>I agree with Elaine, I don't know why anyone would want to take back
> food once given to a dog. Whats the point? Its natural for a dog to
> protect its food, not difficult to understand that is it?
Actually, it's very important to be able to do exactly that. It's not a
matter of punishment; it's a matter of protection. For example, my two chis
are on separate prescription diets. They mustn't eat each other's food, so
if one steals some, I need to be able to take it back.
But a far more important example is that animals may see things as "food"
that aren't -- or shouldn't be. Say your chihuahua is out playing in the
back yard and she happens across a dead bird. You don't know what that bird
died of -- maybe poison or some disease -- but you do know that those sharp,
crunchy little bones can easily harm your chihuahua. If you train your
chihuahua to "give it," your baby is safe. Otherwise, you may end up
chasing your chi all over the yard and/or fighting to get that bird out of
her mouth. There are so many dangerous things your dog might pick up --
mushrooms, cigarette butts, pieces of glass -- and if your dog won't allow
you to safely take them back, all the respect in the world for your dog's
property rights may not save them. It's exactly like a toddler picking up
whatever substance and putting it in their mouth. Eventually, when they're
older, they will understand WHY they shouldn't swallow that straight pin or
that bottle cap. Until they reach that level of reasoning, however, they're
just going to have to trust you and take your word for it that that object
they picked up is NOT to go down their throat.
A couple years ago, a friend dropped a piece of her Nicorette gum on the
floor, and Chiclet scarfed it down before I could catch her and pry it out
of her mouth. We ended up having to go to the emergency vet and get her
stomach pumped. Even so, if it weren't for the fact that my friend had
already chewed the nicotine out of the gum, that much of a dose might well
have killed Chiclet. If I had taught her the "give it" command at that
time, she would have dropped it instead of swallowing it, and it would have
saved me a hefty sum of money, not to mention a horrible scare.
Anne
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