Dog Community

Perfect treat=immediate response

Posted : 6/17/2006 4:05:45 PM

I had received a lot of great advice from Mic Foster, Spiritdogs and Mookie's Mom regarding my hard headed, strong, distracted, stubborn Wheaten/Shepherd mix.
I have been earnestly trying ALL the advice they offered. And all of it worked... unless we were outside or in a store and HoneyBear was distracted by other things. Then - no response. I had told MM that the Bear would actually turn her head and body to a 90 degree angle away from me, in order to not "look at me".
Well. My life changed today. I read the book that Spiritdogs had recommended "The Feisty Fido" by Patricia McConnell.
This is where life changed..... she tells us that to make the dog respond to the treat, it must be the most delicious and irresistable treat in the world - for that particular dog.
My treats to HB were "good" they were "nutritious" they were "dog treats".
Today we discovered Gerber's Baby Hot Dogs.
Oh My God. My dog is right now doing a handstand in an effort to get another treat! (Not). But, you get the idea. She is IN LOVE with these tiny bites of baby hot dog. She is doing ANYTHING I ask of her. She stopped barking at a gardener in mid-arf... (and we were OUTSIDE) when I said "Look at me". She STARED at me. And she got that treat.
Any of you out there, who feel that their dogs are 'not treat motivated'. Try this.
Please.
Ok, for your dog, maybe it's not going to be baby hot dogs. But get creative! There is some kind of human food that they would flip for.
I am so pleased. I can't wait to go to our last obedience class tomorrow.
And SHOW OFF!!!! Ha ha![

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agilebasenji

Posted : 6/17/2006 5:38:55 PM

Liverwurst works wonders too. Meatballs are also a favorite.

jones

Posted : 6/17/2006 7:57:47 PM

Congratulations! That is great to hear.

I remember the day my dog suddenly had a perfect recall at our busy dog park - the day I started bringing dehydrated chicken bits! [

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miranadobe

Posted : 6/18/2006 3:01:04 PM

I like my trainer's analogy... a plain milkbone is like finding a quarter on the ground. Nice, but maybe not worth stopping for. Hotdogs (to many dogs) are like a $100 bill.... less likely to leave that behind!!

Increasing the value of the treat/reward helps overcome some of the lesser distractions. Still, that cat racing across the road is worth a million bucks to the prey-driven dog.... I'd take a million over a hundred, too.

willowchow

Posted : 6/18/2006 3:19:58 PM

It's also good to use something totally different than what you would give say if you were leaving for work or just coming in from going potty. The treats they get all the time no matter what they are just aren't going to be as exciting.

Debra C.

Posted : 6/21/2006 3:07:54 PM

Willowchow - you are exactly right!
Here we are a few days later and the baby hot dogs have lost their 'instant' appeal.
I gave her some of her old (but still tasty - I think) treats and she LOVED them again.
Who wants their favorite treat EVERY day?

Paulo

Posted : 6/21/2006 3:11:31 PM

are those cooked hot dogs or raw from the package?

Debra C.

Posted : 6/21/2006 4:16:32 PM

Those are "Gerber's baby hot dogs". They are fully cooked. They come in a jar in the babyfood section. Toddlers pick them up easily and feed themselves.

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Posted : 6/21/2006 4:17:37 PM

I cant give Rory any human food cause its just to hard on her tummy but I defintly see what your saying about them responding to differnet treats. After a couple of different choices we found that Rory responded extremely well to the freeze dried liver treats, ooh they stink but she loves them!

jennie_c_d

Posted : 6/21/2006 7:19:24 PM

are those cooked hot dogs or raw from the package?

All hot dogs are fully cooked

miranadobe

Posted : 6/21/2006 8:15:21 PM

The Gerber baby food hotdogs (look like little marinated fingers in a jar) are cooked. However, I know plenty of people who take raw hotdogs and cut them up into pieces. (Caution there, smaller dogs = smaller windpipes, so treat it like you would a baby and don't give them anything that could become lodged in their windpipe.)

I don't use hotdogs because Miss Gracie is too picky..."Sniff, sniff - euw, are you kidding me?! Where's the freeze dried liver treat?"
Because of all the focus training we're doing, I've become a human pez dispenser of treats! Just popping them out constantly. So we switch around to keep Gracie coming back for more, keep a little mystery in her work. Which treat will I get this time? It works for us. [

] Her focus is looking SUPER now, imho.. haha!

jones

Posted : 6/21/2006 9:35:26 PM

There is no such thing as a raw hot dog! [sm=rofl.gif] Buy a package of Oscar Meyer weiners, rip it open and eat one "raw." It tastes like bologna. It is NOT uncooked meat! I guarantee you.

miranadobe

Posted : 6/21/2006 10:19:47 PM

I stand corrected... I've never been one for "processed meats" anyway! haha!

Stephanie Book

Posted : 6/29/2006 11:07:36 AM

I use hot dogs as well for treats, I used them for Cassidy when we were training, and now started to use them with my 7 month puppy. Before this I would just use her dog food as treats, which she liked, because she eats anything. But I used hot dogs in her training class a couple days ago, and I think she likes them pretty well [

] It was kind of funny though, because you would think that with hot dogs, the dogs don't chew them at all, they're just a soft treat. The puppy, Mirelle, doesn't even chew her own dog food; she's a gulper. [>:] When I gave her the hot dogs though, she had to stop and chew all of those! They were pretty small pieces....one hot dog cut legnthwise in half and then cut into slices from there. Thought that was funny anyway [

] I like hot dogs because they're inexpsensive and the dogs like them!

ud2be

Posted : 6/29/2006 11:52:31 AM

My retriever will work for pocket lint as enthusiastically as she will for a hot dog, cheerio, pupperoni, or chicken liver...

My sheltie, no air cookies for this smartie pants, for him it is all about the power of cheese. Dried up smoked cheeses, his favorite - but any old string cheese will do.

Went to Iron Dogs camp a few years ago. We had several food types on a paper plate. I said yeah right, my retriever will inhale it... plate and all.

But, she didn't - she carefully selected her preferences! She ate the chicken bit first, then a cinammon graham cracker, the pupperoni, then the gold fish crackers, the hot dog was last. Her very favorite foods, ice cream, and peanut butter weren't offered.