Toy motivated

[BCkris]

my 13 month old BC loves to play tug or chase a ball. when i sit he stares at me with eyes that drill through my head along with his tug toy or tennis ball. I have heard a lot of comments on how their pet is just waiting to work.... how can i switch this motivation from toys to working? i am currently training for obedience, and he is not much food motivated and even with toys he doesnt stay motivated... i try to make it fun, being very excited and praise praise praise but then he just loses interest and just wants to play. I really dont know what i am doing wrong? if i had the same drive for working as i do for playing id have the best obedience dog in the world... (if ya catch my drift ) ) basically when training, praise, treats, toys do not help but a whole 2 minutes... anyone have any other tricks up their sleeve?

 

Thanks!

Kristine

[Carlasl]

Two minutes of work (heeling or such) and twice that time in play is a good way to keep a dog motivated. Use the toys to your advantage. Honestly I like have a toy motivated dog, I personally think my dog is much happier working for toys than for food, she seems to have more drive than a food motivated dog and seems to have a better time when we are using toys instead of food.

 

I would say you need to break your training sessions into shorter times. If two minutes is all he will do then you need to ask him to do less than two minutes and then break into play. Every session is broken up by lots of toy play. Your dog should be anticipating a game of tug/ball might break out at any moment while you are working.

[MaggieDog]

Carla is spot on - start small and work up rather than trying to swim upstream against the dog's ability to focus.

[Root Beer]

my 13 month old BC loves to play tug or chase a ball. when i sit he stares at me with eyes that drill through my head along with his tug toy or tennis ball. I have heard a lot of comments on how their pet is just waiting to work.... how can i switch this motivation from toys to working? i am currently training for obedience, and he is not much food motivated and even with toys he doesnt stay motivated... i try to make it fun, being very excited and praise praise praise but then he just loses interest and just wants to play. I really dont know what i am doing wrong? if i had the same drive for working as i do for playing id have the best obedience dog in the world... (if ya catch my drift ) ) basically when training, praise, treats, toys do not help but a whole 2 minutes... anyone have any other tricks up their sleeve?

 

What will happen if the toy is in sight but off of you? Say, it is sitting on top of table or something?

 

Will he perform a few behaviors for you on cue?

 

If so, you can use that in many ways to build duration of focus.

 

If not, you can still do that, but you will need to do some preliminary work.

 

And what will happen if he knows you have the toy but you have it hidden? In a pocket or behind your back? Will he perform a few behaviors for you on cue?