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What to Do When the Dog Isn’t in the Game
I love working with dogs who get excited by a lot of things, especially food, fetching, and tug. They allow me to be more flexible in the way I reward them during training sessions. But when first teaching new skills, my go-to reward is FOOD! Problem is, on occasion, I meet a dog who isn’t super-engaged when food is offered. Kade is one such example. He’s a 2 year old black lab who was ho-hum about food and also not interested in fetching. (What?!) His pet parent I and came up with a few ideas to increase his interest in food rewards. For example:
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We drastically bumped up the quality of the food offered, using fresh proteins like bits of hotdog, chicken, cheese, and steak.
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We rotated through the different types of treats to keep things novel and interesting to him.
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No table scraps were shared ‘for free’ at other times.
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Training sessions were kept short, so each treat he did get never filled him up to satiation.
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Training in the heat of the day was avoided, as a hot, panting dog is less likely to be interested in food.
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Training sessions were scheduled, when possible, before a regular meal so he had a good appetite.
These ideas really helped and Kade made good progress with his training.
What do you do to get your dog excited about training?
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13 Replies
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Excellent tips and suggestions, @virginiad ! Yes, WHAT-THE-WHAT??? about a lab uninterested in food.
I especially like when people schedule a lesson BEFORE mealtime. I’ve also said to some clients, use their meal as part of their training treats. Sometimes a dog is so into their kibble, it works well.
A shout-out to @catherine , as I know she has used this methodology before, too.
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I love when dogs are motivated to work for their regular food, @bernerlabreclectus !
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Great tips!
On rare occasions, I have discovered dogs were not taking treats or training due to locations or context. I have learned to dig deeper.
I like your idea of trying many food items until you eventually find one! Usually there is something out there the dog will eat. We and the clients just have to take the time to find it.
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Such a fabulous suggestion, @jenz ! And: who doesn’t love to sample the dessert table?!?
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Did you say dessert? ????
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The Motivation channel has a number of fun resources. This is one – a fun game called Find the Value – which is one way to rate different values of food. I like doing this in a normal, boring environment, but when taking it on the road, the dog can show a different response! Some dogs are just so into exploring or distractions that no food is gonna capture them. So we might turn to using play or some other reward… or trying the changes Virginia suggested in her post, above.
It’s not just whether or not the dog eats the food; How they are eating the food is also important, as @virginiad pointed out in this post.
Love all the creative suggestions shared in this discussion about making the food more interesting. In this discussion there are more ideas about specific treats to try.
My regular “training treat” involves putting Bliss’ regular kibble in a zippy bag, then adding a fresh protein, chopped up, a handful of cheerios and a little water or broth. I mix it all around then let it marinate on the way to training class. By the time we get there the kibble and cheerios have absorbed the moisture and feel a little jerky-like. And the meat isn’t greasy. This is Bliss’ dinner on class nights. I use some during class, then dump half of what’s left in her crate when leaving. She gets the rest when we get home – because she’s always like: “That was fun, where’s dinner?” ????
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One thing I do for dogs that are not that motivated for food is reward away from the handler. I add movement to the “reward event”. For example if i am teaching a sit, I mark the sit and then we run to a puzzle with treats in it. I find that many dogs we take the treat when they work for it. Again depends on dog. Sometimes dogs just get bored and lose motivation to eat the treat
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That’s such a great idea, @bmacwatt !
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Love this! I’ve recently been turned onto the idea of “reward rituals” to add value via the food delivery method.
I’ve been using “Get it!” (toss the cookie along their sight line to chase), “Find it!” (drop a few under their nose to sniff out) and “Catch!” (toss towards their mouth).
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These are fantastic, @wagswithwarren !
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@bmacwatt and @wagswithwarren – these are great ideas. Rewarding away from the handler, and bringing a routine/challenge/chase to the reward can really help.
I also landed on this when I was working with my Vizsla who was more motivated to hunt than recall. She’d sometimes take food from my hand when she came back, and other times, “meh.” One day I brightly tossed it away, giving her a chance to hunt for it in the grass. She got so animated and happy about it that I totally changed how I rewarded her after that! And guess what… her recall improved, too! ????
Super tips – thank you both for sharing! Photo of my girl Penny for tax.
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That’s awesome! I noticed it was a winner with Henry when his tail would perk up while he chased the kibble and drop as he ate it. Photo for tax.
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CHASE is the name of that reinforcer, amiright!?
G’boy, Henry!
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