Why we use food for dog training
"I don't want to rely on food for my training"
"Back in my day we didn't bribe dogs"
"My dog should just do as I say"
Does this sound familiar to you? We hear sentences like this so often and often when we ask why they are in for training it's because the dog won't recall, won't listen, pulls on the lead etc and there is a general break down in a section of their relationship.
Why is the dog like this?
Because the owner is holding low value to them. The owner hasn't worked on building the relationship in a way that the dog finds beneficial. In other words, the lack of rewards has dropped engagement and the owners overall value in the dogs eyes.
Imagine having a friend that provides no value to your friendship but has high expectations and demands things of you? How long would you remain friends with this person? Personally, this isn't a friendship I would want to invest any time in and it's the same for your dog.
So if you've found yourself in the position where your dog isn't listening and you want to change it's attitude, the first thing you need to fix is the gaps in your relationship and it's not as hard as you would think.
Firstly
- STOP feeding your dog from his/her bowl.
- Put your dogs daily food allowance in a treat pouch
- Start working on basic exercises and fun games for your dog to earn it's daily calories
- Use a marker to mark the moment your dog gets the game/training right
- Reward your dog early and often
- Be consistent
- Keep the sessions short 5 mins max
- Play with your dog daily Ball, tug, wrestling or whatever your dog finds enjoyable
- Invest daily time into your relationship where the dog feels good about your company
Do this daily for a couple of weeks and look at the change in your dog. You should see a dramatic difference in your dogs attitude, attention and overall demeanour.
For those of you saying that your dog doesn't have food drive, use high value food (not dry biscuits or dried liver. Try PRIME100 or equivilant) and remove all access to food other than through interactions with you. You can build food drive in
all dogs.
If you think that this isn't possible, our team works with 50 dogs per day and manages to get every one of them believing they are amazing and worth leaving games for.
Remember- Training only works when you do!
In life there is a thing called opposition reflex. It’s a natural reflex to resist pressure. If I push you, you will automatically lean into this pressure to steady yourself. If I pull on your arm, you will pull back in the opposite direction.
When training your dog you can use opposition reflex to your benefit but it can also create problems in your training if you don’t understand it.
Think about the way you hold your lead. Do you put it around your wrist and then wrap it around your hand until you have some tension to feel like you have control of your dog? Yes? What you’ve just done is triggered your dogs opposition reflex and made your dog pull on the lead and given you less control.
Here are some tips to help you achieve a relaxing loose lead walk .
- Get yourself a good lead. One that isn’t too long and is made of a good material. Steer away from the nylon types that burn and have no padding on the handle. Leather, Cotton Webbing and Biothane leads are good to hold and you can get a good grip on them.2. Practice the ‘safety grip’. Place the loop of the handle over your thumb and then grip the remainder of the handle in your palm. This is a secure grip that you won’t let go of but if necessary, you can.
3. Forget the notion that dogs pull because they are ‘alpha’ or ‘being dominant’. Dogs walk quicker than us and walking is exciting so they are driven to get moving. Increase your pace.
4. Ask for your dogs attention and move off. Praise your dog when the lead is loose. Right before the dog puts tension in the lead, change direction sharply. ?At this point you can add a verbal correction at the exact moment you turn. When you get the dogs attention, praise the dog again. Encourage the dog strongly to focus and pay attention and reward/praise them heavily when they get it. The idea here is to make the direction as clear as possible. YES you are getting it right and NO you got it wrong. Make it as black and white as possible. This may take a few turns but by being consistent and making the rules clear, your dog will get the picture.
Remember that tension creates tension. If you want to increase tension in a dog then hold a tight lead. If you want to decrease tension, you need to remove the pressure in the lead.
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