Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tricky T-Day - silent 'leave it'

This is Eva's dinner time:

My husband is the one who gives dinner to the two precious doggies while I am preparing human dinner during that time.

He feeds Eva first, then Mika and a daily drama happened from here: Eva is a super duper fast eater, she doesn't chew but swallows (this actually made me worried all the time) so by the time my husband gets Mika's food ready, she has already finished hers and then she wants Mika's meal too. Barking, jumping and running up and down in the yard are the next few activities of hers while my husband is going to feed Mika. Okay, some of you might suggest that he could have fed Mika first but I can assure you that with that ultra sensitive hearing and sense, Eva knows exactly what happens next and she won't miss any opportunities for having fun by barking and running.

Eva, no doubt is a boisterous girl, I can't really tolerate her incessant barking let alone my peace loving neighbours so we tried all sorts of methods to keep Eva from making noise during the dinner time. Most attempts failed or wouldn't last long until ...

"LEAVE IT"

My clever husband thought 'leave it' command might be useful this time. He tried it and Voila, BINGO!!!


From then on, he will wait until Eva finishes her meal properly then he gets Mika's meal out. Before he proceeds to feed Mika, he will leave two kibbles in front of Eva and keeps one extra with him, then he will give her the  'leave it' command.

Initially Eva was short of patience and she might steal the treats if he was a bit slow or late, later on she learned that she has to be patient and wait until he is back and releases the command because she will get treat NO. 3.

It has come to a new stage this evening, a SILENT 'leave it', LOL!!!

31 comments:

Lian said...

Very Clever! KK not Eva :) Well done though!

Chris and Ricky said...

That is brilliant! What an excellent solution to the problem and Eva is such a smart girl!

You just have to LOVE Shelties!! They are too much! :)

Cowspotdog said...

What a clever girl she is - and you know you can teach nearly all commands using hand signals. I am currently teaching Reilly to follow sign language !!!! He is doing brilliantly at it.

Anna the GSD said...

OMG I HATE those two words!!

Yummy dead squirrel carcas..Leave it!

Kitty poop...Leave it!

Bah! They take the fun out of everything! Mom says she doesn't know why she never learned this command before me...stupid leave it! BOL!

Anonymous said...

Eva looked so cute when she is anxious to get those yummy-licious treats into her mouth....

Brandon - The dog with a blog said...

Aww, how cute!
Rudy doesn't care much for the "leave it" command, but he doesn't it with pride :)
Love the videos!
Rudy's Raiser

Lola and also Franklin, too said...

Very impressive. We have dinner time drama, too, but it all involves my leaving it on my own if I'm in a mood, sometimes for hours. Meanwhile, Franklin eats and I look sad when they pick mine up so Franklin won't eat that, too. But then when they offer it to me again, I still won't eat it. I can keep that up for quite a while on some nights. Other nights I eat dinner right up the first time around. It drives everyone crazy, let me tell you.

Vonnie said...

Clever girl love how she looks at the treats individually then looks for her dad LOL! Must be Sheltie thing, i thought Khandi ate fast but when Ellie came OMG super fast, inhale is the way to describe it! I can't give her a treat like a rodeo, smacko as she chokes on them trying to eat them too fast so I have to hold them! I have a bowl which is sepearted this slows her down a bit now!

Molly the Airedale said...

We would have pounced on those treats in a heartbeat and turned our hearing aids off to our hoomans! You are such a smart girl, Eva!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

OMG your husband is a COMPLETE GENIUS! I sat here nodding my head in agreement at:

1) the Sheltie "speed eating' Dakota also inhales his food without chewing (our cat does too!)

2) The "incessant barking, jumping running"...OMG it is soooo nice to read about someone who understands!! We feed Dakota and Cody at the same time....Dakota only gets upset if we feed Cody first...he is good if he is the first one fed but we don't permit him to eat in the kitchen with Cody because I am afraid he will eat Cody's cat food (which he has)...Dakota is fed outside the kitchen door (which is babygated)

3) This video was sooo impressive! I love in the first video when her ears twitch watching Mika being fed (and hearing the bag and food). She looked so wistful!

4) I love in the second video how she stared at the food, then your husband and she waited soooo politely until she could have it!

I soooo thoroughly enjoyed this!
xoxoxo Thanks sooo much for the training tip!

Ryker said...

I love the LEAVE IT! I have used that a lot lately with Ryker wanting to lick at his wound. Nice job Dad and Eva!

Remington said...

Well done -- AGAIN my very brillant friend!

The Thuglets said...

Wow..you are one smart lady Eva!

Big Nose Pokes
The Thugletsx

Sara said...

Eva is such a good girl. Your husband came up with a brilliant solution. Very impressive!

Oreo used to eat super fast, now that Misty is gone, he takes his time. I wonder if he was worried she would take his food?

♥I am Holly♥ said...

Eva, you are such a beautiful and smart girl! Very impressive! I have tried the leave it sign with Holly. She ignores me if she wants it bad enough! Lots of love, Debbie and Holly

Diana said...

Great idea!!!

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

Very clever. I make all dogs sit and stay while I prepair dinner, then I always give it to them in different order but at basically the same time, which has helped because Breeze used to be pretty rude in the past, I also got one of those bowls just the other day with big like bumps in the middle of it designed to make dogs eat slower and I am really suprised that now Breeze who used to gulp is eating way slower and seems to enjoy her food more, not as wild and just out of control gulping it down. I was actually really suprised the bowl worked, and we have only used it a week but I LOVE it.

Kathy Mocharnuk said...

PS, Eva really is doing super FANTASTIC, very impressive with her impulse control, she is so impressive because she seems to really learn sooooo fast! Smart girlie!

Amy Wood said...

Great videos! Very impressive. My shelties inhale their food too, especially my girl, Star.
I love the "leave it" command. Eva responds to it so well! Great job!

Wyatt said...

Good Job! Wyatt is a chow hound and eats his food and then heads over for Stanzie's. We will have to give that a try!!

Wyatt's Mom

houndstooth said...

That's a great solution to the problem of a fast eater! We have put a Kong or upside down bowl in with some of our fast eaters' food dishes, but that definitely engages their brain. I love that expression on her face in the second video!

Lorenza said...

Glad you found a good solution!
Eva is soooo good with the tricks!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Amber and Nala said...

GREAT work Eva! I do the leave it command too for my dinner and stuff...I'm glad it worked for you so your neighbors can enjoy their peace and quiet. ;)

Kisses,
Nala

ForPetsSake said...

What a smarty-pants!!

Dexter said...

Eva! You've been duped! There are only two kibbles there and Mika has a whole bowl. I can see your brains working on that one. Perhaps those are special force field kibbles.

Hey, you know what? We used to have the same issue with PeeWee all gulping his food and then trying to take mine! That old leave it worked like a charm.

Now he starts to walk over to my bowl but he is looking sideways at momma and all she has to do is make stern face for him to slink away and leave me alone.

Slobbers,
Mango

Unknown said...

So Smart! This is great!

Sierra Rose said...

Wow! What a great Leave it!! We can see you thinking there Eva...and you did so well! My mom's mom has a chocolate lab that inhales her food...so the humans give her food in a treat ball, so Dixie can roll it around for quite some time, but not be able to snarf it down so fast!!!
Have a great week friends.

Sweet hugs,
Sierra Rose

Bella and Ollie said...

What a great idea, Dad says he will try it because I eat twice as fast as Ollie and then I try to eat his food and he's not happy about that !
Love from Bella & Ollie

Kristin G. said...

You're such a smart girl Eva!!

the booker man said...

eva is so smart and such a quick learner! i love how she looks at the first kibble, then the second kibble, and then off to the side at your husband and then repeats the looks until your husband comes back to release her. so cute! :)
booker and asa get fed at the same time, and my husband and i have them sit and stay while we prepare their meal. then we release them to their dishes when we're ready. booker is a silly boy and likes to scoot closer to his dish when he thinks we aren't looking. he always stays seated...he just kind of scoots himself across the floor to get a little closer. i can't help but laugh.

the booker man and asa's mama

Dawn said...

oh MY~! That is SO FUNNY! She is so intent on watching that food, and she wants it so much...she can hardly stand it! But what a good dog!!! Excellent idea!

 
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