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Dog Treats Dilemma - haopee - 08-10-2012
So, I am currently taking dog training seriously and have used more treats than their regular share of it (which used to be nothing since my sister never train them). And although I am thankful that they learn pretty fast, I am quite worried that even though I've cut the treats into tiny pieces to get more tricks out of a single treat, they still get full of it.
Sometimes, they no longer eat their meals. So the question is... how much is too much?
Should I just give them one meal a day rather than two because of the amount of treats they get? Because even when I lessened their meals, it's still sometimes left untouched.
RE: Dog Treats Dilemma - Pocs - 08-11-2012
I have never taken my dogs to a formal trainer. Luckily I have never needed any, having my boys since they were puppies. I trained them myself using treats and not using them. House training never got a reward of treats, just a good boy and a lot of petting. Other things like sit, lay or speak for example always got a treat.
I do thinkmyou can overload on treats. Not just the over indulging of them, but maybe the dog not behaving or doing what is being aked of them without getting a treat could be a problem.
I try and give my dogs treats a couple of times a day, for any reason not just because they do what I ask or behave. I don't want them to rely on treats to do what's expected of them.
RE: Dog Treats Dilemma - haopee - 08-14-2012
(08-11-2012, 12:36 AM)Pocs Wrote: I have never taken my dogs to a formal trainer. Luckily I have never needed any, having my boys since they were puppies. I trained them myself using treats and not using them. House training never got a reward of treats, just a good boy and a lot of petting. Other things like sit, lay or speak for example always got a treat.
I do thinkmyou can overload on treats. Not just the over indulging of them, but maybe the dog not behaving or doing what is being aked of them without getting a treat could be a problem.
I try and give my dogs treats a couple of times a day, for any reason not just because they do what I ask or behave. I don't want them to rely on treats to do what's expected of them.
Hi Pocs. I don't have a formal trainer, which is probably the reason why I am having this treat dilemma. I'm trying to training them myself too.
Sometimes, I would make them do 2 to 3 consecutive tricks before giving them the treats. I don't give treats for potty training either. It's when I ask them to do tricks like twirl, bark, down, sit, and up that I give it to them.
I also do the "good boy/good girl" so eventually I can do away with the treats. The problem is, when Chooey eats treats- even just two biscuits (yes, I've broken the treats into very tiny pieces)- she won't touch her food anymore. I'm hoping it's just a phase but I'm concerned that my pup is willing to starving herself.
RE: Dog Treats Dilemma - Pocs - 08-14-2012
@haopee
I'm not sure what I can say. My dogs don't get what I would call full. I can feed my dogs and know they are full, but if someone drops something on the floor while eating, they dash right over to cobble it up, and I know they can't be hungry. I think my boys would eat treats all day then eat dinner then come back for more treats. Lol
Hang in there with the single word command tricks. I'm sure your doggies will get it. Gizmo my older dog took a little more to train. Gix the younger was much easier. I think in part because he would watch Gizmo.
Good Luck!
RE: Dog Treats Dilemma - haopee - 08-15-2012
(08-14-2012, 04:15 PM)Pocs Wrote: @haopee
I'm not sure what I can say. My dogs don't get what I would call full. I can feed my dogs and know they are full, but if someone drops something on the floor while eating, they dash right over to cobble it up, and I know they can't be hungry. I think my boys would eat treats all day then eat dinner then come back for more treats. Lol
Hang in there with the single word command tricks. I'm sure your doggies will get it. Gizmo my older dog took a little more to train. Gix the younger was much easier. I think in part because he would watch Gizmo.
Good Luck!
Hi, Pocs. Thanks. I am thankful to have started young with the female shih tzu. She can pick up things pretty fast. The problem with her is (maybe because she's small), the treats can make her full so I guess my main concern is if I should do away with treats and find another way to reward her to keep her motivated. Toys are a bit so-and-so with her.
I agree. Single word commands are much easier to understand. And it's even better if you could turn it into a single syllable commands. On my end, it was Buchi (our 3 year old shih tzu) who learned picked up after Chooey (4 month old female) because he is my sister's dog and hasn't experienced being trained ever since (not even potty training).
RE: Dog Treats Dilemma - TreeClimber - 08-15-2012
Haopee, Do you dogs like their dog food? If the pieces are small, you can use those for dog training, too. Also, you can use baby carrots cut up into pieces. Other vegetables work good, too. If you have Cheerios, they can be broken up into many small pieces very easily.
At some point, you can work in praise in place of the treats so that you aren't using so many treats. There will be a point where you'll dog will be happy to get a scratch on the chin and a kind word. It takes time to get there, though.
I have a similar problem as you as my dog is small (10 lbs.) Though, she does not know the word "full" when it comes to food. If I kept feeding her, she would keep eating.
RE: Dog Treats Dilemma - haopee - 08-16-2012
(08-15-2012, 01:24 PM)TreeClimber Wrote: Haopee, Do you dogs like their dog food? If the pieces are small, you can use those for dog training, too. Also, you can use baby carrots cut up into pieces. Other vegetables work good, too. If you have Cheerios, they can be broken up into many small pieces very easily.
At some point, you can work in praise in place of the treats so that you aren't using so many treats. There will be a point where you'll dog will be happy to get a scratch on the chin and a kind word. It takes time to get there, though.
I have a similar problem as you as my dog is small (10 lbs.) Though, she does not know the word "full" when it comes to food. If I kept feeding her, she would keep eating.
No, they don't enjoy their dog food too much, especially Buchi, who unfortunately was being fed people food for the past 2 years of his life. I had no control over this back then. But now, I'm encouraging him to eat dog food as he is extremely thin on my standards.
Chooey, is a tad picky because I changed her dog food to something of higher quality. The old one we fed them wasn't good for Shih Tzus so I switched to something more reliable-and more expensive
.I'm trying to slowly do away with the treats but Chooey's attention is very short when she doesn't smell any "incentives".
Well, at least your dog isn't picky. Thanks for reminding me the carrots. I recall Peanuts enjoying them very much. I might consider using crunchy vegetables again.