................. Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Thought I'd kick off my first post in the training section with a question that's been bugging me for a while. I was recently in a position to pose a series of questions to people in regard to general training knowledge and style. One question I asked that generated a lot of different answers was along the lines of this: You're dog has been trained using a food based reward system, the treats you use have included a variety of tasty morsels including chicken, liver treats, hot dogs etc.... Circumstances arise that mean you will now only be able to use a single brand and flavour of dried kibble as a reward treat with your dog. What potential problems could this cause with your dogs motivation and what steps could you take to overcome them? Now I got some pretty good answers (as well as some really out there ones) but never the one I thought was the most obvious. So in the interest of determining if I'm a bit of an oddball in this department (very likely) I'd like to hear what your ideas would be if you were placed in this situation. Remember adding variety to the type of reward is non negotiable. What would you do? Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 If the dog was already trained it would alse be weaned off the food treats. If the dog was not trained Id change the motivator. BTW this will never happen, there always is cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Ummmmmmm...........as I own labradors, who when I used to motivate and reward for basic obedience, using food................changing to dry kibble would be no problem. All the same, I feed Eagle Pack, and with baby pups, I would soak the kibble slightly, as the chewing delay would not be a factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................. Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 If the dog was already trained it would alse be weaned off the food treats.If the dog was not trained Id change the motivator. BTW this will never happen, there always is cheese I like the change of motivator idea a lot and it is one that the best answers included. and by the way, there never has, nor will there ever be cheese. I'm not advocating doing the 1 treat thing either, it was just a question I thought would be useful at the time. I was looking to get an insight into the way the people solved problems and was surprised that nobody offered what I thought was an easy solution. I'm not claiming to know it all by any stretch, I did get a lot of very good ideas I would never have been inventive enough to come up with by myself, I just never got the one I was looking for. Keep em coming, it's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I dont know what answer you are looking for, looking forward to finding out what it is. I mean if the dog liked the dried food and you were not into BARF than there would be no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Jeff, Why do you not like cheese? Affecting scenting ability for 48 hours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I actually had to do this with Diesel for a while. I normally use cheese but we were trying to rule out food allergies as to why Diesel is always itching, so we did an elimination diet with Hills z/d food. I had to use it for treats for training as well. As Diesel is not as food motivated as my other dogs, I thought his performance would drop, but surprisingly it didn't My guess in my case is that they try really hard to make the z/d food tasty so that the dogs will eat it and owners would be more likely to stick to it. Sorry, not exactly what you were asking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................. Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 No nothing really against cheese (although for work Cheese is a target and I don't want my dog eating someones mail) I was more just making a point (between giggles)that the scenario allowed no flexibility in the type of food used. I'm really hoping someone will come up with what I was after (I don't want to be an oddball) so I'll probably hang off telling what it was for a day or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 O, Jeff. Come now, spit it out. Men!!!!!! They like to keep, us poor women, on tender hooks. But just who is reeling, who in? The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse, gets the cheese. What a different Saturday night. Still bliss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Simple, I would alter between food and toys. Doesn't matter that the food is the same all day every day - you can use other things that can motivate your dog also. Other things you can do is throw the food, get the dog to run to the box with food in it when released, or as I said, use a toy or yourself to motivate the dog. Thats what i'd do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Leopuppy, I thought Jeff's question was related to the use of dry kibble? Not other motivators, rewards etc. O, Jeff,please clarify? Brother, I think, a drink is in order. A nice wine perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 (edited) Hey LL do you think that if Ill say - Cmon Jeff tell us, he will consider us unpatient whinging females? OK Ill try for an "alternative" type of an answer. Get a cat? Edited March 10, 2007 by myszka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Unpatient? That sounds good, better than inpatient, as in hospital. Mind you, I do think a little therapy, may help me from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 If you are stuck with only one type of food to feed to the dog ... make the dog hungry. Skip a meal or two, dont feed the dog all day then whip out the food rewards. the dog will be behaving so fast you will see skid marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................. Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 Simple, I would alter between food and toys. Doesn't matter that the food is the same all day every day - you can use other things that can motivate your dog also. Other things you can do is throw the food, get the dog to run to the box with food in it when released, or as I said, use a toy or yourself to motivate the dog. I think that's an excellent answer and again it's one that came up in discussion, just not the one I had in mind. (I'm looking more and more like an oddball) To help narrow it down a little I'll reduce the options: 1. They cannot use any food rewards other than the allotted kibble. 2. Introducing alternate forms of reward is not an option. I'm sure everyone will go "Doh!!' in their best Homer Simpson voice once someone gets it as did everyone I spoke with on the day. I just found it surprising that no one offered it up without being led into it. Lablover; I'll have a scotch while your at the bar. (I've still got an hour before moto gp comes on free to air) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 When Im finished with my white coat with long sleaves LL I can lend it to you. Your OH will find it easy to put on you. Im weaning myslef off it, and changing to a padded room. works a treat. sorry for OT highjack, LL made me do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................. Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 If you are stuck with only one type of food to feed to the dog ... make the dog hungry. Skip a meal or two, dont feed the dog all day then whip out the food rewards.the dog will be behaving so fast you will see skid marks. This is heading down the right road, explore it a bit more and you'll be an oddball like me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Looking like an oddball..........well I like the unusual. watching cars going round a race track, to me, is as boring as grass growing. Mind you, I would like to see a little green grass nowdays. The cracks in some of the open paddocks, I train in, worry me greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonElite Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 This is heading down the right road, explore it a bit more and you'll be an oddball like me. Feeding meals as treats??? Sorry - no way, I dont feed commercial food, wouldnt be using dried food as motivator anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................. Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 Feeding meals as treats???Sorry - no way, I dont feed commercial food, wouldnt be using dried food as motivator anyway... I think I may have inadvertantly thrown in a red herring with my last comment so will try to clarify it without giving the game away. What could you do to increase the value the dog places on the dry kibble (or any type of reward for that matter) without feeding meals as treats or starving the dog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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