“My Dog Only Listens When I Have a Treat!”

“My dog only does it when I have a treat!”

Is that your experience? If so, it’s a very common one!

Here are a couple of reasons why that might be happening and what you can do to fix it.

Problem #1: Lingering Food Lures

Luring is one of the most common ways to teach basic obedience behaviors such as Sit and Down. It works great when dog and human are new to training, but it is very easy to accidentally turn the food into a bribe.

This usually happens because the dog did too many repetitions with food in the trainer’s hand and now expects it. Ideally, the food lure should be out of your hand within the first few sessions.

If your dog needs to see food in your hand to perform the behavior, re-teach the behavior.

• Do three repetitions with food and then one without. End the session there.

• The next day, do two repetitions with food and then two without.

• Continue weaning your dog off the food until he can do it all without food!

“I’m trying to wean him, but when I try without food, he just stares at me instead of following my hand.”

If he won’t follow your hand, break the hand motion into smaller pieces and reward at each piece.

Take Sit as an example: if he will lift his nose just a little to follow your hand above his head, reward for that. At the next repetition, see if he can follow your hand a little further before the reward. Rather than waiting for him to follow your hand all the way, reward him for following it just a little.

Problem #2: Overlapping Cues

Dogs always pay more attention to visual things over auditory things. If the handler gives both a verbal and visual command at the same time, the dog won’t notice the verbal cue.

I see this VERY often with Sit or Down: the human gives a hand signal and says the verbal cue at the same time. Later, if the human tries it without the hand signal, the dog doesn’t respond correctly because he he’s never “heard” the verbal cue.

Follows these instructions to teach a verbal cue so the dog actually hears it:

1) Say the cue without giving any hand signals

2) Quickly count to 2 in your head

3) Give the visual cue/hand signal without saying anything

By putting space between the auditory and visual stimuli, the dog can learn that the unfamiliar sound predicts a recognizable hand signal. Once learned, your dog will have two cues for the behavior: a hand signal and a word.

If you need extra help getting your dog to listen and obey reliably, contact Koinonia for some private sessions or a Board and Train!