Prince Has Serious Work Ethics - Page 1

lol..
I have heard it said, " If a man will not work; he shall not eat." Prince, my 2 year old male gives new meaning to this quote..lol..

From the time Prince was a puppy it has been our routine that before both meals he must do a small bit of OB and then wait until being released to eat. I am ashamed to say that life has been hectic for the last few months and our routine slowly changed, but so has Princes eating habits. Slowly he has become very uninterested in meal time. There has been times that he has refused to even eat. I initially ruled out all the obvious reasons that would cause his behavior.

Turns out, I was busy and only asking him to sit and then releasing him to eat and with very little enthusiasm on my part. I was amazed to see the change going back to the original routine of expecting Prince to "work for his meal". He is back to eating normally. But, if I am in a hurry and  not truly enthusiastic about the OB he loses interest again...

Has anyone else experienced this behavior??...

It's my practice to allow mealtime for puppies to be just that, mealtime. To me, they are "entitled to their food". Puppies need to eat and receive their meal they same way it is presented by the mother dog, without having to "earn" it. Manners, yes, no jumping up and spilling the bowel. But too much control is a mind blower for a young puppy. Good luck undoing this.

Ditto to Joanro. The most I ever do with an adult housedog is to ask the dog to platz while I prepare the food. I've never had a dog refuse a meal unless it was very ill.

joanro,,I hope you saw the playfulness in my post. Maybe I did not do such a good job in communicating that in my post. Internet communication at it's best lol...

We brought Prince home at 8 weeks old I did not require OB at that age...

However, as he matured I incorporated OB into his pre meal routine. It has ALWAYS been a positive and fun part of our daily routine. The point of my post was to communicate just how important that routine is to Prince. The positive thing to this is the reminder for me to slow down and spend the few extra minutes with my male that he/we enjoy before meals...

What is needing undone is my busy schedule..:)

Gotcha.

Ruger...i don't see anything wrong with making them work for their meal....my dogs get confused when i place food down and say "go ahead" without OB commands of back up, sit, down....etc....Anyways if it works for you and for Prince continue as you were there is absolutely no harm in making him earn his food....
I think Prince needs direction, craves it, it makes sense to him...so, great job! :)

 Around our house we have the "nose out once rule". If the nose comes out of the bowl more then once dinner is done.

I get you exactly Ruger, around here too with multiple dogs I always make my dogs sit in their own spot prior to placing their bowl down, I notice too that if I am running late and just place the bowl down on the floor, the dogs look at me confused, like they know I forgot something, it's the routine, dogs love a routine. :)

Not sure what you meant by "routine".

What dogs really love is stimulation. Too much routine creates patterns in which a dog with appear to follow through on commands without thinking because it is always done a certain way. So if anything changes, like training in a different location or pattern in the OB exercises done, the dog will get confused. 

Structure is different - such as if you make time for exercise and training in your schedule. Or if you have specific expectations of behavior, and you respond to his following through, or refusing to follow through on commands.

If your dog loses interest in OB, he could be just having an off day. Or you need to start by getting him more stimulated with whatever motivator you use (ball, tug, etc). If you have a show line, it may take a little extra work. If I see the dog is just having an off day, I may choose not start out training but do some simple tug or retrieval work and see how it goes - get him revved up or at least good and tired.

The whole idea of building up anticipation and developing frustration tolerance has nothing to do with punishing or denying the dog anything. It can help increase drive. If you are angry and frustrated and actually use it as a punishment, and your dog will sense this.