Training Help - Page 1

So, I'm trying to help my friend train his roommates dog, and could use some pointers from those more experienced with different types of dogs. Every dog I've been around has had something you could motivate them with - food, toys, praise, whatever. The problem with this dog, is he is a total airhead. He's about a year and a half, still a lot of puppy in him. He likes toys, but has absolutely zero focus on them. He'll carry them around, squeak them, etc., bring them over to you to play with him, but the second you toss it (even just a few feet away) he completely loses interest. 100%, like he forgets it even existed. Kind of the same way with food, though I *think* if they quit feeding him in a bowl and only fed him during training, then you could *maybe* work with him. He is an insanely slow learner, but hey, the dogs I'm used to are all pretty smart. So yeah, kind of a strange situation, I was just wondering if anyone had any tips.

 

Here is a crappy phone picture of the doofus. His name is Waffles, supposedly a labradoodle, which could explain things in itself, LOL.

Cute dog!
I would suggest to them he work for his meals, or skip a meal and work for it later. I'm sure you all have tried a variety of different kinds of treats, some more palatable than others? I also would recommend they feed the dog his meals from their hand. I know it sounds dumb, but some dogs need to learn this process. I had a female that I got at about 6 months of age, has good food drive, but had no idea how to take it from my hand.
Most of my pet dog clients find it cruel and inhumane for the dog to skip a meal or two in order for me to manipulate the dog's food drive and help him change gears into training mode. Hopefully they aren't this way.

Cool looking dog, temperament?

Hntr - Thanks for the ideas. I suggested something similar already, but will be sure to pass your input along. :) Some treats he likes more than others, yeah. I told them to make him work for his meals now, kibble by kibble, and if he doesn't want to listen, he can try again later/the next day. Eventually I feel he will get the hang of it, as no dog is going to starve themselves to death just to avoid listening. Whether "behaving" sticks with him when there isn't food involved, well... we'll see.

VK - He is a goober. That's just the best way to describe it. Never met a person he didn't like, happy-go-lucky, bouncy (literally....hops like a rabbit), playful, not a care in the world. But stubborn. He is really cute though, lots of personality, just a big goof.

Let him go hungry for a while. He will work for food then .then only one meal a day after training don't over feed on the one meal good luck

Agree about what you are doing with food; not being fed a meal all in one go,
but having to do what you want him to in order to earn food will teach him some
patience and educate him as to who is in charge of his well-being. But it sounds
as though he could do with burning off some excess teenage energy too - is there
anywhere safe they can use that he can be let off leash to just run and run ?
Preferably can [one of] his owners run with him ? Some dogs respond to training,
and pay more attention, once they have had the 'edge' taken off.
I would not worry about the toy response at the moment; you can probably get
it later on, concentrate on using food for now as he does respond to that.
In fact (though I'd be happier saying this if I was in the presence of the live dog)
it could be worth removing all toys and not using them or letting him have them
at all for the time being. They can leave him with a cuddly if he seems to need
it for night comfort. But if the owner controls all the squeakies and throwables
and he can't have them 'on demand' they attain more value to him.
Love his looks, very cute & reminds me of a friends dog years ago.

Labradoodles have no reason to be stupid...but the owner needs to be smarter than the dog. Hund got right. No toys 'on demand'...in other words, NILIF.
Starving a dog to try to create food motivation is counterproductive.

Seems to me that you'll have start by training the people close to this dog. Because it wiil take a lot of comitment to turn things around.

How is his behaviour on the leash? When in rehabilitation i always start with leash work cause that is an extention of our controle, then i move on to other issues.

To use Food Drive you must get the dog hungry...I would skip the dog's food for a day...then offer him some "High Value" food out of your hand...Then you can begin to use this as motivation...
If this doesn't work then you only have Compulsion...

You said that he likes his toys and brings them to you to play with him, but has no interest when they are tossed. So, use the toy to interact with him as a reward, but instead of tossing it, use it as a tug or interactive object. Teach the out, and after playing together with the toy as reward for correct behaviour, give the out and do the exercise again. The dog wants to interact with the human with the toy, not chase it, so use that as motivation.