Not very food motivated
- Thread starter LostAndConfused
- Start date
If you want, I can make a video of Premacking Marsh to eat kibble to get summer sausage.
But I wouldn't try to reinforce a dog with something they don't find reinforcing. Build value for food, and when you're training behaviors use whatever he does find reinforcing.
ETA: On Denise Fenzi's blog there's an EV try called Food! from 11/12/12 that you might find helpful
But I wouldn't try to reinforce a dog with something they don't find reinforcing. Build value for food, and when you're training behaviors use whatever he does find reinforcing.
ETA: On Denise Fenzi's blog there's an EV try called Food! from 11/12/12 that you might find helpful
This is extremely hard to understand until you have a dog that is upsettingly skinny. Backup does not care for food and frankly skipping meals was not exactly an option for us. That is why we experimented and researched and did what I recommended.
MOST dogs work well with skipping meals but some dogs do not and as a puppy, who needs food, I would try the games I suggested before I start skipping meals and trying to make them hungry enough.
MOST dogs work well with skipping meals but some dogs do not and as a puppy, who needs food, I would try the games I suggested before I start skipping meals and trying to make them hungry enough.
I wonder if there is an underlying fear issue going on here. Dogs that are fearful cannot eat or may not be food-motivated as they have so many other things to worry about than food. Does he scan the environment?
You may need to control the environment more. In class maybe ask for visual barriers to help him focus, (such as an X-pen covered with a blanket) then fade them as he is successful.
Teaching him the Look at That Game may be helpful as it allows him to look at what he wants, yet focus back on you. Here's a video that shows you how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdraNF2hcgA
Good luck!
You may need to control the environment more. In class maybe ask for visual barriers to help him focus, (such as an X-pen covered with a blanket) then fade them as he is successful.
Teaching him the Look at That Game may be helpful as it allows him to look at what he wants, yet focus back on you. Here's a video that shows you how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdraNF2hcgA
Good luck!
Haha, another ES owner with a non-food-motivated dog!
We did some agility until the long drive got to me. Bear, also, couldn't care less about food. He was much more interested in everything going on around him and the food was second.
I tried chicken, dried liver, hotdogs. Nothing mattered to him. He would do what he needed to do, and I would praise him, but the treat, bleh.
Then....I began raising my excitement and voice tone with the treat offering, and suddenly he changed. Like I seriously embarrassed myself, ha!
I used Hebrew National beef hotdogs (yuck, but it was really smelly and beefy). He started taking the treats but it was a good bit of work.
Overall, though, he still isn't a big treat eater. Prefers the attention to the treat. Wondering if this is an ES thing?
We did some agility until the long drive got to me. Bear, also, couldn't care less about food. He was much more interested in everything going on around him and the food was second.
I tried chicken, dried liver, hotdogs. Nothing mattered to him. He would do what he needed to do, and I would praise him, but the treat, bleh.
Then....I began raising my excitement and voice tone with the treat offering, and suddenly he changed. Like I seriously embarrassed myself, ha!
I used Hebrew National beef hotdogs (yuck, but it was really smelly and beefy). He started taking the treats but it was a good bit of work.
Overall, though, he still isn't a big treat eater. Prefers the attention to the treat. Wondering if this is an ES thing?