When it comes to living with dogs, relationship is everything. There are many ways to build a connection but one simple, yet effective activity is hand feeding.

Start by settling next to your dog in a quiet part of your home. You’re going to slowly feed your dog their food, one piece at a time from a flat hand.

This exercise is really simple but very effective. Spending time feeding your dog in this way, without asking for other behaviors will create an association between you and something your dog loves. This will help to build trust and your dog’s focus on you, as you mean good things are about to happen.

This is a perfect exercise when you first bring your dog home, but it is also really beneficial to strengthen your relationship through the adolescent stage and reinforce calmness around food. It also helps to prevent dog’s from developing guarding behaviors around food.