Dog wont take treats outside of the house

[MagdalenaWasikowski]

My challenge is I have one dog who will not take treats when outside of the house. She is way more interested in the world than any treat I can offer her. I have worked with trainers where I can now get her to heel mostly (still with a lot of patient correction and with a high neck collar to correct) but her challenges have been whenever there is a distraction of any animal she will pull and whine and do whatever is necessary to try and get into that direction. I will correct her or go the other way, but there is no option for me to do treats, and trying to ignore the behavior doesnt work that well. What are the best options when a dog is not treat motivated to correct a behavior? I do praise her for doing things well, but usually as soon as I praise her she thinks thats the sign to be able to go back to doing what she was doing poorly.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Magdalena,

Welcome to the forums!

 

When dogs refuse treats outside and are not very responsive to training there are several options: increasing the value of the treats, decreasing the level of distractions, motivating operations and taking baby steps. Let's take a closer look at these one by one.

 

Increasing the value of treats. There are treats and treats in the world of dog training. Sometimes it takes experimenting to find the perfect concoction. If you go to a big box pet store and stop by the treat training aisle, you may find many options. Even better, talk to the local trainer there and ask for some recommendations as there always new training treat products coming out (insider alert: they'll often talk you into signing up for their classes when you chit-chat with them, I know this because I used to work as a trainer for a pet store).

 

Most dogs cannot resist the smell of freeze-dried liver 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.

 

Some dog owners find their dogs completely change at the sight and smell of Green Tripe treats. Not many have heard about these treats but they are certainly worth a try. If you are fortunate enough to find a store that stocks these and you want a motivated dog, these treats may potentially gain lots of attention. Owner beware though, tripe treats are one of the stinkiest foods you may ever deal with.

 

Slivers of 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.

 

When training dogs for the Canine Good Citizen test, us trainers often use boiled/roasted chicken or steak. The main issue though is that they may be messy to carry.

Another favorite is string cheese since strings can be peeled off easily and a dog may be willing to ''heel'' just to grab on one side. Best to not indulge too much though to prevent flatulence and an upset stomach for dogs with sensitive tummies.

 

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 his ears are pricked up high, his 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.

 

Decreasing the level of stimulation: Draining some excess energy may also 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. Since your seems to loves to chase animals, you can try practicing with a flirt pole at home by adding a touch of impulse control in the game. Simply, wiggle a flirt pole and release your dog to chase it only when you give your dog permission to. This provides an outlet for the great desire to chase but it also teaches some impulse control. Also, once your dog gets good at this, have your dog on leash and practice having a helper wiggle the flirt pole around (while you pass by it from a distance and feed your dog high-value treats. Gradually decrease distance.

 

If you have access to areas of tall grass, with high-prey drive dogs, I like to have a helper toss rocks in the tall grass. I make a smacking noise with my mouth and train the dog to make eye contact and give treats so that the dog learns to pick sticking with me rather than chasing. This teaches the dog two things: that not always grass moving and noises in the grass mean that there are animals to chase and that it's a better choice to make eye contact rather than chase.

 

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 can help you get a more responsive dog. 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 prey drive such as stopping and stiffening, pricking of the ears in a certain direction, stalking, paw lifting, mouth closing etc.

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

 

Motivating operations: this simply means finding strategies to making treats more valuable. In this case, it may be worth trying training when the dog is hungry (like first thing in the morning) or an empty stomach. For some dogs, skipping meals prior to training may help.

 

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. 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 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. I have found that leash corrections are not effective in training dogs to ignore animals because the prey drive is so strong that the adrenaline blocks the ability to pay attention and learn. Same may go with treats though, dangling a piece of ham may leave dogs in prey drive unfazed. I find the secret is just a matter of practice and working gradually at higher levels of distractions. 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 his 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 he 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 he wasn't ready for that level of proficiency yet and you may have to further create distance.

 

While praise may seem effective, it is not as powerful as we may expect when used on its own. Praise often works well once it has been paired with a primary reinforcer (food). Here's the thing: the tell-tale sign that a reinforcer is working is seeing desired behaviors strengthening and increasing in frequency.

 

If your dog hears your praise and goes back to performing unwanted behaviors, it means that those unwanted behaviors surpass the value of praise. Your praise has likely become almost a release word in a similar manner as "OK" is used to release a dog from a stay. You may have to adjust your training environment via management so that your dog is not tempted to go back to performing poorly. Providing your dog with longer-lasting opportunities for performing desired behaviors is an option or removing access to distracting stimuli may be another. For example: if you are walking past a dog and your dog has a history of wanting to pull to meet the dog, do longer attention heeling (delivering treats every 3-4 steps until you are past the dog) rather than asking to heel one step and giving one treat and the dog goes back to wanting to pull, or alternatively, train the emergency exit and do heeling walking the opposite direction. See details on this:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

 

Hope this helps!

Let me know if you need any further assistance. Regards,

Adrienne