Putting Engagement on Cue

[@wildog47]

The single 2 things that Helped my puppy the most are a high rate of reinforcement and the timing of that reinforcement. because of that my puppy in just 2 months has already become so engaged with me in all places

[@beachpupsumina4110]

Big props to these two . I own cattle dogs and know first hand how they react to movement and external stimuli. Love watching this, thanks for the post.

[@LauraHopkinsCDL]

Great to see this in action. It does take a lot of commitment though and I find most pet dog owners simply are not prepared to put the time in :. Thank you

[@kevinmatthews9469]

Unfortunately, you are so right. My clients love to ohhh & ahhh when I'm trying to teach it, but then when I explain to them, that they are going to need to do this, every walk, and every chance you get while you have 2 minutes left on the microwave, during a commercial, while you're waiting for the kitchen floor to dry, any time you can. They just get this look on their face, like "aww. That doesn't sound easy or fun". Sigh. What can we do.

[@leegrass6954]

Still having trouble, have dog that loves food but when the distraction is great enough, even the highest value treats are refused

[@servicedogchopper7613]

Lee Grass Try a different kind of rewarder. Chopper is nuts over a tug. I can keep his focus by saying in a high pitch voice "wanna get it", keeping the tug in sight, moving it around if I need to. Then when the distraction passes he gets the tug. Also, if the distraction is too much, move further away from it. Maybe you are starting too fast and too many distractions. We do this often. A barking dog super close and he can't keep focus on me? I do use low levels of an e collar but if you are wanting to do treat/toy only, move further away from that distraction and you'll see a big difference. Then slowly move closer. We often move around when training for this purpose. I have incororprated engaement games in our daily life as well. Before we go out. Before he eats. During exercise. We are always doing engagement games even for a few mins. It's important to do it often.

[@kevinmatthews9469]

@@servicedogchopper7613 excellent advice. You must do it every chance you get. Be as obsessed with the engagement exercise as you want your dog to be obsessed with you. I find myself adjusting the intensity of the stimulus as well.

[@deusexmachinawl]

In all honesty this dog is engaged and focused on food... certainly serves the purpose if that is what you want... I have been dealing with dogs that couldn't care less about food. So what you do?

[@servicedogchopper7613]

Walter Lucchesi Toys! You can also build food and toy drive. Leerburg has amazing videos and courses on that. Michael Ellis is amazing! Also, use higher value food rewards. Chicken or turkey. Give different types of food reward. Mix in different higher value food rewards and do jackpot rewards back to back. But, if that dog doesn't careless for chicken or turkey (or any meat) then I'd try to build food reward. Also, be rewarding to look at, yourself. Higher pitch voice works for Chopper. "You wanna get it?" In a high pitch voice works for Chopper. Tug in hand where he can see it. Then when there's a delay, he stays focused (if not, say it again in a high pitch voice moving around the tug - your goal is to keep that focus anyway you can) and then when the distraction passes, YES! And throw the toy or play tug. We play engagement games every single day. Everytime I exercise Chopper we are working on engagement. We go to pet stores and play engagement games in there. Not throwing the toy but playing a quick game of tug or rewarding with chicken or turkey. Engagement games are so important and it's important to do it often!

[@batchimed7392]

Good starting point for Engagement. But I feel like if you use food reward for many training or obedience purpose, some dogs can become obese.

[@servicedogchopper7613]

Bat Chimeddorj I deduct the food from his daily meal. Or, you can use his daily meal as a food rewarder. Start with a hungry enough dog and you can feed it it's daily meal throughout the day. But, I will take out a half cup of kibble if I have given enough pieces of meat. It is important to balance this as well as giving plenty of exercise. I use food pretty much daily as Chopper is a service dog in training and we are in super high distracting enviroments almost daily. But I also ensure to keep track of how much I am feeding and deduct this at the end of the day (he'll only eat once a day and if you giving food rewards daily, it makes sense to feed at night) I will deduct what I fed from that nightly meal. I have not had one issue of weight gain in a year and a half by doing this.