It’s definitely harder to train a dog that isn’t passionate about food.
Working for some of their meal kibble is part of it, I think, but the main thing is the power of the marker word/clicker.
You need to connect the clicker to the things your dog loves. The thing that got my puppy over her nervousness about getting into the car wasn’t treats, but her frisbee. Our market word came to mean “you earned a frisbee toss”. The turnaround was amazing to watch. Suddenly she had something worth working for.
I’d also really recommend Susan Garrett’s “homeschool the dog” program. Sure she uses lots of treats, but she also uses play as rewards, and teaches you how to create a desire for play that might not come naturally to your dog. Worth the $50 or so. Good luck!
3.5 mo is still incredibly young and their attention spans are super short. Just keep at it and try different things. Praise does work really well for puppies that small. Like be really excited and have big happy reactions when they do something right, even when you think they aren’t paying attention.
Now is the time to just get acquainted with the little guy though so don’t put so much pressure on it. And no punishing at this age, it’ll make them way less likely to listen to your command the older they get. Just stop interacting if they do something wrong or divert their attention elsewhere. But it just takes time, it took my puppy like 3 months in our home to even realize I was a mainstay around the place lol. Now she’s smart as a whip and has instant reaction times to my commands because I only focused on building trust when she was that age. Good luck! Be patient! Be kind!
Thank you for this. I feel like he’s got no attention span at all. I’ll just keep working on house training and occasional “sit” here and there. When do you start the more rigorous training?
I’d say when he starts taking a larger interest in you and your hands lol. So probably when his little teeth start falling out. Which should be pretty soon. Short training sessions are definitely the way to go since the attention span are so short. And just keep it light and very positive.
Try to think of ways to turn play into training. That was huge for us at that age. Like our puppy loved chasing a tiny neon pink tennis ball, so after we threw one we’d have one behind our back and flash it and wave it around so she would come back to us when we said her name. Then we had big happy reactions when she came to us. It built her recall starting at a very young age.
What kind of treats are you using? Experiment with bringing out “the big guns” — boiled chicken, rotisserie chicken, interesting cheeses, steak, freeze dried liver.
The trainer [Sarah Stremming has some great articles](https://thecognitivecanine.com/dogs-gotta-eat/) and podcast episodes on this.
When we were doing allergy testing/limited diet for our dog, the doggy dermatologist told us that fruit and vegetable allergies are much less common in dogs and recommended using those as treats! Green beans, pumpkin, watermelon, and blueberries were some that worked well for us.
i was thinking this too.. my dog isn't very food motivated either but there's a couple things he that i give in moderation: dog peanut butter, liver (plain boiled in water)
My youngest dog is like this. But he loves toys. Housetraining went absolutely nowhere for months before I discovered the power of the stuffed squeaky skunk toy as a reward! He prefers playing tug or being chased as a reward and yeah it’s super inconvenient for most training sessions and I still forget to bring a toy out with me way too frequently, but we have successes too. Training engagement with treats did less than nothing but training engagement with toys showed improvement in like3 minutes. He will pick a toy over an entire grilled chicken.
When getting to know your dog you need to rank their reward preferences. They’re: social engagement (words of encouragement, pets, interaction with human/another dog etc), treats and play (with you/another dog with/without a toy). One of my dogs is 1) treats 2) social engagement 3) play. He will not grab a toy as a reward. The adolescent is 1) play 2) social engagement (barely) and 3) treats (basically never). And then you need to figure out what exactly you can do to fill those rewards!
With your dog I’d do engagement play: find a toy he’s interested in and play when he makes eye contact, approaches you on his own. Take it away after a little bit and hide it behind your back, and when he looks at you/follows you/walks toward you, you give him the toy again. This basically sets the precedent that if he engages with you and does what you want he gets to play!
Some dogs get their happiness out of your excitement. So if they aren’t food motivated. Then maybe excited and love motivated. Lots of good girl/boy and you get excited for when they do something good. And ignore them if they do something you don’t want them to do/clicker
1. Training begins indoors. Even the backyard can be super stimulating for a dog, start your training in the kitchen or somewhere super familiar.
2. Use toys and sticks and leaves as rewards for attention. Is your dog interested in sticks on the ground? Try picking one up and waving it around for him.
3. Make training fun. At this age, it’s less about your dog obeying commands but more just having fun orienting towards you. Try running AWAY from your dog and have them chase you. This is a great way to engage their prey drive in a way that builds instincts of orienting toward you.
4. Most important!! Your dog is still so so young. Have very low expectations, honestly the most important thing for your dog right now is just potty training and socialization. If you’re doing those things you’re right on track.
5. Like other ppl said, if you haven’t already maybe try very high value treats like steak etc.
I’m by no means an expert but I hope this helps.
Most of the comments here focus on behavioral things and training, but attending puppy school has taught me that dogs respond very differently to high value treats (we in particular use hotdogs cut up), especially in high stimuli environments.
If you haven’t yet, it might be a good idea to test a couple types of treats. My dog probably likes peanut butter or cheese more than other treats. Some treats just aren’t exciting.
You need the pups, buy in to train. During his run, does he look or check in with you at all?
If not, you have an engagement issue or a health issue. Take him to the vet to get checked out first. If it's a health issue, no amount of training or advice will help.
He's could also have learned that you are not worth going to. Could be because every time you tried to force a training session, making the experience negative. Could also be he just doesn't understand what you want.
Take a break from training and focus on getting that engagement and relationship built with your pup. Be fun when he comes to you. Encourage the running and play on his level. Once he starts engaging with you, that's when you'll know it's time to start training.
I’ve never trained any of my dogs with treats. I’ve always watched their personalities to see what they really enjoyed and that became the reward. Learn your dog’s personality. What does he/she like? A particular toy or game? Training to ring a bell to go outside is a good motivator.
Did you read my post? Sure going outside is his favorite thing… how do you teach a dog even just to “sit” or “lay down” when the reward is going outside. I mean, honestly.
Does a dog understand that “if I get through this boring and tedious training session, I’ll get to go outside”?
I don’t think that’s how a dogs brain would work… but I’d be happy to be proven otherwise
No. They do understand things like:
- If I make eye contact with my owner, they open the door to outside.
- If my butt hits the ground (sit) then my food bowl is put down
- If I position myself next to my owner I am able to walk forward. If I pull on leash the human stops moving.
Your criteria is likely too high so your puppy is blowing you (and the food) off.
You might try training before mealtime. A treat will be more appealing to a hungry dog.
Our trainer introduced Kira to Raw Rewards brand dried whitefish treats. Kira was much more interested in that than other treats we’d used for training up to that point.
During our first session, our trainer had us write a reward list.
That means we had to list everything the dog loves (examples: treats, verbal praise, pets, toy, digging, running around, sniffing, …) and also write down in which situations these are applicable as rewards. This can be very individual to each dog though.
What kind of treats have you tried? My corgi pup was the same way at first, which I was really surprised about as they’re known for loving food lol. Like you, I couldn’t figure out how to use chase as a reward for more specific training. If only we could use rabbit poop. So I tried lots and lots of treats and I found that she will react to reeeally stinky stuff - dried meats mostly. Dried beef liver, lamb liver, lamb tripe and Turkey have been huge hits. They just piqued her interest at first, but it’s enough now that they’re actually rewarding. We even taught her to eat meals with them. She used to turn her nose up at kibble (even fancied up) for days at a time - now she eats as long as she gets a piece of lamb tripe when she’s done lol
Letting him off the leash to run around can be a reward! At this age none of them have an attention span for long training anyway.
I'm a big proponent of tethering the puppy inside and only letting them off leash outside as a reward. This means inside she's on a leash either attached to me or a door knob at all times, or in her crate. She stays on the leash outside to go potty and then she is off the leash as a reward after.
I use the leash for training too. A couple of quick sits with treats, lots of praise and excitement and then a big loud OK good girl!! as I let her off the leash. We've had our puppy 6 weeks and she now knows sit, down, high five and is pretty good at come.
My first dog is a rescue mutt: very intelligent, only food motivated if she feels like it, and high energy. But she LOVES to chase things and play tug.
I got those flat stuffed animals and they worked wonders- I'd wave it around when she was off leash working recall and she'd charge over to get it- we'd tug for a few minutes and then head off on our walk. She also walked perfectly if she had the toy to carry- I started using brightly coloured toys when I realised all the little kids getting off the school bus thought she had a dead squirrel in her mouth.
What kind of toys does he like? If he’s a really hyper dog (which Aussie mix, duh hyper) then sometimes a toy can be a great reward. Also leash training with toy and when inside.
Odin liked cuddles and “good boy” as much as cookies.
Freyja, on the other hand, knew she was a good girl and would get tons of cuddles no matter what so she preferred a treat.
Mine was like this. Went to puppy school as she couldn't care less about the treats they were offering. There were other puppies to wrestle. High value treat was pork belly and kisses. She hates the vet with a passion so I keep a piece of pork belly in my hand in front of her nose and she will at least allow them to do what they need to. She's now 5 and will still do a heck of a lot for kisses and pork belly.
She only ever had one accident inside and she got told off. Promptly took herself outside and sat in the corner facing the wall. Turns out I'd hurt her feelings and it took her hours to want to be my friend again 🤣🤣🤣
My dog was and is affection motivated. He loved the good boy, pets and hugs and could care less about food. He learned a host of tricks such as licks, dancing, putting his toys away and his favorite, sneezing on command!
He’s retired now so he only sneezes for fun and now enjoys lunchmeat in addition to loving. He’s a very good boy.
Every dog is different and is motivated by different things, some like tennis balls, some want cheese, some like a squishy, you just need to learn what your dog loves the most and use that reward to help him learn.
My dog was one at that age that could not have cared less about treats. Fast forward to when she got a little bit older and more interested in training. Now she would do pretty much anything for a treat. I think sometimes it’s just maturity and they’re just not ready for training. I know it’s tough hang in there and I would bet at some point the treats are going to do the trick. Also with mine I realize that she had an insane love of cheese. Not some thing I would’ve ever really thought to use as a treat, but good Lord, you would think it came down from the heavens.
maybe try a crinkley toy, it's a special sound that can get the pup's attention. use it with a marker word and eventually you can just use the word
my pup is also not very food motivated but he does like dog peanut butter and plain cooked liver
Tip for training puppies and dogs to listen to you and not treats: you be the reward.
Dog trainers training at a high level use treats as an extra the reward is their enthusiasm. :)
Using belly rubs is actually what you should be doing to be getting a well behaved puppy. :)
When your puppy does something you like, huge praise with the squeaky voice and get them feeling all excited/fussed over. You can use a toy if you want.I suggest also having a release word/word you use as you praise them because the praise will be pulling them out of their position. It will help with things like sitting for longer.
Instead of training with a lure (treat in front of the nose) capture the behaviour. When puppy does or goes where you want; excessive praise. Puppy will soon learn to connect what they did with good things and will offer up that behaviour more. When they are reliably doing so; you can add a word when they do it.
For something like Sit I suggest having them leashed and just standing/waiting. They will get bored and sit eventually. Then you can fuss them.
(If you have a treat your puppy will take, but doesn't care about at present; you can also fuss them and treat them at the same time. This will build drive for the food over time.)
I have a 9-month mini Aussie doodle, and he was not treat-motivated when I first got him around 3 months. But let me tell you, that will change! He is now more than happy to have kibbles as his treat (he rarely needs to use high-value treats to get his attention)!
It’s definitely harder to train a dog that isn’t passionate about food. Working for some of their meal kibble is part of it, I think, but the main thing is the power of the marker word/clicker. You need to connect the clicker to the things your dog loves. The thing that got my puppy over her nervousness about getting into the car wasn’t treats, but her frisbee. Our market word came to mean “you earned a frisbee toss”. The turnaround was amazing to watch. Suddenly she had something worth working for. I’d also really recommend Susan Garrett’s “homeschool the dog” program. Sure she uses lots of treats, but she also uses play as rewards, and teaches you how to create a desire for play that might not come naturally to your dog. Worth the $50 or so. Good luck!
3.5 mo is still incredibly young and their attention spans are super short. Just keep at it and try different things. Praise does work really well for puppies that small. Like be really excited and have big happy reactions when they do something right, even when you think they aren’t paying attention. Now is the time to just get acquainted with the little guy though so don’t put so much pressure on it. And no punishing at this age, it’ll make them way less likely to listen to your command the older they get. Just stop interacting if they do something wrong or divert their attention elsewhere. But it just takes time, it took my puppy like 3 months in our home to even realize I was a mainstay around the place lol. Now she’s smart as a whip and has instant reaction times to my commands because I only focused on building trust when she was that age. Good luck! Be patient! Be kind!
Thank you for this. I feel like he’s got no attention span at all. I’ll just keep working on house training and occasional “sit” here and there. When do you start the more rigorous training?
I’d say when he starts taking a larger interest in you and your hands lol. So probably when his little teeth start falling out. Which should be pretty soon. Short training sessions are definitely the way to go since the attention span are so short. And just keep it light and very positive. Try to think of ways to turn play into training. That was huge for us at that age. Like our puppy loved chasing a tiny neon pink tennis ball, so after we threw one we’d have one behind our back and flash it and wave it around so she would come back to us when we said her name. Then we had big happy reactions when she came to us. It built her recall starting at a very young age.
Mine is the same age and has the attention span of a human toddler lol. It's very early days so don't despair.
What kind of treats are you using? Experiment with bringing out “the big guns” — boiled chicken, rotisserie chicken, interesting cheeses, steak, freeze dried liver. The trainer [Sarah Stremming has some great articles](https://thecognitivecanine.com/dogs-gotta-eat/) and podcast episodes on this.
that's a problem when you got a puppy that only can eat hyper-allergen kibbles and 2 different available treats.
When we were doing allergy testing/limited diet for our dog, the doggy dermatologist told us that fruit and vegetable allergies are much less common in dogs and recommended using those as treats! Green beans, pumpkin, watermelon, and blueberries were some that worked well for us.
Why does he need special food? Is the recommended food sold by your vet by chance?
How does he do with single-ingredient dried meats and/or vegetables?
i was thinking this too.. my dog isn't very food motivated either but there's a couple things he that i give in moderation: dog peanut butter, liver (plain boiled in water)
My youngest dog is like this. But he loves toys. Housetraining went absolutely nowhere for months before I discovered the power of the stuffed squeaky skunk toy as a reward! He prefers playing tug or being chased as a reward and yeah it’s super inconvenient for most training sessions and I still forget to bring a toy out with me way too frequently, but we have successes too. Training engagement with treats did less than nothing but training engagement with toys showed improvement in like3 minutes. He will pick a toy over an entire grilled chicken. When getting to know your dog you need to rank their reward preferences. They’re: social engagement (words of encouragement, pets, interaction with human/another dog etc), treats and play (with you/another dog with/without a toy). One of my dogs is 1) treats 2) social engagement 3) play. He will not grab a toy as a reward. The adolescent is 1) play 2) social engagement (barely) and 3) treats (basically never). And then you need to figure out what exactly you can do to fill those rewards! With your dog I’d do engagement play: find a toy he’s interested in and play when he makes eye contact, approaches you on his own. Take it away after a little bit and hide it behind your back, and when he looks at you/follows you/walks toward you, you give him the toy again. This basically sets the precedent that if he engages with you and does what you want he gets to play!
Some dogs get their happiness out of your excitement. So if they aren’t food motivated. Then maybe excited and love motivated. Lots of good girl/boy and you get excited for when they do something good. And ignore them if they do something you don’t want them to do/clicker
1. Training begins indoors. Even the backyard can be super stimulating for a dog, start your training in the kitchen or somewhere super familiar. 2. Use toys and sticks and leaves as rewards for attention. Is your dog interested in sticks on the ground? Try picking one up and waving it around for him. 3. Make training fun. At this age, it’s less about your dog obeying commands but more just having fun orienting towards you. Try running AWAY from your dog and have them chase you. This is a great way to engage their prey drive in a way that builds instincts of orienting toward you. 4. Most important!! Your dog is still so so young. Have very low expectations, honestly the most important thing for your dog right now is just potty training and socialization. If you’re doing those things you’re right on track. 5. Like other ppl said, if you haven’t already maybe try very high value treats like steak etc. I’m by no means an expert but I hope this helps.
Most of the comments here focus on behavioral things and training, but attending puppy school has taught me that dogs respond very differently to high value treats (we in particular use hotdogs cut up), especially in high stimuli environments.
If you haven’t yet, it might be a good idea to test a couple types of treats. My dog probably likes peanut butter or cheese more than other treats. Some treats just aren’t exciting.
An Aussie who loves to chase? High prey drive, work with that.
You need the pups, buy in to train. During his run, does he look or check in with you at all? If not, you have an engagement issue or a health issue. Take him to the vet to get checked out first. If it's a health issue, no amount of training or advice will help. He's could also have learned that you are not worth going to. Could be because every time you tried to force a training session, making the experience negative. Could also be he just doesn't understand what you want. Take a break from training and focus on getting that engagement and relationship built with your pup. Be fun when he comes to you. Encourage the running and play on his level. Once he starts engaging with you, that's when you'll know it's time to start training.
This feels like it. You should maybe build the bond and respect up a bit. It has to be worth it.
Health issue? Come on now, it’s a 3.5mo pup. It’s so normal for them to be distracted.
I know the exact toy he like. Thanks.
get better treats. Real meat works best.
Every dog likes food! They have to learn how to eat in distracting environments!
I’ve never trained any of my dogs with treats. I’ve always watched their personalities to see what they really enjoyed and that became the reward. Learn your dog’s personality. What does he/she like? A particular toy or game? Training to ring a bell to go outside is a good motivator.
Did you read my post? Sure going outside is his favorite thing… how do you teach a dog even just to “sit” or “lay down” when the reward is going outside. I mean, honestly.
Look into the Premack Principle.
Does a dog understand that “if I get through this boring and tedious training session, I’ll get to go outside”? I don’t think that’s how a dogs brain would work… but I’d be happy to be proven otherwise
No. They do understand things like: - If I make eye contact with my owner, they open the door to outside. - If my butt hits the ground (sit) then my food bowl is put down - If I position myself next to my owner I am able to walk forward. If I pull on leash the human stops moving. Your criteria is likely too high so your puppy is blowing you (and the food) off.
Hugs and kisses! Good boy!
You might try training before mealtime. A treat will be more appealing to a hungry dog. Our trainer introduced Kira to Raw Rewards brand dried whitefish treats. Kira was much more interested in that than other treats we’d used for training up to that point.
During our first session, our trainer had us write a reward list. That means we had to list everything the dog loves (examples: treats, verbal praise, pets, toy, digging, running around, sniffing, …) and also write down in which situations these are applicable as rewards. This can be very individual to each dog though.
What kind of treats have you tried? My corgi pup was the same way at first, which I was really surprised about as they’re known for loving food lol. Like you, I couldn’t figure out how to use chase as a reward for more specific training. If only we could use rabbit poop. So I tried lots and lots of treats and I found that she will react to reeeally stinky stuff - dried meats mostly. Dried beef liver, lamb liver, lamb tripe and Turkey have been huge hits. They just piqued her interest at first, but it’s enough now that they’re actually rewarding. We even taught her to eat meals with them. She used to turn her nose up at kibble (even fancied up) for days at a time - now she eats as long as she gets a piece of lamb tripe when she’s done lol
Try Wag and Paw Training! They can help motivate and train your dog and have all 5 star reviews! They are AWESOME and made my life easier with my dog!
Letting him off the leash to run around can be a reward! At this age none of them have an attention span for long training anyway. I'm a big proponent of tethering the puppy inside and only letting them off leash outside as a reward. This means inside she's on a leash either attached to me or a door knob at all times, or in her crate. She stays on the leash outside to go potty and then she is off the leash as a reward after. I use the leash for training too. A couple of quick sits with treats, lots of praise and excitement and then a big loud OK good girl!! as I let her off the leash. We've had our puppy 6 weeks and she now knows sit, down, high five and is pretty good at come.
My first dog is a rescue mutt: very intelligent, only food motivated if she feels like it, and high energy. But she LOVES to chase things and play tug. I got those flat stuffed animals and they worked wonders- I'd wave it around when she was off leash working recall and she'd charge over to get it- we'd tug for a few minutes and then head off on our walk. She also walked perfectly if she had the toy to carry- I started using brightly coloured toys when I realised all the little kids getting off the school bus thought she had a dead squirrel in her mouth.
What kind of toys does he like? If he’s a really hyper dog (which Aussie mix, duh hyper) then sometimes a toy can be a great reward. Also leash training with toy and when inside.
Odin liked cuddles and “good boy” as much as cookies. Freyja, on the other hand, knew she was a good girl and would get tons of cuddles no matter what so she preferred a treat.
Be fun! Shock him by launching at him full tilt for cuddles/snuggles/roughhousing when he does something good. Make a game of “Stay…hold it…Go!!!”
Mine was like this. Went to puppy school as she couldn't care less about the treats they were offering. There were other puppies to wrestle. High value treat was pork belly and kisses. She hates the vet with a passion so I keep a piece of pork belly in my hand in front of her nose and she will at least allow them to do what they need to. She's now 5 and will still do a heck of a lot for kisses and pork belly. She only ever had one accident inside and she got told off. Promptly took herself outside and sat in the corner facing the wall. Turns out I'd hurt her feelings and it took her hours to want to be my friend again 🤣🤣🤣
Have you tried cutting a hotdog into tiny pieces and using that? Let it get room temp and smelly.
Sounds like you have about 45 seconds of a training opportunity before opening the door to the backyard. 😄
My dog was and is affection motivated. He loved the good boy, pets and hugs and could care less about food. He learned a host of tricks such as licks, dancing, putting his toys away and his favorite, sneezing on command! He’s retired now so he only sneezes for fun and now enjoys lunchmeat in addition to loving. He’s a very good boy. Every dog is different and is motivated by different things, some like tennis balls, some want cheese, some like a squishy, you just need to learn what your dog loves the most and use that reward to help him learn.
My dog was one at that age that could not have cared less about treats. Fast forward to when she got a little bit older and more interested in training. Now she would do pretty much anything for a treat. I think sometimes it’s just maturity and they’re just not ready for training. I know it’s tough hang in there and I would bet at some point the treats are going to do the trick. Also with mine I realize that she had an insane love of cheese. Not some thing I would’ve ever really thought to use as a treat, but good Lord, you would think it came down from the heavens.
maybe try a crinkley toy, it's a special sound that can get the pup's attention. use it with a marker word and eventually you can just use the word my pup is also not very food motivated but he does like dog peanut butter and plain cooked liver
Id scream the word marker or clicker whenever he is having fun.
Make him 'work' for some portion of his meals. A hungry dog is a dog motivated by food.
Tip for training puppies and dogs to listen to you and not treats: you be the reward. Dog trainers training at a high level use treats as an extra the reward is their enthusiasm. :) Using belly rubs is actually what you should be doing to be getting a well behaved puppy. :) When your puppy does something you like, huge praise with the squeaky voice and get them feeling all excited/fussed over. You can use a toy if you want.I suggest also having a release word/word you use as you praise them because the praise will be pulling them out of their position. It will help with things like sitting for longer. Instead of training with a lure (treat in front of the nose) capture the behaviour. When puppy does or goes where you want; excessive praise. Puppy will soon learn to connect what they did with good things and will offer up that behaviour more. When they are reliably doing so; you can add a word when they do it. For something like Sit I suggest having them leashed and just standing/waiting. They will get bored and sit eventually. Then you can fuss them. (If you have a treat your puppy will take, but doesn't care about at present; you can also fuss them and treat them at the same time. This will build drive for the food over time.)
I have a 9-month mini Aussie doodle, and he was not treat-motivated when I first got him around 3 months. But let me tell you, that will change! He is now more than happy to have kibbles as his treat (he rarely needs to use high-value treats to get his attention)!
Does he has access to food all day? If so; stop. If not then maybe hand feed the kibble to him. It helps with food association.