Taking the Food out of Training

At some point or another if you have trained using food or treats you need to fade them out. I usually have clients ask me about this when they have a show or a PALS test coming up. Here's some key tips on how to keep your dog listening even without the good stuff in hand! 


> Use a variable reinforcement schedule so your dog never knows what will produce a food reward. With young dogs or beginners you'll need to reward more often and then slowly make them work harder. 
> Keep food or treats out of sight when training and only pull them out AFTER the dog has done what you asked. 
> Use alternate rewards! Toys, praise, petting, play, etc are all great reinforcers too. The more you use other rewards the easier it is to put the food away. 
> Practice in different locations so your dog gets use to all sorts of distractions. Remember in new places you'll need to go back a few steps to let your dog adjust. 
> Keep your dog guessing. If he/she doesn't know when a reward is coming he/she'll actually work harder in the long run to please. 
> Continue to practice with food on occasion so your dog stays motivated especially for harder skills like coming when called or loose leash walking. 


Every dog works at a different pace so don't get discouraged. A good way to start fading out food is to join a group class and ask your trainer to help you out. This often one of the harder parts of training and having a guide who knows when/how is very helpful. 

Raw Dog Food & Awesome Treats

My Adventure Dog class was asking me where I got my dried Lung and Tripe treats last night so I thought I would share. In Calgary we're lucky enough to have an awesome business called Back to Basics. I actually get almost all my dog food from them and a far amount of treats. They also carry raw food for cats. 

Check them out here: http://www.backtobasicsrawpetfood.com/ 

Give Up The Food Bowls!

It's cold out there and you need to keep your dog busy since long walks are clearly not an option! 

One of the first things I tell all my training clients is to give up their dog food bowls. They need things to do and simply putting their food in a dish does a disservice to you and your dog! There's loads of products out there that can make meal times interactive. Some of my favourites include Kong, Buster Cube and Tricky Treat Ball. 

Start your day by splitting your dog's food into two portions. One half should be used for interactive toys which your dog can play with while you're at work. Imagine he/she is getting mental stimulation while you're not even home! Interactive toys are to dogs what books and puzzles are for people. The other half of their food should be used for training. Remember training doesn't have to be all stays and sits it can also be tricks like roll over and play dead. There are so many options out there when it comes to what you can train your pet to do. 

Use their food to your advantage and have a happier, healthier dog as a result! 

How To Use Your "Leave It" Cue

So many dog owners are now choosing to attend a basic dog training class. They learn skills like sit, down, stay, heel, leave it and recall. Or at least they sort of learn these skills depending on how much they practice. What I have noticed is that even though dogs and their families are learning these cues they aren't sure how or when to use them. 

Let's discuss the important Leave It or Mine cue. This means that you've asked your dog to not touch and back off an object such as a treat, toy or person. Many dogs get really good at this as a party trick. I can easily line up treats on my dogs' legs as they look away waiting for a chance to earn one. However Leave It as many real world applications that could help you out. 

Here's some examples:

Situation #1
I'm walking my dog down the street and we have to pass another owner and dog. My dog starts to get excited, pull and even bark! I can ask my dog to leave it, focus on me and then heel on or leave it, focus on me and do a sit stay as they pass. So much better than yelling at my dog, yanking on the leash or allowing him to pull me over. 

Situation #2
I'm cooking some hamburgers for dinner and one falls off the plate! All four of my dogs do a mad scramble to grab these delectable entry. A good leave it means they all back off and I get my burger back.

Situation #3
My young puppy has grabbed a boot and is playing keep away. He thinks he's being so cute with it. I know that if I chase him he'll never give it up. So instead I ask him to leave it and then call him to me. The boot is left behind, forgotten until I put it away where he can't get it. 

Situation #4
I'm at the dog park and of course one of my dogs finds a dead duck sitting near the river. Well I definitely don't want to grab that out of his mouth nor do I want one of my other dogs to dart in and start a tug of war. I ask them to leave it and the finder dog promptly drops the duck and all dogs follow me away from it. I didn't even get my hands dirty and no one ate it. 

Situation #5
It's winter and one of the dogs is in the yard eating poop... yes it happens and the jury is still out why they do it. I don't care why right now; I want him to stop it. So I open the door yell out leave it and he drops the yucky stuff. 

And there's more you can do with leave it! It's one handy cue word. Leave it can be applied to anything you don't want your dogs to have (objects, people, dogs, garbage, rocks, etc). It can also stop dog fights in the home... for example if one of your dogs is guarding a toy or bone and it is about to trigger a battle. I can easily claim the object by saying leave it and removing it. It saves a lot of trouble! 

Remember that if you have a dog that guards things like bones, food or toys you will need to contact a professional trainer or behaviourist to help you. It's very important to understand dog body language when dealing a potentially threatened pet. We don't want to push our dogs to guard or bite us. There's many ways to use desensitization to change that situation around over time. 

Contact Where's Your Sit if you want more information on leave it or resource guarding issues. We would be more than happy to help!

Why Dogs Develop Aggression?

Aggression can mean a lot of different things. Most owners are describing behaviours that they feel are threatening when referring to aggression. Commonly this can be biting where there's an injury, biting where there's no injuring, growling, barking, lunging, air snapping, etc. 

Sometimes the reason for "aggressive" behaviour is clear and other times it's not. For many dogs they start with low level behaviour such as growling and progress to more serious threats when they realize that it works. Other dogs may suddenly develop "aggression". 

The first step would be to rule out medical issues. An animal in pain will not act like they usually do and might respond to touch in a dramatic fashion. When my dog Tank had a knee injury he began to shown aggressive behaviour when dogs came near that part of his body. He would snarl, growl and even air snap. This was unusual for him and a clear sign that something was wrong. 

Another cause for aggression is often fear. This can not be understated. Dogs who are scared will run or fight. We humans unwittingly trap our dogs with leashes, walls, kennels, etc and can trigger a bite when a dog really just wants to avoid. 

Dogs can be fearful of anything! Common issues include fear of strangers, kids, loss of a valuable resource (ball, sock, food) and of course other dogs. If we treat aggression (fear) with physical violence or force then we are often pushing the dog to escalate his/her own aggression. A better approach would be to use slow desensitization to the source of the fear so our dogs learn to deal with it. 

Aggression is one of those behaviours that needs to be treated with care. It's imperative that you seek help from a professional trainer or behaviourist and veterinarian. For more information please contact Where's Your Sit or the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT).