How To Trian A Toy Motivated Dog

[whitka]

For a really little dog or puppies these are pretty cool

http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2938&ParentCat=29

I think Noah will love these!

Staffyluv im still going to see if there's any food that he will work for. At class yesterday there were people using squeaky toys which he just loves so of course after that I just struggled to get his attention back on me

[Staffyluv]

My problem with Zig initially was that he was more interested in the other dogs than me or treats.. So we started with the only thing that was more interesting than other dogs - the squeaky toy.

Then someone said not to feed him before class, so we missed breakfast that morning and it really didn't make much of a difference. But missing dinner the night before (and we were at training fairly early the next morning) and not having breaky made a difference.

I did only have to do this for a while and once he cottoned on to the fact that treats were good, it made life easier.

Our trainer also said to get at least 5 different foods (someone suggested the homebrand devon), so I tried that cabanossi, BBQ chook, cheese, ham, liver treats and it was the devon and cheese that he went for first - so that is what we use.

I also find that the softer food makes for better training treats because they are easier to eat and they don't tend to choke on them (like some of the dried stuff) as much.

[whitka]

Had good results today using cheese

[Nekhbet]

Have a look at www.leerburg.com and michael ellis' clips on youtube. You need to set the ground rules of the toy and prey training before you just move into using it for obedience.

Saying that I can type 50 pages long here to get you started. But the rule is, it's about you interacting with the dog with the toy, NOT just the toy itself. It's incredibly important that the dog focuses and is rewarded for looking at you, not staring at the toy. A ball on a string, or something on a string the dog loves is the easiest way to start. The dog is never to run off with the toy or to do victory laps, that's possession of the prey item which you don't want. You also don't force the toy towards the dog. If the dog loses interest, remove the toy. While flicking don't make it too easy and place it in the dogs mouth, flick it back so the dog has to chase. You want to incite the drive so when the dog finally get's the object it means more. Don't keep teasing until the dog loses interest, you want to reward when the dog's peaked so the reward means the most. Half arsed interest gets the toy removed.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Nekhbet

[Kavik]

It's incredibly important that the dog focuses and is rewarded for looking at you, not staring at the toy.

Unless you are doing agility where you are working on having the dog focus on 'work' in preparation for obstacle focus work where you DO want the dog looking at the toy (or food) and not at you :laugh:

Edited August 14, 2013 by Kavik

[skip]

Just to backtrack a bit here but this is in regards to your question about getting dog to bring tug to you. I have a young kelpie who likes to play with toys but was pretty slow to return and tug with me. My fault as she had some select toys to play with during the working day all by herself.

When you start teaching weaves etc you wanted a quick return with the toy to your hand. So I was told to go into a small room like your bathroom where the dog is contained. Drop the tug and when the dog gives it to you reward with tug ( or food if dog requires it). To encourage the dog to understand the tug is to be given into your hand, do a few nose touches , drop the toy and generally the dog might pick up the toy and nose touch at the same time.

This did work with my dog. I dropped the toy and she was placing it in my hand very quickly for a reward. Very soon in the bathroom she was grabbing the toy and placing it back in my hand consistently. We moved into another room and eventually outside. Now she will get the tug at training and run back to me, putting the tug in my hand. Sometimes she'll drop it a bit away but I wait till she brings it to me before we play.

I found this a struggle with my kelpie as she is pretty independant. This was a a great behaviour as I also found I could ask her to bring things to me or give me something she already had..... I ask her to bring me that and she will come over and put whatever she has in my hand.

Your topic made me laugh as most agility people love toy driven dogs. Play gets arousal up and the arousal helps with the drive for agility. Love to know how its going?

[whitka]

Love to know how its going?

Thanks Nekhbet and Skip lots of good advise.

I'll keep updating as we progress. Still in beginner obedience class so still have a little bit to go till we start agility but I am looking at things we can do till then.