Creating A Reward Toy

[OSoSwift]

I have a young Whippet who is food motivated and quite willing. She does however tend to lose interest after a short time. I sometimes let her go for a short flat out hoon as a reward and that usually fires her up as well. She loves her toys and I would like to introduce a tug toy or something similar to use as a reward. She does play tug and enjoys it. Do I buy a toy specifically for the purpose? Do I only let her 'play' with it when training? Do I let her only play tug and not have 'control' of the toy, or do I play tug then let her have it to run around? My previous dog would work for treats for hours then still eat a full tea if possible so I have not used a toy as a motivator/reward before. Any help to get on the right track is very appreciated.

ETA - She is a clicker trained puppy as of 8 weeks of age.

Edited October 17, 2008 by rommimum

[Kavik]

Have you looked at the training in drive threads?

[OSoSwift]

No But I will thank you

[laffi]

I think looking at these thread will definitely be helpful.

Just to answer your questions briefly. I think toys are great to use in training (esp agility) :rolleyes: and not just food.

I usually have a toy that my dogs love and I only use in training and they don't have access to it outside of training. I end the game and take the toy away but if you need to build up the drive for the toy you can let them run with it for a bit. I would only do it if a dog is a reluctant tugger and you need to build up their confidence. But you don't want to end up with a dog that just wants to run away from you with the toy, so I would insist more on the interactive part of tugging rather than the 'winning' part. That's why it helps to have a release word, like "give" where the dogs stops tugging and releases the toy. I use it a lot during training and just restart the game as soon as they let it go. This way they grow to like to give you the toy as soon as possible so the game can restart again.

[OSoSwift]

Thanks Laffi, I will start that. I have never had a dog that would play tug before, probably because I never worked on it, but I think it will help her keep motivation.

[WalandLibby]

This is from Susan Garrett... http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm

Personally though I've just taught tug and toy play by reinforcing it with food and shaping more intense interaction with the toy over time.

Edited October 17, 2008 by WalandLibby