Aaaaagh...Was going to ask re treats as rewards.I am trying to not give a treat so often as a reward mainly because Rosie is getting wide around the beam, have swapped to normal kibble as much as poss, but really need something more highend for recall.But so far all Her training has been treat based , there isnt a toy with a high enough value to Her to replace a 'sweet' and when I attempt to just praise I get the 'yeh, right ,I did as asked now make with the treat' look.Have cut down Her meal to compensate but then She spends Her time 'hoovering' and I feel guilty. Tried changing treats to carrot etc but to little success, She will actually spit out something if it is not to Her high expectations.
Think main problem is this dog is spoiled rotten and probably cleverer than me........
Ps I too chat to Her, but its a different tone to commands.
Have you tried using yourself as a reward for recall? Run around like an idiot, roll on the ground, wrestle and play tag, play with a tug toy (and let the dog win). This usually works better than treats for recall in my experience. Unless your dog really is not interested in playing at all, they tend to like it when we clown around with them.
Regarding healthy treats, if you mix a bag of kibble with some fruit, veggies and something smelly like liver, cheese or sausage in the morning, then all of it will smell very good after a few hours. That smell might give kibble, carrots and cucumber higher value since smell is more important than taste for dogs
The unpredictability hould help too, she will never know of its liver or carrot until she tries it. Promise of a potential jackpot is a trick that works on both humans and dogs. I used to cook and dry liver for this purpose. Stank up the house, but brilliant for a treat bag
My dog is also spoiled rotten and it's definitely because she is more clever than me! She is better at training me than I am at training her
