 Barked: Mon Mar 18, '13 7:18pm PST |
 | |  | | Ava... She's motivated by food. That's it. She couldn't care less if I praised her all day and night. She's not interested in toys. She's easy to train though. Very quick to pick up on things. It's just... if you don't have food, she considers it a waste of time and 9 times out of 10, without food, she won't listen. Can't phase out the treats with her either. Believe me, I've tried, every time we seem like we're getting to a good point either with the clicker or without. If you try, on the idea that it'll work like gambling, with the dog thinking "oh, well maybe THIS time I'll hit the jackpot!" well, Ava's the opposite. If she hits the jackpot sometimes, but not other times, then she'll eventually decide it's not worth the gamble and stop listening. She's not a gambler.  Or... she's just too clever for her own good. I mean, it's ok though. She's a good dog. She doesn't need to be a top rate performer. 
Nix, my superstar, is motivated by me! (ok... that sounds really egotistical) But really, I actually try not to use treats in his training because, despite being kind of a little bit picky (IE: he won't eat fruits or vegetables. Prefers meat-heavy treats to grain-heavy, etc.) he becomes a total airhead in the presence of yummy food. It's very difficult to get him to concentrate, because he's so focused on the treat, and not what I'm actually asking him to do. Being that Ava was my first dog, and I was used to training her, when I got Nix I had to learn whole new methods. Fortunately he's super motivated by toys, and praise, and... well, sometimes he's just motivated simply by the chance to do work. He loves having work to do. |  |  | |  |
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3
although sadly when Mozart is out in public he is too nervous to play with his Frisbee so we use food when out in public since he can be extremely nervous and excited in new environments likely from very poor breeding.
