High Value Treats

[Marnifer]

Hi all,

I have a lab. She's almost two and probably due to me being a bit overly cautious, I've never been comfortable taking her to off leash parks because I cannot guarantee her recallability.

This is as much for her own safety (none of the off leash area's around the local (or neighbouring) council area are fully fenced) as for the enjoyment of other dogs/owners. Since she is two, she's also still very, ummm, enthusiastic whenever she meets new dogs. Taking her for walks she regularly tries to bolt when she sees another dog across the road.

Anyway, I need to do some recall training with her and have been told to use a treat that is really highly valued. The problem is, she'll eat anything you give her - all day - and enjoy it all. When everything seems to rate at a 9 out of 10, picking the difference between everything else and the one or two things that might be 10 out of 10 is pretty hard. How does everyone else work it out? Does it even matter that much?

[W Sibs]

I think that if your dog loves any food then it shouldn't be a problem on getting her back.

Do you take your dog to obedience training?

[OSoSwift]

Usually something that they don't normally get. something like small cubes of roast beef or chicken, sometimes cheese or fresh cooked cubes of liver.

With some dogs who like everything you can use everything. Over time you may find there is something that will get her attention under huge distraction and something that will not, or will not hold it.

Basic place to start is something small, chewy and easy to swallow and something they don't get every day. A friend of mine uses Chicken Nuggets as ther dog loves those but only gets them when training under high distraction

[Marnifer]

I think that if your dog loves any food then it shouldn't be a problem on getting her back.

Do you take your dog to obedience training?

She went to puppy classes when she was about 12 weeks old and then I took her to an andolescent class at the local vet run by a Delta trainer (i think she was about 5 months old then) and then we did the Canine Good Citizen course when she was about 8 months old. Since then, it has just been me.

I have been meaning to take her back though and do a bit more with her.

[Lab lady]

My Labs will also eat and enjoy anything but i use chicken chunkers and cheese as my training treats and they never get them at any other time.

At 2 i would expect that you should have fairly good control of her but if you are not confident that she will listen to you once off lead then you really need to listen to yourself and not go there until you really feel she can be trusted.

Keep working at it, you may even need to work her on a long line so she gets some freedom but you still have some control.

Please drop into the Lab tread, there are a few there with younger Labs and we often talk about training tips.

[Greytmate]

Hi all,

I have a lab. She's almost two and probably due to me being a bit overly cautious, I've never been comfortable taking her to off leash parks because I cannot guarantee her recallability.

This is as much for her own safety (none of the off leash area's around the local (or neighbouring) council area are fully fenced) as for the enjoyment of other dogs/owners. Since she is two, she's also still very, ummm, enthusiastic whenever she meets new dogs. Taking her for walks she regularly tries to bolt when she sees another dog across the road.

Anyway, I need to do some recall training with her and have been told to use a treat that is really highly valued. The problem is, she'll eat anything you give her - all day - and enjoy it all. When everything seems to rate at a 9 out of 10, picking the difference between everything else and the one or two things that might be 10 out of 10 is pretty hard. How does everyone else work it out? Does it even matter that much?

Not really.

Conditioning your dog to recall using food as a motivator depends on the method more than the food. The idea is to train your dog to respond to you, and that can be done with any food the dog really enjoys. You can't just rely on using a favourite food and hoping your dog's food drive will overcome every other distraction.

[Aidan]

Conditioning your dog to recall using food as a motivator depends on the method more than the food. The idea is to train your dog to respond to you, and that can be done with any food the dog really enjoys. You can't just rely on using a favourite food and hoping your dog's food drive will overcome every other distraction.

x2 I regularly use kibble, the same kibble they had for breakfast. That said, a really good reward does stack the deck in your favour. The difference between a "9/10" treat and a "10/10" treat will change depending on the dog's mood and which one they've had more of.

[tikira]

Experiment. You will know when you find it. Our Jack Russel was the most unreliable puppy with recalls. He just loved to chase bunnies etc. He is food addicted and we had tried it all- cheese, frankfurts, warm chicken, home cooked liver, cheezels (a friends dog would do anything for them) all of which worked really well for training, except the Recall, until in desperation we tried bits of left over party pies- he didn't leave our side, just stared at the treat.

Try Takng two different treats in your hands so the dog can't see either. Offer them both, and see which hand he chooses until you have a clear winner. Sometimes warming them slightly will increase the smell of the treat.

Good luck

Di

[Tatelina]

-cheese

-cabanossi

-frankfurts

-roast chicken

Not very healthy for them, but easy to cut up into tiny pieces, and seeing as they are smelly, dogs tend to love them.

[Hairy Maclary]

One of the ladies at the dog park makes her own liver treats - judging by the dogs reactions, this is a VERY high value treat!

[Sayreovi]

I used to use dim sims when I was doing flyball with Nova. They were as high value as I could get and I reckon it made him love flyball even more!

Of course pretty useless as everyday training treats because they are really unhealthy, but comps were about 1-2 a month and he burned it all off anyway.