Just wondering how into food other ppl's Koolies are?

Wal never has been particularly hungry, and I assumed this was just because he's a sensitive soul, and perhaps has had unidentified health problems for a while. But I was reading elsewhere and noticed several ppl saying their dogs weren't particularly into food, which made me wonder whether he wasn't a bit more typical in this than I had thought. For training, I am more used to a Fox Terrier, and she always topped the class for food drive (if nothing else <g>).

Libby

My first koolie wouldn't even look at food, so we discovered play drive training and have used it ever since.

Puppies are very food focused.

But adult Koolies seem to know that they can turn food rewards into food con without much effort.

Most of my Koolies won't accept offered food, but that could be due to having pallets available all the time, they don't get hungery.

Mine were as pups, as long as the food was cheese, sausage or beef treats! but as they got older, food wasn't a motivator.When they got older they were working sheep, so that was their reward, if they misbehaved (not listening or generally 'cutting up' !)during a training session with sheep, they were taken away from the sheep and not allowed to work.

Mine are not overly food obessed. I have found with kelli being with me is more of a reward to her than her food (or a tennis ball). Libby will focus for food but with some willing from me. Pheonix on the other hand will do ballet for you for food but I think that is becuase he has never really had "treats" and thinks they are just the best. But the more we work with him the less interested he is in food and more interested in us. He is the only dog I have ever seen to take the chicken neck out of his bowl so he can eat his dry food.

Gee I don't know where I went wrong than. My coolie Xena is an absolute pig. She just loves her dinner and training treats the clicker and her toys. So is my Kelpie Milo. My border collie Inka can leave her dinner if something else is happening but the training treats they just love and will do anything for plus a good tug. My other coolie baby Gabby well she can leave some food as she gets very excited about things but generally at home she eats everything loves the treats and a good tug as well. When they finish their obedience trial class they get a small bowl of cat food (must be fish and a few bikkies) they just love it and they know if they dont work they dont get it and agility they work for a cookie. When they pass they drag me to the gazebo and when they have failed I have to drag them back to the gazebo as they know they wont get anything LOL

cheers
Dann

Click to view attachmentGuess whose Koolies came 2nd and 3rd in the fastest eating dog competition at the Mirannie Dog Day (out of about 15 others). The winner was a chocolate labrador. (Need I say more) The really embarassing part was that they tried to finish up everyone else's plate as well. My dogs aren't fussy at all and like your Xena Danni are real pigs. Food rewards work wonders and it only took me a couple of goes to have Ellie jumping through a hoop.

That picture of Lily with Ellie is such a classic, I hope you enlarged it and framed that one for the wall.

Was the picture taken by you or a professional it is just the best.

If sounds like Koolies discover their own rewards, for some it's sheep others human company, that all sounds healthy and diverse just like the breed itself

I'm thinking that in this breed you might be able to build or reduce their passion for food rewards. Whereas in Foxies for eg I doubt you could change it much.

Perhaps using NILIF with a young dog might build it. And games where they have to really work to get the treats - restrained sendouts to treats??

Just making plans, as I'm hoping for a puppy soon. And I really want her to be passionate about treats and tugging.

When are you hoping to get your baby Libby??? I started tug games with Libby (my dog) when she was young and now she will pick up a tug rope and place it in your lap while you are watching TV or on the computer, she just thinks tugging is so much fun!!!

Good luck with your new baby!!!!

Our young friend took the photo. She was doing photography at TAFE and poor Lil was the guinea pig for many photo shoots. She had just been bitten by a green ant and was so tired that she sat by that tree and refused to get up. It turned out to be the best photo ever.

Thanks RachelleBuck.

There's a litter planned for next yr that I hope will have my perfect little girl in it, who will hopefully be the foundation of my breeding line. I'm waiting very nervously. And have very big plans to do every kind of competition under the sun with her lol.

Tugging is such a wonderful thing - very bonding and rewarding for the dog. And for agility most ppl think (and I agree) that you need the dog to be really into that and food rewards.

My Koolies are very food activated, when in Obedience class they would just drag their heels if there were no treats... they most successful (pobably not the best for their health) is Kentucky Fried Chicken. They go pear shaped for it!!!

KFC works for just about everything I think. The wonder food. Only thing is Kelli and I got food poisioning from it once and the smell of it has her runny, but the other two would do what ever you asked for KFC.

That sounds great Libby, good luck. A little off topic but I have a friend who is waiting for a GSD puppy that she hopes to get next April to start her showing career with, I know what it is like waiting for it all to happen. It seems to take forever when you are waiting for it!!!!
Hang in there!!!!

Precious was never into food all that much when I first got her. I assumed it was because she was from the RSPCA and had been traumatised. But now, eight years later, she can take or leave most foods. She's not keen on dried foods and holds out for a better offer all the time.

She loves fresh meat & bones though.

Michael.

My deafie Keira is, as is Wyatt the house pup, but the others are 50:50. They will look for food rewards when you start a training session but 5min in they are over it.

Found this to be interesting... have a read...

Dog-motivated dogs

When training our dogs, we talk about food-motivated dogs, for example. Food-motivated dogs are relatively easy to train by positive reinforcement, because, as long as the trainer is doling out treats, she pretty much has the dog's undivided attention. Some dogs are toy motivated: if there is a tennis-ball within visual range, these dogs can be oblivious to anything and everything else in the environment. Some dogs can become so focused on a tennis-ball that they will chase a tennis-ball into a busy street, even if they are otherwise "street smart" when there are no toys around.

Dogs that are dog-motivated think that other dogs are the best. Period. I saw a dog get hit by a car and killed because it was trying to get to another dog on the other side of the street during the evening rush hour. Even though the dog was on leash, the dog saw the other dog before the person holding the leash did, and the person was not able to hold onto the leash when the dog unexpectedly bolted. The sad irony is that this happened right outside the gates of a park in which five or six other dogs were playing. The dog's owner had decided not to bring her dog into the park to play with the other dogs, because she was afraid that her dog would become too excited and that she would not be able to control her dog. Very, very sad.

An excessively dog-motivated dog becomes intensely excited around other dogs. If the dog "knows" obedience commands ("sit," "stay," "come," etc.) he will not respond to these commands when other dogs are present. If the dog is on leash, he will pull obstinately trying to get to other dogs. Donaldson observes that the dog's intense excitement, sudden non-responsiveness to the owner and pulling on leash make the owner feel out of control. The concerned owner starts avoiding other dogs, choking up on the leash, jerking the leash or otherwise trying to discipline the dog, all selectively in the presence of other dogs.

There is a spiral or snowball effect involving both the dog and the owner. Other dogs come to mean not only an excited dog but also an angry owner. Both the dog and the owner grow increasingly tense and unhappy around other dogs.
Sadly, many dogs that are excessively dog-motivated are often deprived of all access to other dogs. These are the dogs that bark at you from behind the window when you walk past with your dog.

When a dog-motivated dog that is deprived of intra-species (dog-dog) socialization does meet other dogs, fights can result. His extreme excitement can cause him "to commit social gaffes—he is too much in the other dog's face and fails to read the other dog's body language." His social skills—meeting, greeting and reading novel dogs—are "coarse." Donaldson calls these poorly socialized, highly dog-motivated dogs "Tarzans:"

Think of a human who has been raised without being around other people until age 18. Imagine him as a guest at a cocktail party. Not only might he walk on the table and put his fingers into he dip. he might go right up to someone, stand too close, slap then on the back (or worse grab their privates) and fail to read subtle cues from the host or guests that he is out of line. He is eventually wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. The dog equivalent has terrific interest in other dogs but also lacks social grace.

If your dog does happen to meet a "Tarzan-type dog," you would do well to monitor their interaction closely and remove your own dog if the situation seems likely to deteriorate. Donaldson cautions that "a severe Tarzan can dish out some pretty awful stuff:" "body-slamming, growling, mounting, and failing to turn any of this off when [the other dog] delivers 'back off' body language." Subjecting your dog to this kind of sociopathy puts your dog at risk of developing a fearful response not only to Tarzan but "to all dogs that remind her of him, to most large dogs except those in her circle already or, in the worst case, to all dogs."


Found online.... at Som Dog... some good information......

Wanted to share....

Karolina Koolies

Thanks for that KarolinaKoolie. Donaldson has a book ('Fight!') about that stuff which I found one of the most useful books when I worked in Dog Daycare. So interesting to read her stuff and then go look at different dogs playing - and hear the Lab and Staffy owners thinking their dogs are so wonderful with other dogs when it is *such* a Tarzan. I really don't think it's just about socialisation though - for some it's just much harder to learn to understand other dogs body language. Of course free-for-all puppy classes do more harm for those dogs than good.

I appreciate that about Koolies, that it's easier for them to learn self-restraint with other dogs - Sue Sternberg talks about this - about how (when dogs first meet) they should go through a bit of status-y stuff - standing tall, butt sniffing, circling etc - as long as they don't get 'stuck' this will reduce the risk of fights, rather than bouncing straight in to play with no asking first. Although I guess with Koolies being herding dogs they are more likely to have personal space issues. Wal certainly does.



What I find with Wal, compared to my Foxy, is that if I make a mistake, say don't reward somethink I should, he shuts down, she would just keep trying and trying. He requires me to be a much better trainer than she did.

Bryce can give or take his food. I think he gets sick of the same old same old. Amber on the other hand will eat anything that is put in front of her.

But as for training treats, Bryce was started positive training when we got him at 8 weeks. He loves his food treats (very small peices of pretty much anything)and he loves his petting treats, but now only use food treats when he is learning something new. When he works with me I am the treat, cause he doesn't know when he is getting what he is very attentive towards me and very excited. He watches me as that is basically what he was taught to do very early in the training. I haven't done much training with Amber, but found she is not as food motivated, but just loves to be told verbally or by patting that she has done it right. So I have two different dogs in both ordinary meals and training treats.

jtkoolie