mowgliandme

A teaspoon at a time>>>>> that would be a huge training treat for a Mastiff even! Find a stock cube, and cut it neatly into four equal pieces. Study the size of one of those. Memorise it. That is the maximum size I would be giving her.... haha no not a teaspoon at a time...that was the total size of the treat food before cutting it up!! So like 2cm of sausage or a cube (1.5cm) of cheese cut up into smaller pieces, i assume similar to a stock cube? (cut up into very small pieces so at least 8 pieces from those)

I saw a recipe for those recently too and am hoping to make them! :) Love the photo, soo cute :D I am not actually sure if its because of the fat content or something else entirely that those things don't suit her as she does eat black hawk with no issues and the natures domain kibble too... It may just be that devon/cheese/sausage was salty or too processed, or that a teaspoon was too much for her size at the time - she is a pretty small dog now (7ishkg) and was even tinier before!

I havent tried it, but will check it out too :) I think she really loves more fish based foods as she is totally obsessed with the costco kibble (natures domain salmon and sweet potato) that my housemate uses... she likes that kibble as much as roast chicken! So i am hoping to try her on a fish based one next time :)

Ooh thanks for the suggestions I will try 4 legs/chunkers too :) Shes pretty good with bones and chicken frames but i cant use them for training... She is quite slim according to our vet, but not underweight She also has been travel sick a couple of times...but i was also travel sick then because the roads were so windy I tried to use cheese for training but I accidentally ate half of it before I even got her and the clicker out :p

Haha such different personalities and tastes! :) She seems to like kibble more if its from a treat ball than if its in her food bowl, so maybe she only likes "surprise kibble" as it that makes it more exciting or something :laugh:

The worst part is I'm vegetarian so i go and make all these things for her and then turns out she cant eat much of it or doesnt even like it...so now I'm that weirdo thats trying to give my friends sausages or mince! :p She is definitely a grazer too...I've tried removing the food after 5 minutes, skipping a couple of meals but shes only ever interested in food from the treat ball when it suits her

ooh sounds lovely - added to my calendar! :)

hehe karen15 they do try and train us dont they! I have always had more "labrador like" dogs who could eat anything but will continue to limit those foods for her :) She is not much of a foodie but really lights up for sausages and salmon so she only gets the tiniest piece :p

Just seems like chicken things are the only thing i can use for training at the moment (anything else and she cant handle more than 1 teaspoon of- not that it seems to bother her at all) She is pretty good with dried chicken, roast/steamed chicken etc but doesnt seem to love them like the other stuff... Thank you Papillon Kisses I will try the kangaroo sausages for training as well and whimzees too! :) She doesn't like greenies at all though, will spit them out - such a fusspot! Im going to try her on some other kibbles in a few months...but I thought all the puppy foods are fairly high in fat? Or is this one much higher than others?

She is perfectly fine on a very bland diet of black hawk (lamb and rice for puppy) or chicken and rice etc, with a few veggies and yogurt :) But she seems to have issues with most treats/chews etc - even when i've given her a pigs ear (and she's had only a quarter of it) or a rawhide stick she seems to get “mushy” poos instead of firm. I think the only chew she has been great with is roo tendons so far. She did get gastro as a puppy from having 2cms of a sausage too and again when a dog trainer gave her two pieces of devon...I think she struggles with anything a little bit fatty? (even in tiny amounts) I can definitely give her lower fat treats but naturally she loves all of the fatty things more!

Some vets have a payment plan type system, so you can pay off your bill slowly even if you don't have pet insurance...? In terms of reducing the likelihood that insurance wont cover it, I would insure as soon as you get your puppy so it has no "pre-existing conditions" and go with a very comprehensive cover like PetPlan :) But its always a good idea to have a puppy savings account for emergencies!

I agree with Tassie, thank you both Simply Grand and corvus :) great explanations! Loved the article too Thanks for breaking it down for me, I had thought I was taking it very slowly, but now i see what you mean! Started implementing it already, getting lots of eye contact outside and recalls from a very close by (step or two)! :) I think i'm going to like this game

Thats what i want to do! :) And i love all of those concepts but I don't think I know how exactly to do that...? She has a perfect recall at home (inside, backyard, front yard, nature strip), she recalls away from chasing birds in the garden, away from mince the grass at home etc. I can just say come and she has an instant bounce and turn around, (I don't need to show her the treats/toys or run around before hand at all) I try to vary the rewards so its not always the same thing: playing with toys, chasing me a little, getting great treats and always lots of fuss How do I build in the distractions though? Is it just a matter of practising in different environments like the front of the house? Then my street, then a busier place? And what do I do if she doesnt come in a new environment... Do I then lure her? or run around trying to be more exciting? For example if we are walking around my empty street, and there is no dogs/people/cars etc just places to sniff and grass... She has great recall from sniffing in our front yard (but other dogs dont normally go in there) and even our front nature strip...how do i progress from there to set her up for success? :D Is it practising the same way one house at a time? Or something else? I'm here to learn! So would love any suggestions/books/ideas :)

Thanks Kavik just tried it at home so far and she loves it :)

One of these can get rid of dead/undercoat hair and reduce the amount thats sheds over the house? :) http://marsgroomingproducts.com.au/mars-coat-king.html

My housemate feeds it to her dog and he loves it :) His coat is a lot nicer on it, he is less itchy and the "output" size has decreased a lot too- although that can vary from dog to dog It rates quite highly on here http://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/dry-dog-food/best-dry-dog-food/ He has the salmon and sweet potato one and even my puppy likes it more than her Black Hawk food, so she has some for treats occasionally (but the pieces are quite big so I don't use it too much for her) I'm considering giving it to her once shes an adult as they dont have a puppy food, but will also try a few other foods to see what suits her best~ Costco will return it if your dog doesnt like it though, so if you have a membership I think its worth trying?

Im hoping that if i use a very bright yellow and blue long sock (which is meant to be the colours dogs see best?) that it will be different enough from my rather dark/black socks. I assume if i just ignore her behaviour with my socks and only play with this specific sock it may work ? I'll test it out! I have tried being super exciting, running around, waving my arms around and making noise (and giving treats, praise and pats) but it is apparently not as interesting as sniffing the grass after the first go or two and neither are treats...(thats why I want to learn how to transfer value to treats or something) shes pretty good walking at LLW on the footpath, at home, the shops and most places -its grassy ovals that i cant get much attention in at the moment! So hoping that transferring the value from sniffing to food/toys/praise may fix it a little bit as we go to training in a park

Great idea - I didnt even consider padding a long sock! :D She is a Cobberdog or Australian Labradoodle (bit controversial on this forum) but she's just a small fluffy pupper that steals hearts and makes me do lots of research on how to make her super happy She is a very calm pup and doesn't have any of the working dog drive or love to work like yours I talk to her all the time too but she only recently started 'going all tail waggly for it' since I did it with clicker training, but now shes like that even when we arent training! I tried doing clicker training the traditional way (more thinking for her and me being silent way) but she wasn't much like the dogs in the youtube videos that just seem to love figuring it out until there was pats and praise so whatever works for her, i can make work for me! :)

Thanks for those I couldnt find the other two when i searched for some reason! :) It just seems like they will start liking the "things that you ask for", "noises you make" or "toy/treat they get" before what they "originally want" - with enough repetitions they become associated together and the value transfers? I'm not planning on getting rid of the treats anytime soon :) but its more of a bridge for me "asking more more" like every time i click or say yes she definitely gets a treat, but when Im asking for multiple behaviours on variable reinforcement ratio (like two spins and a leg weave before one treat) thats when i want to be able to use praise a bit more to keep her motivated? I wouldn't use it for learning behaviours just for things she already knows very well :) I'd also hope to "one day" (in the very distant future) be able to go for a walk without so much roast chicken in my pocket So here's hoping that once i get a super soft tug toy and shes done teething, then I get her to interact with it a little bit, then play a little with a sock, then repeat until she likes the tug to the same as the the sock! I could always try without the sock first but we have 3 tuggy toys and she will play with them a little bit but she just doesnt "light up" like she does with the sock just yet

Skip: Depending on what we are learning (if i need two hands) I use a verbal marker (yes) or the clicker - will praise dilute the value of these? Its just that with our other dog (before I knew about clicker training) I can just say "good boy" and give him a pat and he gets soo happy and tail waggly, even if there isnt always food. :) I think she is enjoying training more (more tail wags and excitement) since upping the praise and pats? I would like to increase the value of these so i can at least give her something when we arent training with food

I don’t mind transferring the value to tug either if that’s easier than food? :) Is it the same principle as the food one? I did read the thread but I cant find much info on how to apply it other than the article I linked? My puppy’s favourite thing in the whole world is finding and running away with socks (I have never chased her for a sock but a couple of people have lunged at her as their beloved sock was stolen and this seems to have been reinforcement enough!) Everything else…she loves to retrieve back to me. But with socks she’s all about dancing out of reach and throwing it in the air and doing zoomies! She is also very keen on tugging with a sock…(dont ask how i know this :p) I would like to transfer this sock love to something more useful like a tug or a toy (once she finishes teething)! But she is not anywhere near as interested in them as with the socks! Should I try to get a small soft cloth like tug toy? She’s going to be a fairly small dog so it doesn’t have to be super sturdy etc Or should I just let it go and reward her with (a specific set) of socks just for this …because they are clearly her favourite? I am not too concerned about sock stealing as they are "mostly out of reach" and otherwise she is almost too well behaved at home I am currently waiting for a bit of attention/eye contact (she automatically sits when she does this) before releasing her with a "go sniff", and while this works pretty well on our walks along the street on the pavement ...it doesnt work very well at the training oval which is all grass, so was hoping to build the value for food/tug/playing/something before trying that again

Hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction on how to “transfer the value of rewards”? :) I’ve been looking at the premack principle …but from my understanding it’s more of a “get your dog to something” to get “what they want”? How does that make them like doing the first thing more? I wait for my pup to sit before I open the front door for walks but I don’t think she likes sitting there any more than before? (she still does it because I don’t open the door otherwise) I have been increasing her value of praise a bit more (or at least that’s what I think I’m doing) by being more lively/excited with it, giving her a few pats and then giving a treat last. I did a lot of clicker training with her and was a bit too “click = good girl + food” boring so hoping to fix that http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2010/07/grow-the-value/ I found this article and want to apply it to loose leash walking but while she is great with any treats inside (except kibble), outside the house even high value foods are less interesting to her than sniffing all the grass. Should I be giving her a treat before sniffing the grass (what she wants to do most) on walks to increase her value for treats first…? Or should I get her to recall back to me when the leash gets tense before letting her sniff the grass (but then wouldn’t I sort of be encouraging her to pull if she back chains?) I’ve probably been doing the exact opposite, giving her treats for returning to me after sniffing the grass and walking by my side. I do want her to enjoy sniffing and exploring things :) (it is great when we are camping and in one spot) and i am giving her lots of short opportunities to do so on walks too! but she could quite happily spend 30 minutes just sniffing the grass outside each house which is not very fun/practical for going places/walking together

What a handsome dog! :)

There is no puppy fun classes at the moment!

Thank you denali! It looks like that but only it’s because I didn’t do it right before… we do a lot of clicker training but I think I was too structured and not very emotive/fun! So trying to fix it now :)