01/14/2026
"There is a way to show your puppy that being around them while they are eating and giving up their important items is fun and non-threatening. 🐾✨" - PupScouts of Hunterdon: Puppy Training & Separation Anxiety Coaching
There’s a lot of advice on Google and social media, and while some of it seems to make sense, it can be incorrect information that is leading you in the wrong direction down your well-intended path. 🛑
It breaks my heart when a puppy client comes to me and their puppy is growling at them (and maybe even biting) because they were told to fiddle with their puppy by patting them, playing with their ears, sticking their hands in and out of their puppy’s food bowl, to take their puppy’s food away & give it back, and other “things” that are supposed to acclimate your puppy to be harassed while eating. 😟
For a human example, let’s say you’re enjoying a nice plate of food, but someone keeps coming by, sticking their hands in your plate, and taking your food away. How long are you going to tolerate that before you finally lash out and tell the person to stop? What if someone reached in your mouth to take away something you were enjoying? This would be annoying, and you would wonder what the heck was going on. 🍽️
Imagine someone kept doing these things to you. Eventually, you would see someone coming and say “oh great, here they come again.” At what point will you take a stand and tell the person to back off? 🚫😠
This is what your puppy is doing. You mean well, and your reason for wanting to do these things is valid. There is a way to show your puppy that being around them while they are eating and giving up their important items is fun and non-threatening. 🐾✨
