“Food Refusal” For Dogs May Help Curb Hydatids

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28890, 9 May 1959, Page 11

“Food Refusal” For Dogs May Help Curb Hydatids

Sergeant S. F. Riley, sergeant in charge of the Police Dog Section of the Police Department, believes that “Food Refusal,” the name given to a type of dog training, may help prevent hydatids. Such training can condition a dog to refuse all food except when it is offered by a certain person and either accompanied by a certain command known to the dog, or given at a certain place. Dogs might then be made to leave sheep carcases alone.

Writing in the “Journal of Agriculture,” Sergeant Riley says that food refusal training is very important for police dogs and he sees no reason why it should not to a sheep dog. Sergeant Riley favours early training. In the Police Force training begins when the dog is about five months old. The young dog is fed once a day and only by its handler using a special command, always in the same place, at the same time with the same feed bowl, which must be removed with any left-over scraps. The dog is not allowed to drink until commanded to do so and is watered

once a day to train him against leaving his work. For a sheep dog, Sergeant Riley believes that training could be adapted to Condition the dog to feed only on command or ’at its kennels, and above all never on carcases or refuse. The Police Routine Discussing refusal training Sergeant Riley says:— “The food is offered by hand by a helper and should the dog attempt to sniff or take it, he is given a smart tap across the nose by the person offering it. This is accompanied by a harshvoiced ‘a-ahl’ or similar noise by the trainer and the food is offered several times. The dog is then left in the down position and the trainer retires out of sight of the dog, but keeps it under observation, and the exercise is repeated with the helper walking by and casually dropping food to the dog.

“It is important that the helper should not retrieve the food from the dog. The trainer should remove the dog from where the offered food is lying to another place. It is also important that the trainer should not give any food to the dog as a reward after the exercise, and from now on the trainer should be the only one to administer; correction.

“In the next stage food such as fish, meat, carcases of small animals and birds, and anything that is likely to interest the dog, can be placed about a paddock beforehand on the route the trainer is likely to take. The position of the objects and the paddock should be changed from time to time.

“The exercises should be re-

peated as often as possible and methodically to prevent the dog forgetting the disagreeable aspects. It is useless to give a dog, say, half an hour’s training one day and allow a few days to go before repeating it, when he will have forgotten. Some training each day is advisable. “If the objects are left for some time, they will offer greater temptation to the dog, for they will become putrid. Temptation should be placed in the dog’s way and he should be deliberately provoked into performing the undesirable act to ensure his being broken of it as early as possible in his training. A piece of chain, the lead, or a short, blunt stick can be carried and thrown at the dog at the right moment, accompanied by a stern reprimand.”