clicker training

Blanca eagerly peers over this food puzzle: green interactive feeder

Does your dog still eat out of a bowl? Then this post is for you!

Using a food puzzle for your pup’s meals provides both mental stimulatio! Think: fun ways to alleviate boredom while working your dog’s brain in a healthy manner. And, food puzzles provide information for your dog about their environment: consider this-more intel about thier surroundings helps dogs to feel more secure and confident!

Food puzzles for your dog: snuffle mat, Kong Gyro, Kong Wobbler, Tricky Treat ball, slow feeder, etc.

There is even science behind all of this food puzzle fun. The concept is called, “contra freeloading.” This means that animals will work for food even though identical food can easily be obtained from a nearby dish. This is because dogs (and other animals) are hard-wired to hunt, scavange, and seek out opportunities for food. That is to say that this food puzzle process is more reinforcing than just accessing the food without effort.

Take a look at some food puzzle options in this video–Your dog will thank you for these challenging meal time choices. Food Puzzles for your dog are the way to a happier, healthier meal-time option!

Have you recently adopted a deaf dog? Are you confused about just where to start? Would you like some direction as to what to do first?

Great! This post is for you! In addition to a recent post about first steps, these videos will walk you through the process.

STEP 1: The number one spot to begin is by establishing a form of communication. A marker system can help you to do this. In the case of a deaf dog you will use a visual marker. In the video that follows the visual marker is a “hand flash” where you open your hand like a starfish and then close it again.

Markers are always paired with reinforcers. We want to keep up this practice so that they maintain their value! Remember, it is up to the learner to determine the reinforcer’s value.

The marker lets your deaf dog know that, “Wow! That exact thing that you just did has just earned you access to something that you find reinforcing!” We know that behaviors that are reinforced will be repeated, so marking and reinforcing behaviors that you would like to see more of is the way to make that happen!

STEP 2: The next step is to teach your dog to check in with you. A “check in” behavior means that your deaf dog regularly glances back in your direction which allows you to provide further instructions. We can create a regular and re-occurring check in behavior by teaching a “watch me” cue and marking and reinforcing when your deaf dog maintains eye contact with you.

STEP 3: After establishing a communication system and a way to implement that system (your dog regularly makes eye contact with you), a hand target is a great next behavior to teach. Hand targeting is a confidence building behavior and dogs who are confident are self assured, calm, and well mannered.

A hand target is also a nice foundation behavior upon which many other behaviors can be built–behaviors such as a weave or a spin which are incompatible with other less desirable behaviors. Too, with targeting you can teach your deaf dog to move onto a veterinarian’s scale or in/out of the car without any physical manipulation nor pulling/pushing.

You can teach your dog to relax and let you have their paw for nail trims or to learn a chin rest target to communicate when they are feeling calm enough for other grooming or veterinary procedures to continue. Both husbandry and fun behaviors can be trained from the hand target base.

A complement to starting out with your deaf dog, would be the pocket guide, A Deaf Dog Joins the Family. Using the techniques in this post will help to set you and your deaf dog up for success!

Would you like to learn how to easily make some delicious (dogs say, “yes!”) and healthy dog treats? I’ve seen several folks talk about oven safe silicone mats and recipes for “fabulous” dog treats so I finally succumbed and decided to give it a try. It helped that the Honest Kitchen dehydrated fish treats and the brand new red silicon mat arrived at the post office as I was on my way to the grocery store. 

So, with mat, Honest Kitchen, and a few more ingredients (I had tapioca flour, cinnamon, natural creamy peanut butter, and olive oil at home and purchased all purpose flour, and unsweetened applesauce) we were ready to go.

As I’d read up, but couldn’t find the original recipe which had prompted the Amazon order, I combined a few. Most said to be sure that the “batter” was more watery than “dough-like” which I did. In hindsight it would be helpful to have a cookie sheet instead of the aluminum foil which I placed under the mat, however after using the spatula to “smooth out” the surface, there was little spillage.

Fifteen minutes in the oven at 350 degrees (F) and they did basically pop right out. I think that some could have used a bit more time in the center to have really just come free without any extra (very minimal) effort, however, the second batch turned out easer, likely due to a pre-heated oven.

The results were two solid thumbs up from George and Blanca (our deaf dog who leads with her nose!)! Both dogs were keen for more and even the cats took an
interest!

Total time from prep (really quick, grind Honest Kitchen in mini
food processor for 20 seconds and mix all ingredients) to two batches of 15 minutes each in the oven was an hour’s investment with clean up and all.

We’ll probably re-visit this treat-making adventure as it was reinforcing for the chef and canine participants!