Finding Your Dog’s Motivator

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

December 22nd, 2011 by Minette

All Dogs are Motivated by Food

This is another one of those back to basics posts, but it is really crucial to understand!

In order to use positive reinforcement, you have to find your dog’s motivator or motivators.

You must motivate your dog to listen to you.

If you can’t motivate you are, sadly, left with force and coercion.

Motivation is a term that refers to a process that elicits, controls and sustains certain behaviors. For instance, if you have not eaten and you are hungry; food may be a motivator.

Coercion is the practice of forcing someone or something to behave in a certain manner by the use of threats or some other form of pressure or force.

Typically in dog training these are the types of training we utilize. You can motivate your dog to listen by building a relationship and finding his motivators or you can use your physicality and force your dog to comply.

I personally like motivating my dog. Someday, I may be unable due to illness or injury to force my dog to comply and what would happen then if our relationship was based on force? Even if I am physically able, I just don’t like force or compulsion. I think that we “thinking” animals should use our minds to control our animals not our physical force.

You need to find your dog’s motivators if you expect to use your mind (and not your body) to control him!

What motivates YOU? Money? Foods like chocolate, cookies, coffee? Video games? Books? TV? Exercise or Games? Shoes? What do you reward yourself with?

What if your work decided it would no longer pay you; from now on they would force you to come to work and stay all day working for free? I am assuming you would be miserable at the very least, not to mention angry and defiant!

Many people respond to my articles by saying their dog doesn’t like toys, treats or food, but you HAVE to find SOMETHING unless you expect to use force!

Just like you need to get to know the child, or the person to find out what motivates them and what to take away should they make a mistake you also need to find out what motivates YOUR particular dog.

Some Common Motivators

Food
Treats
Toys
Praise
Affection
Games

Food

All dogs are motivated by food at some point. Food is an essential element of life; it is something that is needed by everything that is living. So at some point food is a motivator. If you have a fat dog that is totally satiated and not hungry, then food possibly isn’t as much of a motivator as food is for a hungry dog.

So if you have a dog that is difficult to motivate with food, then meal feed your dog cut out all the treats and extras that you give him for no reason and my guess is he will be hungry before its time for breakfast or dinner.

When I have a dog that isn’t particularly food motivated I both use his food for training and make him work for his dinner, or I use really great treats and train before breakfast or dinner! If your dog is still not hungry, wait until he is!

Treats

Liverwurst

Usually there is some kind of treat that will motivate a hard to treat dog; you just have to find it!

I am not motivated by chocolate (unlike many people) for me, it’s all about Mountain Dew or Cheetos if you know me you would know that. Get to know your dog and find different types of treats that he likes!

When I use to run agility classes I would make liver treats (first I boil them, then I bake them or dehydrate them until crispy) and the dogs would go NUTS for them. Even the nervous dog or finicky dog liked my homemade liver treats!

Liverwurst (make sure there is no nutmeg) was another favorite that could get most dogs moving!

Smaller treats make better motivators. If you are using large amounts, big dog cookies or half a hot dog, your dog will get full and uninterested in treats. But if you use pea sized or smaller treats your dog stays motivated. When I trained Service Dogs and had them out at a mall all day, I could make one piece of string cheese last the duration! Keep it small!

Do some cooking! Boil or dry some chicken breast and see if that is a good treat! As of lately for safety and in fear of recalls, I have been making my own dog treats.

But think about it…would you want to work for a stale biscuit or processed dog treat OR would you rather have 100% pure chicken, beef, or liver?

If you are using these things for his food or treats already, then no wonder they are not working to motivate him!

So Many Toys to Choose From!

Toys

My dogs are certainly toy motivated, but that is because I play with them, with their toys! The first time I ever threw a ball for Fury, my little girl, she looked at me like I was CRAZY. Even if she wanted to chase it she didn’t know what to do with it!

Tossing a toy, or a ball might not cut it! You may have to actually TEACH your dog to play! You will actually have to get involved and play with him also! Get animated, run with him, keep the toy away from him (this builds his desire for it) and teach him that playing with you is where it is at!

YOU in to be fun and exciting for your dog! If you do this right YOU become is motivator!

If it’s not working, try harder or try another toy. A ball might not be exciting for one dog but a squeaky toy might be incredibly fun!

Most dogs will play if you are fun enough to play with and you find what he likes to play with!

Praise

Praise is Crucial to Your Relationship

For most dogs, praise is not enough! There are very few dogs that simply want to please their owner so much that praise is enough of a motivator. We all wish we had this dog, but most dogs want to please themselves and must be taught that praise alone is enough to motivate them.

Usually if you pair praise with a treat or a game, the praise eventually becomes more rewarding and reinforcing and eventually enough that you can wean the treats and the games out of the equation.

Dogs should always be praised for a job well done, but rarely is it enough to get them to do something they don’t want, or keep them from doing something they want.

Affection

Again, affection is rarely enough to keep a dog from pulling on the leash or trying to do something he desires. When you pair it with praise and another motivator affection can become a very strong motivator.

I often pet, kiss and even hug my dogs when they do something I want. I want them eventually to learn to work for my praise and affection and I want to pair fun games, toys, treats with this affection. I also want to ask them to do something for me before I give affection.

Games

Games are my dogs’ favorite motivators. They like their treats, their food, their toys, praise and affection but they LIVE for the games I play with them.

Games have to involve YOU. And I am not talking about just tossing a toy mundanely every time your dog brings it. I am talking about running, biting, tugging, intermixed with obedience goofiness and fun!

I might ask my dog to do 3 things or more for me before I run with him and throw his toy. I tug it, I throw it, I make him release it on command, I praise him and pet him all while we are playing these games together, and sometimes I even add a few food treats to keep it even more interesting.

Making him work for his toys make these games more fun!

Remember when your kids took advantage or you and your stuff. They may have scratched your car, or flung their dirty shoes all over the house but when THEY WORK for their OWN car or home…things are different. Working for something gives you a sense of pride when you get it. I remember my first paycheck and how careful I was spending my own money.

Making your dog work for his games and his rewards makes it more rewarding.

Find your dog’s motivator!!! Don’t use excuses, set out and find something that works for you and your dog. If you are lucky and you are a really good trainer you can use all of these things and many more to motivate your dog to do what you want!

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The Magical Dog Leash Part 2: Finding Heel

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

December 8th, 2011 by Minette

Heel x 44 The Magical Dog Leash Part 2: Finding Heel

Imagine Your Dogs HERE

If you didn’t catch my last article “The Premise of the Magical Dog Leash” please read it. In that article I explain WHY flawed thinking and many people’s approach to leash training hasn’t worked.

If you don’t understand WHY things haven’t worked in the past or the common pit falls you won’t be as successful in teaching your dog the appropriate way!

Now it is time to TEACH your dog appropriate leash skills!

What are Appropriate Leash Skills?

Finding Heel Position: Teaching your dog to find heel position on your left side at the drop of a hat on quiet and clear command.

Drive and Focus: Teaching your dog to play, find you fun, and give you eye contact on command and while you walk and heel past distractions.

Leash Manners: Teaching your dog how long his leash is and NEVER to pull you!

What You’ll Need

A Great Attitude
Really Good Treats
Treat Bag or Tool Belt
Clicker
Your Dog’s Favorite Toy

Getting Started

You will begin teaching your dog about his leash and heel position at home in your house where the distractions are few.

WHY does your dog need to know heel position?

Because this will make your walking more simple, eventually, and more enjoyable for both of you! You can both learn to enjoy your walk together without having to constantly drill obedience.

I don’t always make my dogs walk in heel position, most of the time I let them be dogs and sniff and wander however they are NEVER allowed to pull me and when I tell them to heel (when I see another dog, a car, a bike, a child) I expect them to come into heel position no matter what else is going on; heel past the distraction and then I can release them and they can go on about being a dog.

Doesn’t that image seem easier than pushing, pulling, yanking, coercing, or treating your dog the WHOLE time or during the eventual whole walk or even hike?

Make no mistake, I don’t care if your dog is 8 weeks old or 9 years old, if you are having problems with his leash manners, he’s pulling you, or your using a “training collar” you’d like to wean him from you are going to begin in the same place.

We are building a firm foundation that will weather any storm of a normal, busy, and distracted life later when you take your dog out in the world!

You may begin in two ways: By teaching him “Drive and Focus” or By teaching him where “Heel” is both will eventually be integrated to work together.

One of my next articles will be on “Drive and Focus” and then “Leash Manners”.

Ask yourself, honestly, does your dog know where “HEEL” is? If you said “Heel” while standing in your kitchen without your dog on a leash would he have any clue as to what you are talking about?

If you answer NO (like most people) then you need to step back and build this foundation. There is nothing wrong with this step back in your training it simply will strengthen the training and eventually leash foundation.

I specifically left out the LEASH in your supply list! I want you to teach your dog by motivating him not by pulling, pushing, yanking or physically manipulating him.

In order to be the most successful, you must know your puppy or your dog well enough to know what he likes. Would your dog kill for some homemade liver treats? Or, do you have a dog that would rather play ball all day rather than eating a tempting treat? Perhaps you have a dog that loves to bite on a tug toy, or another favorite toy?

My dogs love liver AND balls! So, I would have both in my tool belt and utilize them at different points for the correct behavior.

Ultimately my dogs want to play, so I would lure them with treats and then when they preformed the correct behavior I would probably play a short game of ball or tug with them to encourage them to continue doing what they did and learning.

Now take your dog into that secluded room with his motivators and lure him into heel position.

Heel position when you are standing still is with the neck/shoulder of your forward facing dog lined up with your left leg.

Heel Position

This is where you want your dog to CHOOSE to be while you are out walking him. Not where you FORCE him to be but where he wants to be. If he doesn’t want to be there you will spend your entire time pushing, pulling or making him be there or coercing him to want to be there.

Take the treats (did I mention they should be really good) liver or maybe some boiled chicken breast cut up pea sized or smaller and stick them up, on or near your dog’s nose. Okay maybe not UP but close enough to get a good and happy reaction.

Place your body in front of your dog, next take a step backward with your left leg while leading your dog facing backward and toward your behind; once most of him is behind you use the teat to lure him around in a U shaped turn so that he is now facing the same direction that you are. Once he is in the approximate heel position; ask him to sit.

For those of you perfectionist or competitors don’t worry about crooked sits or a dog that is not in the perfect spot. You can correct and clean this up later once your dog has a better understanding of heel.

If he doesn’t know “heel” in the beginning don’t be tempted to tell him what to do or what he is doing until he is successfully doing it. This is hard for people to understand, but barking commands that mean nothing hinder your dog’s learning.

Once he begins to understand what he is doing and “where” he is landing based on your body then you can begin telling him as he is doing it. So as he spins that U-turn behind you tell him “heel” while praising and reinforcing with a treat.

If he does something spectacular or seems to be getting it fairly quickly and he likes toys or balls play a little bit with him or jackpot him with bigger or better treats. Remember this isn’t just about food rewards and boring obedience you have to make yourself and the act of obedience FUN and stimulating.

At my house a treat won’t keep my dogs from looking at another dog or another distraction but a game of ball or tug would work!

You have to be the fun dog owner and build a bond and a relationship with your dog in order for him to listen to you in times of crisis, stress or distraction!

Continue luring your dog with treats into the heel position on your left side.

Once he is proficient at finding the correct spot by flipping around on your left side, it is time to teach him other ways.

This time, with your dog sitting in front of you, you are going to teach him to go around behind you to the right and sit on your left side in heel position.

Now, I compete and sometimes I am asked to finish (meaning have my dog go to heel position) my dog to the left or to the right, so I use two separate commands for each way. However if you are not competing it is fine to use the same “Heel” command.

If you are using a new command you will have to go back and teach the dog to go around you before giving a command. However if you are going to use the same command you may give the command while luring your dog around behind you.

With the dog in front of you, facing you and the treat in your right hand show your dog the treat while stepping back with the right leg. While your dog follows the treat exchange the treat in your right hand to your left hand while you continue to lure your dog into the heel position. Once your dog has gotten into the correct position ask him to sit then lavish him with praise, treats and fun.

Continue to teach him where heel position is at while using treats, praise and games as a fun reward.

heel The Magical Dog Leash Part 2: Finding Heel This process may take several days of training and work but once your dog has seemed to grasp the concept help him to find heel from all different positions around you.

He should ideally be able to find heel position from in front of you, behind you, to the left, to the right, facing you, facing away from you and so on. This will take time and patience!

Next put some speed on his delivery of this command. The faster he finds and sits in heel position the more fun and rewarding his learning will be. Once you know he understands you can fade the luring and the regular treats and insist on speed, happiness, and accuracy of his ability to find heel.

You may also begin playing this game all over the house with and without distractions as he is successful. You may have to back up a bit in your training to teach him that the command is the same with and without distractions!

Ask him at any given time to find heel position; when you are in the kitchen, when he is asleep on his bed, when he is playing with another pet to ensure he understands and enjoys this game!

Then begin taking this game outside to your driveway, backyard then the front yard etc. until he is proficient and nearly perfect at finding his way into heel position! Again you may have to back up and teach him the basic foundation again in these different environments.

Be patient and be fun! The future of enjoyable walking is on the line!

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Finding Your Dog’s Motivator

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The Magical Dog Leash Part 2: Finding Heel

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