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Before you can teach your dog Sit, Down, Stay, Leave It, or anything else, you need something much more basic:
You need their attention.
In this episode, I explain why hand feeding is one of my favorite ways to build that foundation. Hand feeding is not really about feeding your dog out of your hand. It is about making yourself valuable, creating engagement, and giving you structured opportunities every day to practice the skills your dog is going to need later.
I also walk through several of the games I use during hand feeding, including:
- Sit with a positive marker and release word.
- Down while beginning to build duration.
- The Turnaround Game to create a default Sit and attention.
- Go Find It and Come Here to begin building recall.
- Leave It as a positive redirection cue rather than a punishment.
We also break down the beginning stages of Leave It using a simple progression: hand, foot, leash. Start inside the house where distractions are low, teach the dog to disengage and come back to you, and only then begin taking the skill into harder environments.
One other important point: you can fade the lure, but you should not eliminate the reward.
Good behavior stays strong because something reinforces it. Food may eventually become praise, affection, play, access to something the dog wants, or another reward—but good behavior still needs to pay.
Related K.I.S.S. Dog Training Resources
Hand Feeding / Getting Started Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsbJO2JoPmqJv6cbmelVrTFQt_B4za1OL
This is the hand-feeding playlist discussed in the episode and includes the foundational games used to build attention and basic skills.
Watch Me Command
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3eSh90jisw
This video focuses specifically on teaching attention and eye contact during hand feeding.
Watch Me — Written Guide
https://kissdogtraining.com/how-to-get-your-dogs-attention-teach-watch-me/
Leave It on the Leash
https://kissdogtraining.com/leave-it-on-leash/
These continue the same progression discussed in the episode: first build attention and disengagement, then begin applying those skills around greater distractions.
K.I.S.S. Dog Training
Dog Training Ain’t Cheap... Experience Counts.
https://kissdogtraining.com/
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Mike Deathe owns Keep it Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.) Dog training. We can be reached through comments here, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kissdogtraining. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikedeathe/, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mikedeathekissdogtraining/. And of course at our website https://kissdogtraining.com/
