Dog Training Strategies – Building Engagement with Food
Frustrated with your efforts at dog training? No doubt other Portland pet parents can relate to how you’re feeling. Even professional dog trainers would agree that trying to teach any pooch is bound to being about moments of exasperation.
When things aren’t going well, calling it quits can be the best decision. However, you need a strategy for your next dog training session. According to professional trainers, it’s much easier to get a dog to do what you want than it is to get them to stop a certain behavior. With that in mind, using food to build engagement with your furry friend can be a good solution to your training woes.
What is Engagement in Dog Training?
For canines, engagement is best described as the process of becoming involved or actively participating in dog training.
To get results when training your tail-wagger, you need to make sure they’re engaged. This isn’t something you can force – your dog must choose to pay attention and, hopefully, seek out opportunities to engage with you as often as possible.
Building engagement is crucial to success with dog training, as all of the distracting sounds, sights and smells can easily lead a pooch astray. Experienced professional trainers say that using food is one of the best ways to build engagement, and with an engaged dog, training is more manageable.
How Do You Build Engagement With Your Dog?
When it comes to getting your dog to be engaged and actively participating in training, two factors are of fundamental importance.
First of all, you need a proven motivator, something that your furry friend considers to be a reward. Offering affection and playing with toys can work, but professional trainers recommend using food. You can offer a nibble over and over again during each training session, yet still manage the amount they consume – and giving food rewards often produces more consistent results than relying on praise and playtime.
The second factor to building engagement is to convince your dog that they are in charge of getting you to produce rewards. In other words, your furry friend needs to understand that their actions are directly connected to your actions. Fortunately, doing so is nowhere near as difficult as it may seem.
How Do You Use Food to Get Your Dog Engaged?
Every dog eats, so you can certainly use food as a motivator for your pooch. But for this strategy to be effective, you’ll want to plan your dog training sessions for the times when your tail-wagger is ready to eat. If they aren’t hungry, you likely won’t get the results you’re after.
As for exactly how you go about using food to build engagement with your dog, these are the basic steps to take:
Begin your dog training session at a regularly schedule mealtime
Start walking or moving around a little to get your furry friend’s attention
Once you make eye contact or hear frustration barking, offer a food reward
The last step is significant, as barking or looking into your eyes shows that your dog is fully engaged – and you don’t want to offer the food until you get that confirmation. Professional dog trainers also suggest offering a verbal cue (like “Yes!” or “Good!”) at the same time as the nibbles to help keep your pet motivated.
How much food should you offer each time you get your dog engaged? That’s completely up to you. Depending upon the nature of your dog training session, a single bite, a small handful of food or an entire bowl may be appropriate.
What If Your Dog Doesn’t Want to Engage With You?
Making sure that your dog training sessions are fun goes a long way, but at some point, your pooch will likely stop paying attention. You can’t beg them to focus, so what are you supposed to do?
If your tail-wagger isn’t interested, put the food away and plan to work on dog training another time. As you do, keep the following in mind:
You shouldn’t feel guilty because you’re ending mealtime. If your furry friend is hungry, they’ll eat – and if you have offered ample opportunities for them to earn their food, you have to assume that they don’t want any at the moment.
When your dog doesn’t finish a meal, offering more between-meal snacks or increasing the size of the next meal isn’t recommended. Provide the same amount of food as you normally would when it’s time for your pooch to eat.
Remember that your beloved pet doesn’t have endless amounts of energy. If you go on a long walk or let them run around with their canine friends, getting results during a dog training session the same day may prove to be a challenge.
You’ll know that you have real engagement with your dog when they’re actively trying to get you to produce the desired reward. Food often works to build engagement, but if you’re one of the many Portland pet parents who needs a little help with dog training, you can always reach out to the professional team at Blackwood Canine. For more info, contact us today!
