[yorkietalkjilly]

I will post the "Leave It!" technique separately. Work with your dog to help him control his instinct and genetic tendency to guard his food or toys using this technique but only AFTER you have used it to teach him well to leave the treat or toy you are training him to ignore and learn impulse control. I use the "Leave It!" training to help dogs learn that things they want to possess or guard are even have in their mouths is not to be guarded or held onto if they hear me say "Leave It!". It takes time for them to really learn this technqiue and not just be "performing" it for you. Performing a trick or exercise is what dogs do early on when they get what you want them to do and do it for a reward and praise. Learning a trick or exercise is what happens when it becomes part of their muscle memory, instinctively done when they hear a command to do something and don't think, just do it. So never progress on training anything until the dog has "learned" the command and does it without thinking.

Use the term "Leave It!" in anything but a mean or harsh tone. Use your instructional voice and keep emotion out of it - be a teacher, a leader but don't scare your little one. Just teach and do it matter-of-factly so your dog can learn free of fear or intimidation. Repetition and patience is how he will learn.

Once you have taught the "Leave It!" technique, you can modify the "Leave It!" technique in time when the dog is standing over the food bowl and when they back off as they learn to do in this exercise, toss the exchange treat across the room from the food bowl so that they leave the area and go get the treat away from the bowl, relinquishing their ownership and rights to the bowl. Walk over to the dog where he now is and treat/praise there away from the bowl. Do some "Leave It!" work right there, away from the bowl, repeating the technique below, keeping the dog from the food bowl for a minute or two and then walk away.

Keep repeating this technique so that the dog readily leaves his bowl with you standing right there in the room, cross the room for the exchange treat and working with him over there to keep him from the food a bit.

Begin to handfeed the dog from his bowl sitting outside or in another room, anywhere but his normal feeding area now where he might resource guard. Hold the food bowl, take up a piece of food and offer it. When he takes it, smile and offer another piece. Don't verbally react, just stay a positive, matter-of-fact leader. This will habituate him over time to your owning the food bowl, the food and feeding rights over him and he will in time become comfortable with your right to his food and bowl.

Take his empty food bowl and sit it in the middle of the floor and begin to walk up to it, tossing a treat across the room or even a squeaky toy and go praise and treat him when he leaves the bowl alone. Place the bowl lots of different places and walk up to it, toss a treat across the room, treat again and praise when he goes to it rather than guard the bowl. In time, he will accept that you can walk up to his bowl in any room or setting, take it up, take the food out or whatever you want to do as he back off and goes across the room. Of course, when he does that, TREAT and PRAISE that dog over across the room where he went to get the treat during training. Take the bowl into your lap and pretend to eat from it, tossing a treat as you do and treat/praise when he goes for the tossed treat.

Keep repeating that approaching his food bowl, tossing treats to get him to back off and go after the treat for 3 times each session - no more. After a couple of weeks of that, put a few bites of food in the bowl and repeat all of the above exercises. Eventually, relinquish the bowl to him and let him eat the bit of food. Slowly increase the amount of food in the bowl over time as long as he is relinquishing it to you to go after the tossed treat. Keep him off his guard by feeding him in different places once you resume his eating from his bowl directly and not handfeeding.

But first, go read, read, read and learn the "Leave It!" technique posted separately and then, once that is well-learned and part of your dog's routine, progress to the above techniques for foodbowl resource guarding.