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Top Dog SF Academy™
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Exercise 1 · Foundation

Food handling: feed your puppy correctly

How to bait your hand, hold food, and deliver it safely — the mechanics every exercise in this course builds on.

The exercise

  1. 1Place a piece of food (sized for your dog) between the base of your index and middle fingers, close to your palm — this is called “baiting an open hand”.
  2. 2Cover the food with your thumb, keeping your hand open so your puppy can see, smell and even lick it.
  3. 3Hold your palm in front of your puppy's snout, fingers facing downward (not sideways), at a 45–90° angle to the floor.
  4. 4This way your puppy's teeth move along the length of your fingers rather than across them — far less likely to catch your hand while feeding.
  5. 5Lift your thumb off the food to let your puppy eat the treat.
  6. 6Repeat several times.

What you need

  • A treat pouch
  • Plenty of high-value treats
  • A distraction-free environment
  • At least a 10′ × 10′ area with no obstacles or clutter

Tip: Fingers down, thumb on the food, hand open. If feeding ever feels bitey, check the angle before blaming the puppy.

Top Dog SF · feeding from a baited open hand

That was exercise 1, free

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