dog journal

[norg]

ok, here's a stupid question.

positive reinforcement, clicker training, and a great many methods of training a dog make use of treats as rewards for good behavior.

how the devil does that work when the dog doesn't take treats...

Comments

[dorrie6]

If your dog likes toys, you can reward with a toy. The best thing, though would be to find a treat the dog will like. For a very finicky dog, you might try bits of cheese or meat.

[norg]

i forgot to mention that. for whatever reason, i've yet to find a toy that she will be interested in. tennis balls, ropes, plushies, bones, all have failed to capture her interest.

i picked up some beef sticks last week and she'll sometimes eat them, but most of the time just looks away and isn't interested. it's about 25% interest / 75% won't bother. i'll definitely try some cheese though. thanks for the idea. (:

i want to believe that there is some degree of "still getting used to the new digs" thing and that as time goes by she'll starting being more dog-like. nothing would delight me more than to see her happily gnawing away at a bone of some kind...

[dorrie6]

I would recommend trying some different kinds of meat too--like buy some chicken and chop it into tiny cubes and cook 'em up. Lucy eats anything, but we took classes with dogs who were picky about their treats, and real meat was generally the trick. Something soft and good that you'd be willing to eat yourself. :)

ps: I've been meaning to say that I'm so pleased you're posting about your dog! :)

[norg]

it never even occurred to me to try and just get some meat and cook it up and see how she does. i'll have to give that a shot too. i've got some cheese in the fridge that i don't want to go bad and waste so i'm going to try that tonight when we go out for the elimination round.

just out of curiosity, what have you been feeding lucy? is it dry food all the way, a mix of dry and wet, or wet all the way?

posting about my doggy is a way for me to make sure i don't forget all of the experiences that happen in being a new dog owner, not to mention the experiences of this specific doggy. if only i knew what paul knows about photoshopping... (: i'm going to be taking more pictures of her than i can shake a stick at but want them to look good hehee

and you have no idea how much i dearly value input from folks who are also dog owners. it doesn't matter what i've watched or how many books and online resources i've read, there are going to be so many things that i just don't know...

[dorrie6]

just out of curiosity, what have you been feeding lucy? is it dry food all the way, a mix of dry and wet, or wet all the way?

We feed Lucy a Raw diet of raw meat and bones, which is something we decided to do after reading a lot and talking to a lot of other dog owners who have done it. She's been eating raw for about a year and a half, and is doing really well on it. Before that, though, she ate Wellness wet food.

Also, I'd look at dog pictures no matter what they looked like. :)

[dorrie6]

By the way, you should know that Paul and I are currently sitting around looking at the photo of you and Matilda saying, "That's an awesome dog." We just keep saying that over and over. :)

[dacro]

When we were in puppy training, the trainer said that a lot of larger breed dogs don't really go for treats unless it's cheese or raw meat. There was one dog in our class like that,(she didn't want anything to do with toys either) and she wouldn't touch anything except cheese and dried chicken strips.

The positive reinforcement might work too, but she might not know when you're training, and when you're just being lovey.

Shine gets Nutro dry puppy food.
Oh, did the vet tell you that puppy food might help her bulk up a bit, since it's designed for development and growth?

[prozacnation]

Watch how much cheese you give them. It could make them overly thirsty and also bind them up.