live_a_dream Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 I'm doing obedience class with my Golden Retriever. She is more interested in the other people and dogs and not interested in food during training. Does anyone have any recommendations on the best food to train with to get her focus back on me and the training? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labbylicious Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 If the list isn't too long, what have you tried and ruled out already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Something wet and smelly like Raw meat (lamb or beef) or BBQ chicken if you don't want to get too messy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Must you use food? How does she feel about balls, toys or tugs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Could she be more prey/toy driven than food driven? The first night I had Daisy at obedience club as a pup she couldn't care less about the food I had (dried liver) - the other dogs were WAY too exciting! It was a case of us going from training at home, which was a relatively low distraction environment, and then going straight to a very high distraction environment at obedience club - naturally it was going to be hard to get Daisy to focus at a place like training club when we'd only ever trained at home. She'd gone from practically no distractions to 100! Having said that, I train with high value treats and only ever use them for training - things like boiled or roast chicken, boiled steak, left over roast, sausage or kabana, cheese etc. Anything soft and smelly is usually a good place to start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arawnhaus Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Must you use food? How does she feel about balls, toys or tugs? I second these Q's......... cheese,dried liver,hot dog is good focus food............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelpie-i Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Could she be slightly stressed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 I've had fun with this one with my Dally! A couple of questions.... How old is she? I found some real changes in food motivation associated with age. Is she hungry? Does she know that she'll just go home and have dinner anyway? Very difficult to motivate a dog with food if she's not particularly hungry! How does she eat her daily meal - does she work for it? Do you use treats that she ONLY gets at training? Are you using a variety of treats? Roast chicken, raw mince, cheese, 4 legs, boiled egg, tinned salmon are some of my favourites. If you can tick all of the above boxes (plus those already mentioned - stress for example), then try dried, sliced blood sausage - disgusting and stinks to high heaven but I've never seen dogs be motivated by food more quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqueak Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 ... then try dried, sliced blood sausage - disgusting and stinks to high heaven but I've never seen dogs be motivated by food more quickly can I hijack for just a second? I have seen blood sausage in the butcher and deli, but I need to know if I need to cook it first??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live_a_dream Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 Custard is 12 months old. We feed her morning and night but on training day, we don't feed her in the morning. We've tried dired liver, kabana and roast chicken and other dog treats (like smackos and others) that we can get her to do anything at home for. She doesn't even want to sniff it at training to eat it. She's not stressed, the opposite, she's way too happy and excited. We've tried her favourite ball, which gets her focus but she's almost too focused on the ball and just wants to play, so she'll keep sitting in front of me, wanting me to throw the ball, which doesn't help when we're trying to heal. Thanks for all of your suggestions, I think I'll try hot dogs and cheese this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 ... then try dried, sliced blood sausage - disgusting and stinks to high heaven but I've never seen dogs be motivated by food more quickly can I hijack for just a second? I have seen blood sausage in the butcher and deli, but I need to know if I need to cook it first??? I haven't made it personally but I understand devotees slice it very thinly and almost dry it in the microwave.....have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptolomy Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 ... then try dried, sliced blood sausage - disgusting and stinks to high heaven but I've never seen dogs be motivated by food more quickly can I hijack for just a second? I have seen blood sausage in the butcher and deli, but I need to know if I need to cook it first??? Yes cut the blood sausage into thin slices 1-2mm thick and then place on a plate on some absorbant paper and microwave for 4-5 minutes (it goes a bit rubbery). The last lot I did - I microwaved it in two lots - I didn't bother covering it. The house will stink so you will need to open up all the windows. When cooled I cur each slice into 1/4's and then I put them into plastic bags and into the freezer and I just pull out a bag when I need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Custard is 12 months old.We feed her morning and night but on training day, we don't feed her in the morning. We've tried dired liver, kabana and roast chicken and other dog treats (like smackos and others) that we can get her to do anything at home for. She doesn't even want to sniff it at training to eat it. She's not stressed, the opposite, she's way too happy and excited. We've tried her favourite ball, which gets her focus but she's almost too focused on the ball and just wants to play, so she'll keep sitting in front of me, wanting me to throw the ball, which doesn't help when we're trying to heal. Thanks for all of your suggestions, I think I'll try hot dogs and cheese this weekend. From what you've posted I think it's more about technique rather than the type of food - she will probably improve with some maturity too Personally, I would hand feed all her meals (I'm assuming it's dry food?) via training at home and not feed any treats at home. She ONLY gets those when she goes to training. I would also try halving her meal the night before training as well (I have a dog that loses weight easily so I build his meals up on other nights). Some food throwing games would probably help her too, especially if she loves her ball - best of both worlds! Where do you train? Someone on here might train at the same club and be able to lend a hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqueak Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 ... then try dried, sliced blood sausage - disgusting and stinks to high heaven but I've never seen dogs be motivated by food more quickly can I hijack for just a second? I have seen blood sausage in the butcher and deli, but I need to know if I need to cook it first??? Yes cut the blood sausage into thin slices 1-2mm thick and then place on a plate on some absorbant paper and microwave for 4-5 minutes (it goes a bit rubbery). The last lot I did - I microwaved it in two lots - I didn't bother covering it. The house will stink so you will need to open up all the windows. When cooled I cur each slice into 1/4's and then I put them into plastic bags and into the freezer and I just pull out a bag when I need it. Thanks for that. I haven't got a microwave, so I'm guessing I could just slice it thinly and bake in for a while in a slow oven??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanne76 Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have the same problem with one of my girls. She is to busy watching everyone around her that she shows no interest in me or the food treats i offer. My trainer recommended that i stop feeding her from a bowl, all her meals need to come out of the treat bag and to feed her during training sessions only. That way she will recognise the treat bag as her food sourse and be interested to eat what i offer. To be honest I havent tried it yet. My other dog looooooves cabanosi sliced up. Good luck I hope you find a solution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tambaqui Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 What about skinless frankfurts? You can buy them from any supermarket, cook them in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then cut them up in pieces to eat! I used Frankfurts when my GSP was a pup, but eventually I moved onto smackos as she was getting way too grabby and will get the food at any cost (Even if it means knocking you down or jumping on you to get into the pockets!). I have suggested this to someone else in my class a few months ago at obedience as she was the same with her dog and apparently it worked so well that he dog was working better! Hope you will get your pup working well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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