Something we hear a lot is "My dog is not food driven" or "My dog is not food motivated". Whilst it may seem that way, it's simply not not possible. Why? Food is one the basic needs for survival- if your dog wasn't food motivated they wouldn't live very long!
Here are some common reasons why your dog may not want to take food:
🐾 The environment is to exciting, scary or overwhelming
🐾 The Food you are offering is simply not valuable enough
🐾 Your dog is over threshold and no longer coping or functioning well
🐾 You are not timing your food rewards right
🐾 The dog is already full of food, or too hungry to think!
The Environment
This is the one that most often is the reason we see dogs stop taking food. Especially in younger dogs its not uncommon to hear "Oh, but he will take that food at home" or a common one we hear in the clinic is "He never wants treats at the Vet! But he loves them at home!".
This is because when our dogs become over-aroused (Stressed, Nervous, Excited, Frightened) they activate Fight or Flight mode. This is basically a survival mode and part of that is that the body shuts off unnecessary systems (including the Digestive System) and releases Adrenaline. Anyone who has ever had a panic attack can tell you exactly how this feels and that the last thing you want is food!
How can you help in this situation?
🐾 Distance is your friend here. You are way too close and need to back up to where your dog can think, breathe and process again. At the start of your training journey, this might be a BIG distance.
🐾 For environments like the Vet where distance isn't possible, its time to do some pre-emptive training. Drop into your clinic at quiet times for a Happy Visit. No Vet Nurse ever said no to giving out pats and cuddles. Call ahead first and be prepared that to start with , you might only make it into the carpark. Go slow! Get a Trainer to help you!
🐾 Try adding some calming enrichment before heading to these environments- Licking, Sniffing and Chewing all promote calm.
Food is not Valuable Enough
This is probably the next most common one. We need to offer our dogs something that is worthy of attention. The food our dogs will choose to take often depends on a few things
🐾 The Environment- your reward needs to trump whatever that environment is offering.
🐾 How often they get that treat- If they get kibble every day for dinner, well its not likely to be more exciting than that rabbit they'd love to chase. But if they don't get cheese all too often, well that might be worthy of leaving the rabbit for.
🐾 It's not been paired properly- a lot of the time we see people clicking their clickers and then holding the food while the dog continues to behave like a loon. In this case, the clicker holds no value so neither does the food. Back to basics teaching that clicker again!
🐾 Access to food- If your dog has food placed a bowl that allows them to graze all day long as they choose, then working for food may not work. Why work for it when I can just go over here and get it for free? Offer your dog their dinner and take whatevers left away when they're done. You can always offer it again later or pick it up and use it as training treats.*
*We do not advocate for letting your dog go hungry or training with a hungry dog to build food drive at any time. Nobody likes to learn on an empty tummy and your dog is no different.
How can you help in this situation?
🐾 Have a designated High Value Treat that only comes out in certain environments or near certain triggers.
🐾 Encourage your dog to eat their meal when its presented and use the leftovers for Training rather than leaving them for grazing
🐾 Re-Condition your clicker !
🐾 Try some new high value treats- Roast Chicken, Liverwurst, Patte and Cheese are often good go-to high value treats!
Dog is Over Threshold
Sometimes, our dogs just hit their threshold and shut down. This can be for many reasons, but most often its due to Trigger Stacking. This is when our dogs see to many triggers or experience to many frightening environments too close together. This can be in known environments or new environments. Each dog has their own threshold which can change day by day. It is important to recognise when our dogs have hit their threshold and that we remove them from that situation as soon as possible.
How can you help in this situation?
🐾 Get out of dodge, ASAP. Once our dogs hit their threshold, its our job to get them back to a place where they feel safe.
Not Timing Treats Properly
Timing of our food rewards is super important. If we are trying to offer our dogs food after they've already begun reacting, then we aren't going to be very successful! They are already over threshold and no longer able to process any information from us. Sometimes what also goes wrong is that we do not offer treats in the right way- this can lead to our dogs being bribed rather than learning which in the long term is often not very successful!
How can you help in this situation?
🐾 Practise your timing at home, away from the dog. Practise using your clicker or marker word AND THEN reaching into your pouch. Hands must stay out of the pouch until AFTER the click or marker word. This will encourage learning rather than bribery.
🐾 In before the event- Don't wait until your dog is already stressed to start trying to use your rewards to get them out of the situation. If you see something coming, start cueing focus behaviours and paying them while your dog can still think.
Dog is already Full or is Hungry!
Ever tried to learn something at 3pm while you're digesting that carb heavy lunch you thought was a great idea? Or how about at 9am when you forgot to have breakfast? Being full or being hungry can be super distracting and make it harder for our dogs to learn. They might be soo focused on getting food because they're hungry that they snap and stare at the food unable to take in the environment properly OR they're so full of food that you could probably over them a cheese pizza and they'd not care. Timing our training for when the digestive system is ready for food, but the brain is also able to focus can be pretty tricky and might take some trial and error!
How can you help in this situation?
🐾 Only feed your dog a handful or 1/2 their normal food before a training session. This will make sure they're not so hungry they're food crazy, but not so full they don't want any more food
🐾 Train when your dog is lively and awake. Like us, dogs enjoy a good food coma. Leave them rest while their body digests and resets.
Other Tips for Building Food Drive:
🐾 Use Liquid Foods such as Yoghurt and Baby Food Pouches. When your dogs digestive system switches off, so does their ability to chew...but they can still lick!
🐾 Animate the Food- Toss it on the ground, hide it under things and cue a "go find", mimic the idea of it being prey. Have them "hunt" and discover their food
🐾 Scaffold your Distractions - You can't expect a dog to learn in an environment full of distractions or Triggers. Introduce them one at a time , with lots of distance between them and your dog. Slowly shape your new behaviours before introducing distractions or triggers!
Not sure where to start? Download our FREE Rewards Cheat Sheet to help get you started finding your dogs most valued food rewards!