Gentle?

[Cessena]

So I had an amazing training session with Vlad today, having finally discovered a treat that gets him really excited. Cheese.
He was soo good he just kept his eyes on me and pranced around and did everything he could to get some cheese. He was a little worked up but it was good to finally get him to walk around with me without him at the other end of the leash.

Aaanyway, my question, how do you teach a dog to be gentle with their mouth? Vlad is generally very soft mouthed but I think he was just sooo excited about the cheese. However i would like to be able to slow him down if possible so he doesn't snap on my hand too much, if I am giving him a treat he really likes. I have heard other owners tell their dogs "gentle" when giving them treats, how do I teach Vlad this?

[squirtsmom]

What I do , and I am no means an expert, is that when i tell Baby to sit, and she knows I have a treat, I turn my hand around so that she can't snap at the food, and then I give it to her, giving the back of my hand to her and then turning it around with the food. She's gotten much better. Walter's poodle will eat your hand if yuou give her a goody.

[Sweet72947]

We always told our dogs "take it nice" and when they calmed down and stopped trying to grab the treat, they got the treat.

[Rozie]

What I have learned to do with my Molly, who always used to snap, is I close my hand around the treat so so it's in the middle of a fist and then hold it slightly in front of me, letting her sniff it. And then, chiming "Gentle, Molly," I slowly open my hand and allow her to take it slowly.

[TopShelfPets]

What I have learned to do with my Molly, who always used to snap, is I close my hand around the treat so so it's in the middle of a fist and then hold it slightly in front of me, letting her sniff it. And then, chiming "Gentle, Molly," I slowly open my hand and allow her to take it slowly.

I taught Jager "gentle" pretty much the same way. I wait until he licks the fist and then say gentle as i open my hand.

[Doberluv]

Just don't ever give her the treat until she figures out how to take it gently. Yelp like it really hurt and don't give it to her, even if you need to reward her for something else. She must learn to be gentle. My Doberman Lyric took a while to catch on. He is a barracudda! Finally, he got it. I would tell him, "gentle" or "eeeeeeeeasy" to reimind him. My son uses "eeeeesy" and I use "gentle," so we sort of forget which dog is use to which cue. LOL. But whatever....no treat when dog is snapping. Period. Not ever.