by Melody Hatke

Created on: May 17, 2009   Last Updated: May 18, 2009

My parents adopted a Yellow Labrador Retriever from the School for the Blind. Her name was Jessie, she was a beautiful dog, very friendly. She had failed the course to be a leader dog. But she became a great pet and companion for my parents.

Because of the leader dog training, Jessie was trained not to eat, until she was told "okay". I thought my mother was joking at first, she gave me a demonstration, and sure enough, Jessie just sat there looking at her food dish. Then my mother said "okay" and Jessie proceeded to eat her food. That was the first time I had ever heard of food refusal. As I thought about it, I thought it was an excellent concept. Even though it is hard for me to conceive of a person wanting to harm a dog, especially by feeding them something that could hurt them. Just in case I would rather know that my dog, would not eat the food, and be safe.

I have always taught my dogs the "take it easy", command, when giving treats. That was for my benefit, so I wouldn't loose a finger! So training your dog food refusal, is close to the same concept. I also have taught the command "Leave it", when you have a Beagle, if you do not teach this command, you will be standing by the same tree for hours, because a Beagle's sniffing is never done!

I would teach my dog food refusal, by simply giving the "stay" command, then put down the food dish. If the dog goes for the dish immediately, I would say ' No" or "Leave it" and take the dish away. When your dog stays and does not go for the food, then I would use a release command, make it original, I don't think I would use," okay", that is too common. It could be a name or anything that only you and your dog will know. For example, "Jumanji", I love that movie, not an everyday word. Just keep repeating this training,and your dog will learn to only eat food, when given the release command.

I would also do this training with food given by hand too. Let's face it, this cruel person is not going to be walking around the park with a dog dish. They would most likely drop the food on the ground, in front of your dog. So you must reinforce training for all of these possibilities, to ensure your dog will always be safe. This training also could keep your dog from eating something harmful, that he discovers on the ground, or on the floor. You will be training your dog, to eat, only on your command. This is the best safety measure, for your dog, and could help increase your dog's dog years!

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