How to Get Your Dog Motivated!

     Have you ever been frustrated when you pull out some treats and want to train your dog, only to have them not pay attention or even eat the treats?  Do you think your dog is being stubborn or that he isn’t trainable?

Imagine if your boss told you that you didn’t have to come to work today or any day in the future, but he would still pay you your full salary.  Would you go to work?  A lot of people would probably never go back to work again.  But maybe you really really love your job and you still would go into work, or maybe you would go only on days you felt like it.  This analogy can help you understand why your dog gets distracted when you try to train him or ask her to do something.  A dog’s salary is the food he gets, where he gets to go, toys she gets to play with, and the petting and affection you give him.  If you give your dog all those for free, then why would your dog want to work for them?  He might do what you ask sometimes when he wants to, but what you give him in return, the treat, the affection, or the toy does not have much value, since he can get them for free.

     One of the very first steps in dog training is getting your dog motivated.  A lot of people don’t even think about this step but it will make or break your training session.  To successfully train a dog to do anything, they must first want something that you can give them.  Anything can be used, not just treats and toys.  Throughout the day you can use anything the dog wants to do as a reward: getting to go out the door, being able to come out of their crate, cuddling session.  During a training session though, you will usually use treats or toys, since you are able to repeat that type of reward multiple times.  In this article, I will be teaching you how to train your dog to want food.  If you are wanting to use a different reward, just replace that instead of the food that I’ll be using.  If you normally free-feed your dog, leaving their bowl out so they can eat whenever they want, you will have to start feeding your dog only at mealtimes.  You will probably never be able to go back to free-feeding because after you make food more valuable to your dog, they will eat too much if you go back to free-feeding.

      1.  Get your dog really hungry by not feeding your dog his normal meal.  Most dogs are overfed and probably will need this for at least one whole day even up to 2-3 days.  Don’t worry about your dog not getting enough food, he will want to eat when he is hungry.

      2.  When you start feeding your dog again, you will want to begin in a familiar and comfortable place for your dog.  Then you will take some of their food and run backward with it away from your dog.  You want your dog to chase after it.   In the beginning, reward your dog after only a few steps.  Open your hand and offer them the food and the dog will either eat it or not. They may also take it in their mouth and spit it out.  If they want the food, continue to feed them the rest of their meal in this way.  Even if they’re just taking the food and spitting it back out, you can continue for a few more times.  Give your dog the reward for moving, not when they come to you.  This isn’t training come, this is only training motivation.  You want to give your dog a treat when he is in the middle of walking; you don’t want the dog to come to you or sit in front of you, or be doing any type of obedience.  You want to interrupt his movement with a treat.  Your dog can stop and eat the food, but wait until they start walking again to reward.   You are looking for your dog to focus on and chase the food.  Jackpot (give them a bunch of food!) whenever your dog speeds up.

     Try to stop the training session before the dog stops wanting to eat.  As soon as you see the dog slowing down, stop training and put the rest of the food away for later.   Often, the dog will stop eating before his food in the bowl is gone.

     3.  Continue doing this at every feeding time and they will eventually start getting really excited and running after the food.  They will also start to eat the food immediately and with gusto!  This is when you want to add in distractions.  Start playing this game in different rooms of the house and outside.  Then at the park, pet store, or friend’s house.  Once your dog can play this game in all kinds of distractions and still be focused on the food, congratulations!  You now have a food-motivated dog!

Tips:

• One common mistake is that people wait too long before giving their dog the food.  They will make them chase it until the dog gives up.  This is easy to do at the beginning since your dog will not care for the food very much.  If you realize that you’ve done this, it’s no big deal!  Just feed more frequently from now on, like after just one step or even if the dog reaches his head forward.

• For little dogs keep the treat below their chin level.  Slow down and reward more frequently if the dog is not responding.

• You can talk to your dog throughout the whole session.  Encouraging them to go faster and get more excited usually speeds up the process.

• Keep in mind that you can do this motivational exercise whenever your dog is not interested in the food rewards that you are using at that time.  For example, your dog may be pretty food motivated at home, so when you’re at home, you can move on and start clicker training.  But you might still need to practice this exercise with your dog when you are training in more distracting environments.