Struggling with food motivation/treats

[ELISABETH JENNINGS]

My dog is motivated by distractions far more than any treat, no matter how "high-value". We generally practice indoors in the house with no problems, but when we are outside, anything seems more interesting than the treat - birds in the sky, the neighbour's dog barking, an interesting smell on the ground. This has happened with anything from her kibble to pieces of chicken, but she treats every food reward the same - reacting to it unless there is something more interesting out there. On some occasions she has taken the treat in her mouth and it has fallen out, because she is so much more invested in a leaf rustling than the food. I have had more success in holding her attention by holding a piece of ice she wanted to play with than with any treat.

I am struggling with knowing how to bridge this gap. I am walking her every day in our woods where there are no other dogs (apart from our 1 other one), and no people, but still all the smells and rustles are the most exciting thing in the world to her.  She is 1 year old.

I am thinking I need to work on Look Into My Eyes more in the home, so she is holding my gaze for longer. At the moment she is only holding 1-2 seconds, and only when there is 0 distractions. Any other advice?

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Elisabeth,

Welcome to the forums!

It sounds like your dog is too over stimulated and over threshold to be able to take treats. In these cases, we need to go back to basics, and start really working at home where the dog is more relaxed before moving to more exciting areas with distractions. It's important to go very gradually using baby steps. 

You may want to try experimenting using a multi-modal approach by increasing the value of the treats, decreasing the level of distractions and taking baby steps. 

I know you tried chicken and  some other treats, but sometimes it takes experimenting to find the perfect concoction. In some cases, what you need is a treat that is very smelly.  We may not like this much, but this often seems to make the most impact, which makes sense since dogs use more their sense of smell than their taste buds. Most dogs cannot resist the smell of freeze-dried liver or  green tripe and this is why most trainers ensure they have a pack of it on hand. You can find this in most pet stores. Some dog owners make their own liver treats by baking them, you can find several recipes online.

Slivers of organic low-sodium beef hot dogs make good training treats since they can be cut up in small pieces and they are soft to eat without making a mess. Most dogs like hot dogs and look forward to training when they discover their existence. Hot dogs are also on the cheap side and convenient since you can get many pieces out of a pack of eight. I always suggest using the low sodium types and preferably organic.

Of course, just like people, dogs may develop different tastes. There are some dogs that would do back flips for a piece of carrot or frozen peas. Some dogs love Cheerios while others may like a specific brand of dog treats. Often, mixing a variety of tasty treats will create great interest in a dog since he will not know what may come next. Experiment and see what works best for your dog. Chances are, if you notice your dog's ears are pricked up high, her eyes are wide open and his shivering in anticipation, you got the right type of treat.

For using treats with strong distractions though you may need to further take the edge off, so continue reading below.

The Importance of Decreasing the level of stimulation

Draining some excess energy may help take the edge off. Try to get your dog to play with you out in the yard or in the house prior to the walk. Practice training in front of windows and on the porch before heading out to a walk. 

If you know that there are animals in certain parts of your walk, walk at a distance for these areas where your dog is better under threshold. Dogs are very good in associating certain spots with animals. If there is a tree with lots of squirrels, you can count on it that every day on the walk the dog will be looking for them.

Walking farther away from the trees, tall grass can help you get a more responsive dog that is better under threshold. Here's a guide on getting acquainted on threshold levels in dogs, although this article talks a lot about stress, it applies to dogs who are overly excited or over aroused too.

In your case, you will therefore have to watch for signs of over arousal associated with your surroundings:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

To increase the value of the treats,  it may also be worth trying training when the dog is hungry (like first thing in the morning) or an empty stomach. 

Baby steps: You are dealing with one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome when it comes to dog training: ignoring strong distractions such as fleeting animals, strong smells and presence of dogs. This is an instinctive behavior and it takes lots of training to get a dog to respond despite this level of distractions.

Your dog may not be ready for this level of training yet. This is OK, many dogs are not ready for this level of training even the most trained ones. It takes a certain level of impulse control to control strong instincts (we must remember that although domesticated, dogs still have strong instincts to chase animals as it's linked to survival).

You will need to take baby steps. First, practice training indoors, then you can practice remaining calm by looking at some distractions from a window: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/, then you can practice on the porch, then on a short walk without going deep into the woods, then walks on paved areas where there are less distractions. You will need to scan the environment for distractions and work around them before going "deep into the woods."

Work on responsiveness to the smacking sound and attention heeling. Again, practice heeling indoors and in the yard and try to make the behavior fluent as possible before walking by areas where there are animals. The responsiveness to asking for heeling needs to be strong, almost instinctive. Indoors, your dog should be able to take treats.. This is how I train heeling and attention heeling:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

If you continue walking by areas where there are animals and your dog hasn't yet accomplished a level of control and fluency yet, meaning that her training breaks apart, you are at risk for setting your dog to fail and allowing rehearsal of the problem behavior. In other words, your dog gets good at practicing the behavior and ignoring you and the more she practices this, the more the behavior becomes difficult to overcome.

Once you have attained a good response in getting your dog to heel in low distractions areas, it's time to then try some "mock sessions'' with a friend wiggling a flirt pole around and you walking past it with your dog heeling. You can then practice with places where you know there are animals but from a distance where your dog is under threshold and better capable of cognitively functioning. If at any time, your dog's training starts breaking down, take it as a signal that she wasn't ready for that level of proficiency yet and you may have to further create distance.

Increasing the value of treats, decreasing the value of distractions and taking baby steps is often the approach needed in these over threshold dogs. 

Hope this helps!

Let me know if you need any further assistance.

Regards,

Adrienne