# Would your dogs eat food offered by strangers??



## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

Someone I'm familiar with is devastated right now. Their house was robbed. The worst part is they poisoned the dogs first. So it got me thinking, would my dogs eat food given to them by strangers? I think I can unequivocally answer No for our great pyr. He rarely eats food we give him and he hates strangers so much I don't believe he would. Our weim is a food crazed machine so he'd eat anything no matter where it came from. Our akbash, I just don't know. He's a very friendly dog but he's not big into food so I just don't know.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

That's terrible! So sorry for your friends loss.

As to my dogs, my Pyr's would eat the stranger.

But my two little Pekingese might, I really don't know. They can be terrors when someone comes to the door, and are really good about letting us know if someone is around the house. But, they are also chow hounds, so maybe..


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

hercsmama said:


> That's terrible! So sorry for your friends loss.
> 
> As to my dogs, my Pyr's would eat the stranger.
> 
> But my two little Pekingese might, I really don't know. They can be terrors when someone comes to the door, and are really good about letting us know if someone is around the house. But, they are also chow hounds, so maybe..


Do you think your pyrs would eat it if it was thrown to them??


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

My Murphy might, Maggie, no.
She barely eats what we feed her...

Then again, to be honest, if it were raw meat, or say a whole rabbit, she would.


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

I hear you. I think my pyr might possibly eat it if it were raw. But they'd have to leave first. He'd be far too distracted to eat anything while they were there.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I don't feel mine would. She is trained to take only food or treats from her dish and she will refuse anything handed to her. I have seen her refuse some pretty yummy treats from friends and acquaintances so I'm pretty confident she'd refuse food from a stranger.


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## Jlynnp (Sep 9, 2014)

I have used aversion training with personal protection dogs so they would not accept food from any one, food had to be in a certain bowl and they would only eat on command.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

I think every dog I've owned would. If not directly from the hand, then if left behind. Then again, most ranch dogs I've known will eat things not strictly considered edible, too. 

Our dogs raise a huge fuss when anyone approaches, but we've specifically trained them to be friendly to people actually entering. We just want them to act as living doorbells.

(We have a LOT of friends and family who visit, stay the night, randomly drop in to borrow tools or snag a veggie from our garden, etc. It's a small community here and we know everyone, so we pretty much have an open door policy. We want our dogs friendly, just noisy. )


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

What a scary thought! How Terrible.

Would our dogs eat food we didn't give them. I think one would. Our ACD is a velcro dog. He loves everyone and trusts everyone. The two youngest are shy of strangers. They wouldn't take it from their hands but they might eat if it was thrown to them a distance away as would the two oldest.

Kudos to the folks who trained their dogs to eat only out of a bowl.


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## Lady89 (Feb 22, 2014)

ooh ya i got a big 100bl mutt who hates everyone new right until they offer a treat then they are his new best friend


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

The herd dog would never take anything from a stranger, if it were left for him to find thatwould be a 50/50 shot.

The beagle? Only all day, every day.


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## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

My 2 Akbash LGDs would eat anything edible in a second. We feed them scraps etc. alongside their dog food. When I catch mice in the traps I toss them out to be devoured in a single gulp.
They ate a porcupine, spikes and all...
They are endless eating machines, cannot free feed or they will eat $50/week worth of dog food.
They also are not guard dogs, only LGDs. So friendly to everyone!


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I was once at a clicker training seminar and part of the demonstration was how to clicker train a dog NOT to eat food given without a command to eat. She was very clever, started with boring food in a closed container, the dog tried to get it, when it gave up, it got the "click/treat", using very yummy treats. At the end, she could hand her dog a hot dog and he wouldn't eat it until told to. I'm sorry I don't remember more clearly, but I'm quite sure it could be taught through clever clicker training, breaking down the behavior, keep the dog from doing the wrong thing and rewarding the desired behavior until it is fully ingrained in the dog.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

All of mine except my GSD would eat anything offered. If you have food they pretty much will like you immediately.


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## Tango (Aug 19, 2002)

I don't know exactly, never tried it but would be good to try. Both my dogs right now are extremely protective. The ASD is a glutton but she gets furious when anyone/anything gets near the fence. My AB is very protective as well. I doubt either would tolerate a stranger's proximity and would be too turned "on" to recognize food.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Good point Tango. 
I think I'll try this weekend. I'll ask my hay guy, who my Pyr's have never seen, to come over and toss something to them....we'll see what they do...


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

The lab will take food from strangers, but then not eat it or at least not right away. Thats what I see when the UPS man gives her a treat with my permission.

The doxie...... she loves food and I am sure would take it from anybody.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

Mine would. The UPS and Fedex and such always give them treats. I have tried and tried and tried to get them to stop doing that. They have a created what looks like an aggression problem with my dogs and I am NOT happy with it. The dog are not actually aggressive but they crowd the gate and start barking for their treats when the delivery guys show up. People who don't like dogs get sort of freaked out by that, people who know dogs see it for what it is. They'll let anybody in the gate if the people don't mind a bit of slobber. My pyr is one who loves everybody until presented with a reason not to. Then, well, you better be able to run fast.


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## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

wr said:


> I don't feel mine would. She is trained to take only food or treats from her dish and she will refuse anything handed to her. I have seen her refuse some pretty yummy treats from friends and acquaintances so I'm pretty confident she'd refuse food from a stranger.



How did you train this? I am curious, I'd like to train mine as well.


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## siberian (Aug 23, 2011)

Not a chance. Our Tm's get so wound up when someone new is around that they could care less about food.


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## Farmking (Oct 10, 2014)

Think my GSD would go home with them if they had food!


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm really not sure if my two dogs (labradore and karakachan) would or not. I do know they would not let the stranger on the place; and should the stranger persist, they would make a real loud ruckess that I would definately here.

However, should a stranger want on the place now days, poisoning the dogs (or shooting them) is not that difficult for most places. Thus, it would be real nice to have some "inside" backup in the form of:
1. some sound detectors strategically placed around homestead
2. electrify all windows/doors just before going to bed
3. a few hand guns laying around
4. even an inside guard dog (or two)


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

motdaugrnds said:


> I'm really not sure if my two dogs (labradore and karakachan) would or not. I do know they would not let the stranger on the place; and should the stranger persist, they would make a real loud ruckess that I would definately here.
> 
> However, should a stranger want on the place now days, poisoning the dogs (or shooting them) is not that difficult for most places. Thus, it would be real nice to have some "inside" backup in the form of:
> 1. some sound detectors strategically placed around homestead
> ...


We once had 6 dogs because I was stupid. 5 of them were out in our fenced dog run but the great pyr would jump the fence (we've since electrified it and that stopped that!) so he was inside in the bathroom with the door closed. So we come home and the door to the house was open and the pyr was furious and loose in the house. He'd banged the bathroom door down. I imagine someone tried to break in figuring all the dogs were fenced up. Bet it scared the life out of them! I was just remembering this with my boss and he asked me if I reported it, is it odd that we didn't? lol They weren't bloody well coming back!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Poultryguy (Jan 29, 2014)

Will it not be better to put the dogs on leashes they can easily tear when agitated? That way they won't be able to reach the poisoned food.


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

Poultryguy said:


> Will it not be better to put the dogs on leashes they can easily tear when agitated? That way they won't be able to reach the poisoned food.


Couldn't someone just throw the food to them then??


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## Poultryguy (Jan 29, 2014)

crazyfarm said:


> Couldn't someone just throw the food to them then??


Depends on where you chain them. You can find a place where it would be impossible for someone to stay outside and throw the food to them. If they will succeed, they'll have to come inside the compound first. And when they do, the dogs will be too agitated to consider food. Just a suggestion.


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