[lipsmakerx]

My 10mo Yorkipoo started "Good Manners Class" last night. We covered attention-getting, "sit" and "lay."

He did alright at first, but after 5+ times, he would just stop paying attention. Normally he loves the treats I'd brought (tiny chicken flavored soft things), but he was totally uninterested after a few. The instructor offered hot dogs & cheese, but he wasn't interested in those either.

I free feed him, but he only eats first thing in the morning. He's very small and doesn't eat much.

Is there anything I can do?

He's doing alright at home performing tricks for the clicker (just the noise, no treat). He's performing at about 60-70%. Not sure how to "reward" him with a toy as I've heard mentioned.

[briteday]

A 10-month old pup doesn't need to have free feed. He should be on a 2x/day feeding schedule. My guess is that he's not hungry when you are doing the class. On the day of classes feed him in the morning, but not in the evening before going to class. And then the evening meal should be reduced by the amount of training treats you are feeding.

[Dogstar]

Dogs that are stressed out or overstimulated may not take treats. (During classes, if we sit too near his 'girlfriend', my 10 month old collie will politely take treats from me when offered them, and spit them out- usually in her direction. :P) Is he giving you any calming signals like yawning, looking at you then looking away, lip-licking, etc? If that's the case, he may be stressed out or overstimulated, rather than hungry. (And with good treats like cheese, I'd bet on mildly stressed, before I'd guess not hungry.) Spend this week getting him onto a feeding schedule, rather than free-feeding, find some REALLY stinky treats this week (like freeze dried liver, Natural Balance rolls, or baked/dehydrated sliced liver) and see if that works.


(Freeze dried liver, so you know what it looks like)

Additionally, some dogs find play more rewarding than food, especially in high stress situations. Does he like to pounce on a squeaky toy and kill it? Most terriers do, and that can work as a reward, too.

HTH,
Cait

[lipsmakerx]

I'd be surprised if the free-feeding were the issue, since he honestly only eats in the early mornings (like 5am). He's crate training now and so he doesn't even have access to the food during the daytime.

Could the crate training be a factor? He goes in about 7am, is out for an hour around lunchtime, and back in until around 4:30pm. He's usually very high strung when coming out of the crate........ This training class is at 6pm. That was the first one so far. He seemed very distracted. He was mostly just watching the other (much bigger, older) dogs and not paying attention to me.

Also, these are the treats I took. They're VERY smelly! He usually loves them. He enjoyed maybe 5, and was done.

[Dogstar]

I doubt the crate training is a factor and it probably IS stress. If that's the case, he should improve as he gets more comfortable with the environment.

If it's possible in your class location, you might see if there's a way you could block him visually to some extent from other dogs- get a space along one wall or on the edge of the group? Failing that? Time's the only real solution I have, unfortunately.