Food Trick that really works well

[Shelly0390]

Ok, I admit it. I feed my dog food to perform and learn new tricks. Some people may agree it's ok to do so, some don't. I just know it works. It makes her happy and it makes me happy she's performing.

BUT what I do is feed her treats that were made for small breed dogs...hehehe, I can give her less while she thinks she's getting a lot! The biscuits ratio is 1 biscuit for every 5lbs your dog weighs. Well, we all know a rottie is only 5lbs for the first few weeks of life...so you know she's getting what she thinks is an excellent helping! I hope you'll give it a try and let me know how it works for you in training your dogs new tricks!

Shelly

http://www.freewebs.com/luvrotties

[spidey]

First, there's nothing wrong with food rewards at all, especially for puppies - what you should do though is only give food intermittently once a behaviour is learned (give it every time while training it, and then on a random basis) - dogs don't work for free, they either work for reward or they work to avoid unpleasant things, but they don't work for free. Second, dogs are not good judges of size when it comes to treats, so there's no reason you can't break even small biscuits into tiny bits - as long as they're big enough for the dog to know it's eaten a treat, they don't have to be any bigger. A bunch of small treats (or one bigger treat broken into smaller bits) is more effective than one big treat.

[Wookie'sMom]

I use roll food (kind of like a sausage) cut up into tiny (like 1/4 inch) cubes. They're really stinky so she thinks she's getting a great treat, but they're small enough that she doesn't get full during training sessions and they don't effect her overall diet that much.

[Luvs]

I used Louis Rich grilled chicken for our dogs treats. It is something that I will put in my mouth and the dogs love it. I also like it because it is soft and easy to tear off very small pieces.

I like to use a combo of treats and toys when I am training. Akasha works equally well for both, while Keil prefers the food. ;)

[Debbie]

I go one further....I buy the puppy biscuits. A Chihuahua could probably handle two at once. They think they're getting lots and lots of treats so that makes me a goddess. :D

[kaylynn143]

One of the most prized training treats is Cat food. I bought some Felidae for my two cats and they wouldn't have anything to do with it. Tried it as a training treat for the dogs and bingo we have a winner! They like Cherios too!