Staci Lemke 00:00:00 Positive reinforcement dog training relies heavily on providing your dog with a high value reinforcer for doing correct behaviors. One of the best and easiest reinforcers to use is food. But what if your dog isn’t food motivated? There could be a number of reasons why, and in this episode of The Well-Mannered Mutt Podcast, I’m going to reveal to you five reasons why your dog may not be motivated by food, and also talk about some ways that we can change that. Hello and welcome to the Well-mannered Mutt podcast. I’m your host, certified professional dog trainer, and registered veterinary technician, Staci Lemke. Join me as I discuss all things dog, from canine wellbeing to basic training to modifying problem behaviors. Whether you’re a first time puppy parent or have had dogs your whole life. This podcast will help you have a better relationship with your best friend. My passion is to help you have the well-mannered mutt you’ve always dreamed of. Now let’s dive into today’s episode. All dogs need to eat to survive, right? And most dogs love food.
Staci Lemke 00:01:14 I know mine sure do. And while we can use a game with a favorite toy or scratch in that special place to reinforce behaviors, using toys as a reward is a little bit trickier. It’s not quite as simple as handing over a treat and then continuing with the rest of your training. Let me give you an example. In dog agility, contact zones are the areas on obstacles that a dog must touch with their paws to qualify. It’s also a safety issue so that dogs don’t jump off the contact obstacles and injure themselves. These zones are usually painted a contrasting color, often yellow, and are located at the bottom of the ramps on the contact equipment. When I was training in agility with my dogs and I was working on one specific skill, such as learning to stop in the contact zone of a contact obstacle, I would give the dog food for stopping in the zone so the dog would run across the obstacle, then down the ramp and stop in the contact zone, usually with their two rear. Feet on the obstacle and their two front feet on the ground.
Staci Lemke 00:02:12 I’d give the dog their treat and then release them, and we could get a lot of repetitions in on that one specific skill. However, if I was running a series of obstacles, I would bring out a toy and play a game of tug once we completed the whole sequence. You don’t want to be stopping after each obstacle to feed the dog, so I’d switch between food and toys depending on what I was working on. But what if your dog isn’t food motivated? There could be a number of reasons why. First, we need to rule out any health issues. If your dog is not interested in food, it could be a sign of an underlying health issue. Conditions like dental disease, gastrointestinal issues, or more serious illnesses can affect your dog’s appetite. A vet checkup is always a good idea, especially if this is a sudden behavior change. Next, let’s look at the type and the quality of the food we’re using. Just like us dogs have individual tastes, they may not be motivated by the food you’re offering.
Staci Lemke 00:03:09 They may prefer a different type of food or prefer a specific flavor or texture. You need to experiment with different textures, smells, and flavors of food and find what your dog likes. You need to also make sure the food you’re offering is not spoiled or has gone bad in any way. Many people want to use the dog’s regular kibble for training, and that might be fine for some dogs. Mine, for instance, will work for kibble. I’m lucky, but for the vast majority of dogs out there, kibble just doesn’t cut it. Treat value matters. I’ve found that most dogs like soft, meaty treats, things like small pieces of chicken or turkey or hot dogs. It’s not meat, but string cheese also works well. Sometimes you have to get creative and try things that you never thought your dog would like. What about fruits or veggies? Deli meats, baby food? Or maybe something fishy? If you’re looking for a good commercial dog treat, I recommend Happy Howie’s It’s soft and comes in a roll like a sausage you cut it up into very small pieces.
Staci Lemke 00:04:13 I used the turkey flavor in my training and very few dogs turn it down. I’ll add a link for you in the show notes so you can check it out for yourself if you want to. I’ve also found that freeze dried treats can be a good choice. Look for those that are 100% real meat. Most dogs love these treats because they are all meat. The downside to some of these is that they can be pricey and may be hard to get into small enough pieces. I also love freeze dried meats as treats for dogs that have food sensitivities, because you can get so many varieties. My favorite freeze dried treats are fig and tilers and you can get them in beef, turkey, fish, even freeze dried cheese. I’ll post a link to these as well, along with the discount code, so you can get 10% off your first order if you want to check them out. Dogs can also get bored if you use the same treat for every training session. The saying variety is the spice of life holds true for our dogs too.
Staci Lemke 00:05:09 I always tell my clients to find 4 or 5 treats that their dogs like and rotate them. Along with this, it’s always a good idea to have some higher value treats and some lower value treats. You’ll want to use the higher value treats in more difficult or distracting environments. So once we’ve ruled out any health issues and we have found some really tasty treats that our dogs like, we can move on to other reasons why your dog may not be food motivated. Is your cute and cuddly puppy suddenly misbehaving? That same puppy that wanted nothing more than to be with you 24 over seven now, doesn’t even seem to know that you exist. Your dog is not a puppy anymore. He’s now an adolescent. If you’re missing out on the true joy of sharing your life with a dog because of your puppy’s new naughty behaviors, then check out my online course, Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence. This course will help you understand the challenges your dog is going through, and will give you a simple, step by step training strategy.
Staci Lemke 00:06:13 You’ll get all the tools you need to eliminate unwanted behaviors and create the well-mannered dog of your dreams. Simply go to manners for mutts. Com backslash adolescence to sign up today. All right, so the third reason why your dog may not be food motivated is because of fear or anxiety. When a dog is fearful or anxious, their bodies stress response. So that’s the fight or flight response takes priority over other needs, including eating. The adrenaline and cortisol produced during stress can suppress their appetite. Have you ever been in a situation where you were terrified of something? I doubt you were interested in eating at that moment. If this is the case with your dog, you need to get them into a less stimulating environment, one where they can take food. Then you work your way back up to the more stimulating environment. Taking food or not taking food is a very good indicator of your dog’s stress level. If your dog is eating fine and then all of a sudden stops taking the food. Something in the environment has likely pushed them over their threshold.
Staci Lemke 00:07:24 Free feeding or access to food 24 over seven is another reason why your dog may not be food motivated. If they have access to food all the time, food is less valuable. Why should I work for it when I can help myself to food anytime I want? Also, dogs that have access to food all the time aren’t usually hungry. A hungry dog appreciates food more and will be more likely to work for it. Now, I’m not saying starve your dog so food is more valuable. Your dog should get regular meals. I like to feed twice a day, but the food down leave it down for a set amount of time. Maybe 15 minutes, 30 minutes, then pick up whatever is left. There is never anything left in the bowls at my house, but if there was, I would still remove the bowl when the dog stopped eating. Similar to leaving food out all the time, your dog may not be interested in food if they get too many treats or snacks in a day. Dogs need far fewer calories than most people think the average neutered adult dog that gets light exercise every day only needs 25 to 30 calories per pound of body weight.
Staci Lemke 00:08:28 So, for instance, my dog Rumble weighs £35, so she only needs between 875 and 1050 calories a day to maintain her weight. If her dog food contains 400 calories per cup, she’s already getting 800 calories a day just in her meal. One large dried dog biscuit contains 115 calories. It doesn’t take much to overdo it. When I worked in veterinary medicine, I had a friend that had an overweight bulldog. He was on a restricted calorie diet and she walked him regularly, but he still wasn’t losing weight. So I asked her one day how many treats he got per day and she said only two. One in the morning after he goes potty and one right before they go to bed. Then I asked her who else might be giving him treats, so she asked her dad and she found out that the dog was getting the two treats that she was giving him, plus up to six a day that her dad was giving him. We calculated that each one of those dog treats had 30 calories per treat, so he was getting 180 calories a day extra.
Staci Lemke 00:09:32 The final reason dogs may not be food motivated is because we’ve taught them not to be what you say. How is that possible? Well, here’s how it goes. You put the food bowl down and your dog looks at it and walks away, basically saying, no, no thanks, I don’t want that. So you then pick up the bowl and add something else to it, something tastier. You’ve just rewarded your dog for turning up their nose at the food. And believe it or not, I’ve actually had clients who have taught their dogs to be very fussy eaters by doing this. You have to be very careful about the times when your dog says, yeah, I don’t really want that. And you reinforce that choice of saying, nah, I don’t really want that by giving them something better. If you feel the urge to enhance your dog’s meal with something, add it to the bowl before you put it down, not after the dog has refused it. Another tact, and this is only providing that the dog is not sick or the food is not spoiled is to put the food down, leave it down for 20 or 30 minutes and then pick it back up again.
Staci Lemke 00:10:35 You’ve given the dog the option of eating if they decide not to. Well, that’s their choice. In all my years of working in veterinary medicine and training dogs, I have yet to see a healthy adult dog starve themselves to death. Most dogs will not hold out very long before their survival instinct kicks in, and they take advantage of what is offered. Also remember that wild canids like coyotes and wolves eat when food is available, often skipping entire days. Okay, so let’s just quickly review the five reasons why your dog might not be food motivated. Reason number one, they have some kind of a health issue dental disease, gastrointestinal disease, or something more serious. Reason number two, we’re using a type or quality of food that they’re not motivated by Reason number three is because of fear or anxiety, your dog may be overwhelmed. Reason number four free feeding. Access to food 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And reason number five why your dog may not be food motivated is because we’ve taught them to be fussy eaters.
Staci Lemke 00:11:44 So there you have it. The top five reasons why your dog isn’t food motivated, and some things that you can do to help increase your dog’s food drive. See you next time! Thank you for taking the time to help your dog become a more well-mannered mutt. If you have questions about today’s episode, or if there’s a topic you’d like to learn more about, come connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @mannersformutts. You can also find any links and resources mentioned in the show over at mannersformutts.com if you enjoyed this podcast, head over to iTunes and leave us a review. I’d love to hear what’s been helpful for you and your canine friends. See you next time.
