never too early to start teaching them at least. 

Good luck, I think the first session with Recon (my current pup) I picked the bowl up at least 20 times. lol.


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## blackshep

My puppy was really bad too. It's funny, as she's gotten older, she's actaully left her food to check to see where I am and gone back, so she's really gotten better.

She was terrible with trying to dive into her food bowl while I was putting it down. I got fed up and started holding her back and making her wait. Usually that meant she's have a little meltdown  But I kept at it and suddenly (and it didn't take long) she started to sit and wait for her food and every day I make her wait until I say "ok" then she'll eat it. 

You might be surprised at how easily they can be trained to sit and wait. 

I think a lot of it has to do with them having to compete with littermates for thier food. As they get older and realize nobody is goingot take it from them, they get better.


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## jae

This is all great advice. I also did this right from the second week I had him. I did exactly what is mentioned. 

Though, lately, he's been having fun jumping up at the bowl and my hands while I move the food from the kitchen to his eating spot (raw gets messy), so I immediately freeze when he did, then back to the counter. Wait for his sit, then continued, if he jumped again, right back to the original spot on the counter. This did take some time, I have to pass a few rooms in transit, but he got the idea (mostly) that if he jumped at the bowl while we walk, the food isn't moving from the kitchen.


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## Angelina03

It's true they will learn fast when it comes to eating. It was one of the first things Rocco learned one of the things he does the best! He will sit at his eating spot, and wait until I say "Take it". The other day, I accidentally walked away without saying it because Hubby was talking to me and I was distracted; and when I turned around, he was still sitting there looking at me, waiting. I was so proud, and surprised!


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## TrentL

Draven works or his food sit, down, look at me, shake a paw, but stay?

I have had 0 success at stay! Hope it works out!


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## Linda1270

Angelina03 said:


> It's true they will learn fast when it comes to eating. It was one of the first things Rocco learned one of the things he does the best! He will sit at his eating spot, and wait until I say "Take it". The other day, I accidentally walked away without saying it because Hubby was talking to me and I was distracted; and when I turned around, he was still sitting there looking at me, waiting. I was so proud, and surprised!



I have done this in the past with my Lab Cocoa, walked away and forget to release him only to find him still sitting there looking at me when I turned around.

She is getting a little better, I now have her to the point where she'll run to her place, do some spinning around  and then sit when I ask her to. I can lower the dish almost to the floor, the closer I get to the floor, the more her little but starts vibrating but she's getting better. Hopefully it won't take too much longer.


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