Jo's Old Site

Today when I threw Ilse’s grey and black tennis ball ten times and told her to “get it” she went out and came back all at the same pace as I’ve been feeding her jackpots when she returns to me with the ball.

I also find that incorporating play in my training really works with Ilse. And when I do heel work I try to remember to praise Ilse as she is working, and afterwards I reward her with jackpots.

Someone also suggested to use the word “work” as a command to me. But I haven’t worked out an effective way for her to recognize this as one of my commands so don’t use it.

Instead I use the word “ready” and she sits and as I also say it before I throw her ball I think what it means to Ilse is that I’m about or we are about to do something. And besides another reason why I don’t use “work” as a command is because it sounds too much like a reprimand to me.

Ilse has also got quite a few other toys too, and the amount made my mother laugh the other day, as she pointed out that I had two or three boxes just for her toys. And her favourite toys are the ball and the tug toys, and of course toys that make a squeaky noise. 

Also although I know that some people don’t recommend playing tug with a dog, I also have seen the usefulness of teaching this skill to a dog.

As getting a chance to tug on a rope toy can be another form of a reward for doing something when looking at it from a dog’s point of view.

For instance, a  dog’s owner can reward their dog by giving them a chance to tug after their dog had responded to them calling them. And learning to tug can also give the dog a chance to learn other useful things like opening doors, and pulling off socks for owners who find it hard to do it themselves. 

Also using different types of rewards while we are training, or interacting with our dogs can stop a dog from only accepting one type of reward.

As some dogs become too food oriented if their trainer only uses food as a reward for their dog. And when I train Ilse I make sure I switch over to food or a toy when I get her to do things. And also remember to not forget the praise either.

As a lot of people using food or toys as motivators forget the praise, and just thinking about this has made me think that this is why a dog only seems to be working for food. As by using praise as a way to motivate our dogs can help them become praise motivated dogs.