It Is Better to Give Than to Remove Power Gesture Eating
A popular argument among traditional trainers is that a powerful way of "showing the dog its place" is taking its food away from it. I could not disagree with this more strongly. It is confrontational and potentially dangerous, particularly when the dog's previous experience is of being denied food. "Power gesture eating" is a means for proving the opposite applies. Nothing is more certain to win a dog's devotion than being seen as a giver rather than a taker of food.
I first developed the technique to help owners who have problems with dogs that become nervous or aggressive at meal times. It is a problem particularly common to rescue dogs, which can snarl and snap at anyone who comes near them while they are eating. It is easy to see why they behave this way. Often these dogs arrive at sanctuaries or rescue centers having been starved close to death. When they are given food, they are desperate to hang on to it. And anyone approaching them is seen as a threat that might take that food away. Instinctively, the dog feels that it must challenge the person with the food.
One of the central aims of my approach is to instill in the dog the feeling that it always wants to be at its owner's side. There is no better way of getting this idea across. The idea is that by following the process above, the dog will form a powerful, positive association between food and its leader. It will see you as a giver. And the dog will begin to realize that wherever it finds you, so too it will find food. The process is described in the panel on the next page.
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