Lip Licking And Food Obsession

[lovemesideways]

What I would be trying, will take a fair bit of patience!

I would, get the clicker out, get a handful of treats. Let her see you do this. You said when she knows training is coming she starts getting excited and licking? Excellent thats what you want :D

Then you go sit in a chair, and Wait. Just wait.

Wait for her to be Not licking for at least 10 seconds. Dogs association time is roughly 10 seconds.

Just sit, don't move around, don't talk to her or anything. Then when she has been not licking for that 10 second period, click and treat!

Then she might go through all the excited "zOMG there is food that I am Actually getting!!!" phase, but just chill. Wait it out. All you want to look for is her not licking so you can click and treat.

I would even go so far as to carrying some treats and a clicker around with you, and watching her for that non-licking behaviour, and calmly clicking and treating this calm no licking.

It might take a while, which is why you need some patience. Maybe do it after having just fed her so she is at least somewhat full (though being a labrador, they don't understand this 'not hungry' phase ) Now this is just my idea, now idea if it will work, but not harm in trying .

and I agree we need a video!

[aussielover]

I have started weaning Mindy (also a lab) off the treats now, but only for known commands. When teaching something new, i would always use treats as i find it easier. For known commands, I change the reward around from praise and cuddles, to a squeaky toy and occaisonally i will treat her again but she never knows what it will be.

I have found training to be very effective when i work her up with a toy. she will work just as well for a toy as for a treat so i suppose i could use a toy to teach her new stuff, i just find the timing better with treats.

[corvus]

If it is anticipation of food, you could always mess up the anticipation by adding in other rewards, like play or life rewards. I do this for many things as soon as it is on cue.

You can shape something automatic like lovemesideways suggested starting with very small durations. I once shaped Erik to hold his right front paw up starting with clicking for the moment he lifted it as he was walking. It took maybe 10 minutes, which is a long time for Erik. I wouldn't be able to do that with Kivi, though, because I doubt he would ever be aware of what his tongue was doing. For him I would click for licking first and put that on cue, which would probably work to make him aware of it and thus realise when I was clicking for NOT sticking it out.

[flycow]

oh my rottie licks his lips. Its a PITA when I'm in the kitchen he rushes over, quickly does a perfect sit then starts licking his lips and gluping like he's about to get everything on the stove or plate. He's so food obsessed. Shits me to tears actually I just hate the noise

Well, Diva does that as well, who doesn't, I do that if I'm hungry enough

I would, get the clicker out, get a handful of treats. Let her see you do this. You said when she knows training is coming she starts getting excited and licking? Excellent thats what you want

Then you go sit in a chair, and Wait. Just wait.

Wait for her to be Not licking for at least 10 seconds. Dogs association time is roughly 10 seconds.

Just sit, don't move around, don't talk to her or anything. Then when she has been not licking for that 10 second period, click and treat!

Right, I can do this, it's simple enough and I'm really good at catching her body language most times .

and I agree we need a video!

can't do this without her suspecting, will have to see.

aussielover, Diva don't play with toys unfortunately. It's never interests her since pup, she's only likes dogs and humans, and smokers Maybe I can try a cigarette butt

If it is anticipation of food, you could always mess up the anticipation by adding in other rewards, like play or life rewards. I do this for many things as soon as it is on cue.

You can shape something automatic like lovemesideways suggested starting with very small durations. I once shaped Erik to hold his right front paw up starting with clicking for the moment he lifted it as he was walking. It took maybe 10 minutes, which is a long time for Erik. I wouldn't be able to do that with Kivi, though, because I doubt he would ever be aware of what his tongue was doing. For him I would click for licking first and put that on cue, which would probably work to make him aware of it and thus realise when I was clicking for NOT sticking it out.

Can you define "on cue" for me please? I"m curious about the part in bold. I think she don't realise doing it, if that's true I might need to bring her attention to it first but I need to observe her a bit more to see if she's aware of the act at all.

Ok, so this is briefly what I'm going to do. I'll set some goals, break down the steps, find the best time and area to train, feed her first then begin with low value treats and start with lovemesideways' suggestion. I may also need to make her aware of the problem before moving on to correct it. Does this sound right?

Edited August 27, 2010 by flycow

[corvus]

Can you define "on cue" for me please? I"m curious about the part in bold. I think she don't realise doing it, if that's true I might need to bring her attention to it first but I need to observe her a bit more to see if she's aware of the act at all.

By "on cue" I mean when she's doing it reliably for a click, name it and use the name to prompt the lip licking and then only reward it if she does it when you tell her to.

Kivi has his head in the clouds most of the time and when we are training he is intensely focused on me. I had a lot of troubles getting him to interact with things other than me because he wouldn't notice them and could not understand what he was being clicked for. It was very frustrating for him. I started target training him to make training easier and help him become more aware of his surroundings and his body. It has worked quite well.

Erik is just more aware than Kivi. I can click something that he's not aware he's doing and eventually he will work out what I'm clicking or will just respond automatically. Another time I was clicking him for tipping one ear towards the cleaners in the other room that he was so upset about. I doubt he was ever aware of what I was clicking, but the ear tipping increased in frequency anyway. Or maybe he thought I was clicking something else that occurred with the ear tipping. Anyway, the point is, Erik will usually figure out what I'm clicking sooner or later, even if it's something he isn't entirely aware he is doing at first. But Kivi will often take so long to figure it out that he will get frustrated and give up on the whole thing before he figures it out. But targeting brings it to his attention. If I were clicking for no licking with him, I would expect him to assume I was clicking for something more obvious he was doing, like sitting. He's not very active during training, so he could be getting heaps of clicks in the same position and never realise it was the lack of licking I was marking.

[Nekhbet]

I wouldnt mind the behaviour if it didnt come with slurping and gulping noises, and the fact every time he licks something he makes this huge clicking noise with his teeth. I tell you it can rouse you from the deepest slumber at 3am when rottie decides he needs to lick himself

Edited August 27, 2010 by Nekhbet