Puppies
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13wk pup unresponsive to treats
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13wk pup unresponsive to treats
Hello,
My husky does not have insane food drive by any means. I think that overall the training at home under no distractions is going well. My issues comes up when we are away from home and he is involved in his environment. He can have virtually zero interest in treats when he is nervous about something or someone, or if he’s simply curious and exploring his surroundings. I’ve made adjustments like bringing higher value rewards and taking him out when he is hungry to increase the value of the reward, but this still has proved futile against his environment.
My strategy going in was to heavily reward the instances where he exhibits fear by attempting to create a positive association to that specific event, and the challenge is that he has no interest in the treat so I am unsure how I can foster a positive association to that loud car that is driving by or the scary neighbors barking dog.
I think my pup is inherently a bit nervous or fearful. It could definitely be a puppy behavior of a 13 week old that will pass, but I still want to be very diligent with this. Any advise is much appreciated. I cannot remember the source, but I think I heard that if your puppy is eating treats in any situation that they must be at a certain level of ease, since if they are a sever level of nerves it would be physiologically challenging to even eat the treat. This has been my experience so far, the less nervous or environmentally stimulated he is, the more willing he is to take his treats.
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1 Reply
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Ryan, sorry it has taken so long to get a response to this. Yes, if the dog is nervous / stressed, he probably won’t be interested in eating. 13 weeks is still very young. You might be moving too fast for him. You want to work on building his confidence when away from home. Are there places you can take him that are not stressful for him? This is far better than trying to create positive associations when he is fearful. This can backfire by rewarding fear. Try to take him places that he can have fun. Then very gradually progress to slightly more challenging environments. Work on basic obedience commands at home until your pup is very confident in his response. Then you can ask for sit, down, etc when out and about and really highly reward him for responding. Even if he knows the command we’ll at home, start outside by luring him. This MUST start in a distraction / stress free location away from home, though. The more you are able to build a history of positive responses, the more confident your pup will become and the greater trust you will build. Going too many scary places too quickly will just reinforce for him that the world is a scary place. Good luck!
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