What are the steps to get reliable obedience and a great working relationship with our dogs?
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First, we must first teach the dog the skills and behaviors we want them to do in the first place.
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In order to effectively teach our dogs new skills or behaviors, dogs must find it rewarding in some way. (Later on, we will delve into the science behind this concept and even learn how to variably reinforce our dogs so that we don't always need to reward each behavior. However, for now, let's start by exploring the simplest form of reinforcement we can utilize in dog training - food!)
We do use A LOT of food when teaching new skills to dogs. Food is typically the easiest thing we can use to reward a dog during training sessions. It's measurable, easy enough to have on hand, and existentially rewarding to all living beings. Not just any kind of food, though...
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Ideally, we want to use their MEALS as much as possible. When we use our dog's meals as a reward during training sessions, we tap into the powerful biological nature of the human/dog relationship. Most dogs prefer to "work" for their food. They are biologically designed by nature to want to do (and be good at) activities that lead them to food such as tracking/sniffing, chasing, stalking, working cooperatively with "packmates", fighting, protecting, digging, etc. These instincts are what we naturally selected for when we began aligning our race with the canine species. Now, we don't necessarily depend on these skills from our dogs anymore, but those urges, tendencies, and instincts still exist! In some cases, they crop up as behavioral problems later on when the biological need isn't met with a healthy outlet (think chasing the neighbor's cat, digging holes in the yard, etc.)
We generally feed our dogs regularly 2-3 times a day therefore food will most likely NOT be the most valuable reward to them. They expect frequent offerings of meals and will likely find other options more appealing if given the choice.
Therefore...
It is important to understand what things, activities, places, and behaviors your dog finds rewarding. By working cooperatively (i.e. through training) for their food, we can grant access to those rewards. This skill is essential if you want your dog to respond to your obedience cues, even in the presence of distractions, without the need for a physical reward.
If your dog is not motivated to train for the food they eat at mealtimes, it may be because you have not fully adopted Lifestyle Training into your routine. Try making a list of things your dog loves and begin to require your dog to cooperate with any of the skills you're working on in this program before they gain access to those things. If an attempt at doing a training session results in your dog refusing his food - the training session should end and the opportunity to earn access to the more motivating activity should also be removed. Try the session again later when the dog may be more hungry (perhaps making your criteria easier) until you achieve success! We will provide more detailed examples of how to set up these kinds of training exercises later.