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Street Snacker
Hello, everyone! My 2-3 y/o Amstaff is quite the connoisseur of sidewalk surprises. Check out her Yelp sometime. I don’t always see what she sees especially now with the leaves overing portions of the ground now.
She is great with “Leave it” indoors but it has been difficult generalizing it to the temptations we happen upon. The other day she performed marvelously when cued while approaching a fast food wrapper cut I had to take a chicken wing bone from her mouth yesterday. Suffice to say there have been no supply chain issues for her.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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15 Replies
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Hi Brian, Oh man, that’s such a tough one as it taps into our dogs’ instinctive “opportunistic scavenger”. It sounds like you are doing your work to teach a strong Leave it – hopefully you have something super valuable to pay her with? I suggest something she goes bananas for, but only gets on those walks. And, how does she feel about toys or a ball? Could she carry a ball or other toy on a walk? You could cue her to bring it to you and pay her with the super-yum any time you see a wrapper or bone on the street.
Finally, this is a safety concern – especially if she is a resource guarder at all (and if she’s not, she may start to be, given enough times of losing her “prize”.) Have you given any thought to conditioning her to wear a basket muzzle? It’s a nice skill to have, in any case and could buy you some time while you continue to both exercise her and work on the issue.
Let us know how it goes!
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Thanks for the tips! I take some air fried chicken with me which she Is motivated by but it seems like the novel aspect of the sidewalk prizes is difficult to top. She really isn’t toy motivated
I haven’t seen any resource guarding behavior thus far. I try to let her “win” a few of her found items if it is safe. She found an old slipper that I forgot I had. I took it from her, and then tossed it back with a treat jammed in it. Now I think she steals things to get my attention and possibly a treat.
I am mixed on the muzzle idea. Her breed already gets a bad rap. My thoughts are emotional not rational, I know. It is difficult for me to compartmentalize being an owner and trainer.
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OOOhhh… there may be something, here:
Now I think she steals things to get my attention and possibly a treat.
Could this be a behavior chain?
@Brian We’re going to be working on this during our LLW month, but here’s a sneak peak as it’s a game I think may be helpful to create some impulse control around food on the ground. You can set it up – and possibly video it for us? And let us know how it goes:
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I absolutely think it is a behavior chain when I am indoors and she steals something like a shoe or pillow. However, outdoors I think it is what you alluded to being more instinctual as a scavenger.
I would love to try that exercise but would like to see it demonstrated first.
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Similar to what @Catherine suggested, I’ve used the “food meadow” technique. The set up is similar to the graphic above that Catherine shared, but you and your dog continue past each item rather than having them stop at each one. I’d start with very low value treats (like Cheerios) in a line on the ground and a healthy distance away (about 5-6 feet). I’d have the client work on asking for a “Watch me” whenever their dog oriented or pulled towards the food; successful “watch me”s get rewarded emphatically with jerky treats, which can also be used to lure the dog into the “watch me” if they’re struggling with it. I have clients basically serpentine closer and closer to the treat line if they’re doing well getting their dog’s focus.
This also works well with dogs that love to snatch up rocks, sticks, or other “contraband” items on the ground!
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This is great, following.
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A little update. I have been teaching her a “look here” indoors, then back yard. I will take it on the road this weekend. I also have been “paying” her by dropping treats at my feet. Keeping her close and checking in
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Good job, setting her up for success by practicing the desired behavior at home! I have a question about your reward delivery… can you walk me through how getting reinforcement from the ground (that you drop) will help her learn not to eat other things she is finding on the ground? It’s an interesting question about discrimination – and I’m curious about your thought process on this. @Brian
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I would love to try ‘watch me’ as @Catherine mentioned.
But he is very good at Leave it. I have had more success with leave it. But one or two chicken bones gets past my eyes and into his mouth directly. In those cases, there is not other choice than asking him drop it or take it out of his mouth.
So, this is what I did. I taught him HOLD with toys first, and then I used to touch onto the side part of the toy which is shown out of the mouth and ask ‘DROP IT’. THis is just in case if i had to hold the bone outside. I just want to teach him that it was okay if I touch him anywhere near his mouth. And then I jackpot reward him with jerky or his fav cheese. I have practiced this so much that now he holds onto a hot dog in his mouth without trying to eat it and I ask him to drop it, and he does, the reward here would be a part of the hot dog. I tried this outside once or twice and it did work. As soon he drops it, jackpot rewards from my pouch keeps coming.
But other times I know which part of my area as free food, so i just avoid them, or put him close by while walking past those areas.
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This is BRILLIANT, @RADS !! What a strong HOLD and DROP IT you have with Points. That’s such good training. We would love to see a video when you have a moment!
I taught him HOLD with toys first, and then I used to touch onto the side part of the toy which is shown out of the mouth and ask ‘DROP IT’. THis is just in case if i had to hold the bone outside. I just want to teach him that it was okay if I touch him anywhere near his mouth. And then I jackpot reward him with jerky or his fav cheese. I have practiced this so much that now he holds onto a hot dog in his mouth without trying to eat it and I ask him to drop it, and he does, the reward here would be a part of the hot dog. – Radhika V.
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Yes, here are some videos. One with cheese stick (shot a few months ago) and another one with jerky (shot just now).
Not sure if they load up.
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AWESOME TRAINING @RADS !! Point is such a lucky boy to have you. I did notice he struggled with a little bit of… “just…one…lick…” ???? but the fact he held it so well and released it quickly is just great training. Thanks for demonstrating this!
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HaHa, yes, the cheese was irresistible, but he did his best. Thank you 🙂
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Beautiful performances and impressive training! ????????Teaching a hold of any object usually takes a lot of patience on the part of both the trainer and the dog. Make it a hold of delicious food and that takes it up another notch. I also love how you think about the many purposes that such training can have @RADS ????
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Thank you @David .
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