Stop Treat Snapping Fast! Teach ‘Gentle’ the Right Way

Is your dog snatching treats out of your hand? Certified Dog Trainer Robert Haussmann explains how to teach your dog to take treats gently using positive reinforcement and clear communication.

TRANSCRIPT

Want to teach your dog to take treats gently? My name is Robert. This is Cookie Bear. And we're going to teach you how to teach your dog gentle. So, first things first, we want to be sure we're teaching gentle as its own cue and not trying to train it in real time while we're doing other training or going for a walk with the dog. We want to make sure we're giving the dog context for what gentle means. So, to get into it, by showing Cookie Bear some treats that I have in my hand here, I'm going to let her sort of mouth at it and pod it. As soon as she's being gentle, yes, I'm going to release the treats. So, she learns that being gentle is what gets the food out of my hand. If she's chomping at my hand, I'm going to keep my hand closed. She's being really gentle right now. So, if you're finding that your dog is coming in a little too hot and really grabbing at your hand, you can wear a work glove or gardening glove or something. But the goal here is that delicious. Take your time. In this case, she's being pretty gentle with me. But if she learns that kind of gently tapping or touching my hand or looking at my hand, yes, that's what opens it up. I use the word yes to connect a good behavior to a good outcome for the dog. It bridges the gentle uh approach that she is taking with me with the reward. So, she's learning that one but good behavior gets her a good reward. So, one more time. Cookie. Hi. Right. If she could be gentle. Yes. I'm going to release that treat for her. So, if she starts doing this in a consistent and predictable way, I'm going to start giving it a name. I'm not going to start saying gentle when the dog's chomping on my hand. Just going gentle, gentle, gentle. That's not what we're going for. We want to wait till the dog understands first what works and then say gentle. Yes. So, she understands that gentle means approach gently, calmly, take the treats, and that's how she gets what she wants. A few things to keep in mind. If your dog is not coming gentle and is biting at your hand very hard, do not release your treat, keep your hand closed and make sure that biting at your hand is not getting them access to the treat. If your dog is relentless and really coming at you hard, disengage altogether and revisit again in a few minutes. So that's it. Remember that teaching your dog any takes patience, consistency, and time. Good luck and happy training.