One of the things I stumbled on this week was Kraft Natural Cheese “Cubes”… the ‘mild cheddar’ variety. You can buy these at any grocery store. They come in packages of 50 cubes, and usually cost approximately $2.49.
I’m finding that even finicky dogs love these things! You may be thinking, “Big deal! Some thing new to feed your dog!” — Which is just the attitude I would expect from a Rottweiler owner, or anyone else who owns a dog with a strong food drive!
But when you have a dog that is generally NOT food motivated… and then you find something like this that DOES motivate your dog… you’ve just picked up a new tool that can make a world of difference in your dog’s training. But before you start incorporating food into your training, you might want to review “The Truth About Using Food In Your Training.”
In brief, you’ll want to incorporate food in your training as a motivator, rather than a bribe.
In other words, to:
1.) Get your dog to understand a new exercise faster, during the ‘learning phase’ of training.
2.) To reduce stress, like when introducing new obstacles during agility training.
3.) To perk up working attitude in a dog that looks droopy when he does exercises. (I’d incorporate the ball drive, too… if the dog’s ball drive is stronger than his food drive).
-Adam