# Poison training



## Denali Girl (Nov 20, 2010)

I spoke with a man that owns a gas station yesterday and he had 2 Rotties with him, anyway we were talking about training and he said his dogs were "poison trained". I thought that was interesting so I dug deeper, he said the way he did it ( I don't like it I'm only passing it on so don't kill me ) was, he had 12 guys in a row himself being one of them and they all had treats but when the 11 other guys would go to give the dog a treat ( they would offer a treat) they would hit the dogs across the bridge of the nose with the newspaper, when the dogs got to the owner, he would give them the treat and praise. He said they would only eat for him and if anyone tried to break into his gas station and someone tried to poison his dogs with food, they wouldn't eat. Comments, questions, concerns? My question is and I wish I thought of it was what if he dies? Will the dogs eat?


----------



## Olivers mama (Oct 13, 2010)

A friend of mine is a cop & his K9 partner will not eat anything from anyone nut his handler. I've no idea how he was trained, but I was told his dog was deliberately trained, so as not to run after a piece of poisoned meat from a bad guy.

Think I'll ask him so I can pass on the info...


----------



## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

My dog is trained not to eat food from another person's hands without my okay, but he would certainly eat food off the ground if someone dropped it and I didn't stop him.

I would imagine a dog would still eat to save itself, especially from a bowl on the ground. I would also imagine if someone broke into that man's gas station and threw a chunk of poisoned meat on the ground, the dogs would gobble it up.


----------



## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

My dog will accept a treat from anyone as long as i am with him. I think in most cases of a true stranger he might be too busy barking at the stranger!

I can see poison proofing a watch dog esp. one who must work alone but I think that the value in training a naturally suspicious GSD that most strangers are good of having them give treats to your dog is worth it.

We have a group here of about a dozen or more GSD owners who have been meeting most Saturdays ever since the dogs were baby puppies (almost 3 years) with new members joining as we go along. Way back when we started meeting there were a few people who told me that i was an idiot for having strangers give my puppy treats when we were out walking or going to pet stores to socialize him. There words were such as "I don't let anyone except me give him treats". interesting thing today is that at least two of those folks have dogs that are unapproachable by any body other than the immediate family. I won't touch a couple of them even though i have been around them since puppyhood - too weird a temperament! Wonder if there might be a connection - highly sociable dog versus pscycho's! maybe!


----------



## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

There are a number of articles out there about this. This training can be valuable for military, police, guard dogs...but most of this training is done through aversive techniques. Meaning any food outside of your bowl/my hand is bad and brings unpleasant consequences (the level of which will depend on the dog). This is not particularly helpful with the general method of treat training done by most people. Keep your dog in the house and then watch it when it is outside...sort of an easier fix for being sure someone doesn't poison your dog. 

Poison Proofing Your Dog

Dr. P's Dog Training: Food Refusal Training

Koninklijke Nederlandse Politiehond Verniging


----------

