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Old February 17th, 2010, 03:10 AM
Kay9 Kay9 is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 222
"resource hoarding", as they call it, would be a pretty typical behaviour for a little guy that came from a shelter. They tend to be very vigilant about their food, toys, sleep area, and any other territory that they claim.

With respect to the food, I had the same problem with Buddy, although not as severe. The technique I used worked very fast, and before I knew it, Buddy was great with his food.

The first thing you want to do is teach the little guy to make a pleasant association between you and his food. It's important for the dog to know that "the floor" doesn't feed him; you do. In other words, don't have his food waiting for him in his dish; he needs to know that the food comes from you.

Start by sitting with him beside his food dish, and taking his kibble in the palm of your hand at his dinner time, giving him a little bit to start. Put the open palm of your hand with the kibble in his dish while you do this. Leave your hand relaxed, and you can praise him if you want. When he finishes that portion, give him the next portion. Slip in a little cheese this time. Do this for a couple of meals. For the next meal time, put his kibble in his bowl (be sure he sees you) and when he starts to eat it, slip in some cheese a few times during his meal. He'll actually stop eating and let you put your hand in the bowl, happily awaiting his treat!

Regarding the petting, are you bending over his head? Buddy also had this problem. It took him awhile to accept me leaning over him and he reacted to it. That's a fear/dominance problem. You may want to pet him by first squatting beside him, and petting him that way--no leaning over his head. Again, work up to that by training with treats (once you get the food thing remedied).

Don't give up--Poms are great dogs and are VERY trainable!!
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