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Looking for advice on training Finn, our food obsessed Cavalier. He's 18 months old, and has been this way since we brought him home at 9 weeks. Basically, whenever we have a training session (clicker and bait bag come out) he completely loses his mind. He becomes so frantic over the anticipated treats, that he can't focus at all on what I'm actually asking of him. He has (somehow...lol) learned a few commands (sit, down, leave it, come, hide, down-stay, wait) and he's really good at things he knows. Trying to teach him new things, however...that's a different story. If he doesn't know exactly what I'm asking, he'll blast through everything he does know at 100mph while whining and groaning in frustration/excitement for the treat that might be coming. Also, the entire time we're training he's fixated on my treat hand (even if I'm not holding any) and constantly mugging me for treats...all his self-control goes out the window. I can lure him into new behaviors, but since he's just following the food, I don't think he's even paying attention to anything else that's going on. If I wait and try to capture the behavior, he just lays down (his default) and whines/wiggles in frustration. He's normally a super sweet, confident and outgoing dog...but he seems to not want to try anything new for his beloved treats, even with lots of encouragement. His recall is phenomenal, so I guess that's a plus 😂
We have worked through a good chunk of the relaxation protocol...he's really good at place/mat work. That seems to be the only thing he is (sort of) calm about. We've worked on eye contact games: watching me instead of the treats...but as soon as we're done with that game and try to work on something else, he goes back to fixating on my hand. The type of treats don't matter...he is the same way with plain dry kibble, cheese, freeze dried raw etc. He is slightly more focused when I use a toy as a reward, but I'm not super clear on the best way to do that. He LOVES tugging on his braided fleece toys (crack toys as we call them...lol) and will work for them, as well as his frisbee. He also loves to roughhouse with me...if I don't have treats/toys handy and I want to reward him, I'll playfully (and gently) push him around, run away, and rough him up a bit. He goes WILD for this and playfully growls and makes monkey noises. Maybe this is counterproductive to him focusing on training?
Should I forget using treats altogether since he's almost always over threshold and not actually learning anything? Is there any way to teach him to SLOW DOWN and THINK when we are training, or is this just who he is? Our trainer always calls him a Border Collie trapped in a Cavalier's body lol...thats NOT what I bargained for when I got a sweet little toy breed! He is super smart, and willing to work...I think I am just lacking the know-how to work with a dog like him. Our other 2 dogs are much slower and more methodical when training, and Finn is a whole new ballgame for me!
We have worked through a good chunk of the relaxation protocol...he's really good at place/mat work. That seems to be the only thing he is (sort of) calm about. We've worked on eye contact games: watching me instead of the treats...but as soon as we're done with that game and try to work on something else, he goes back to fixating on my hand. The type of treats don't matter...he is the same way with plain dry kibble, cheese, freeze dried raw etc. He is slightly more focused when I use a toy as a reward, but I'm not super clear on the best way to do that. He LOVES tugging on his braided fleece toys (crack toys as we call them...lol) and will work for them, as well as his frisbee. He also loves to roughhouse with me...if I don't have treats/toys handy and I want to reward him, I'll playfully (and gently) push him around, run away, and rough him up a bit. He goes WILD for this and playfully growls and makes monkey noises. Maybe this is counterproductive to him focusing on training?
Should I forget using treats altogether since he's almost always over threshold and not actually learning anything? Is there any way to teach him to SLOW DOWN and THINK when we are training, or is this just who he is? Our trainer always calls him a Border Collie trapped in a Cavalier's body lol...thats NOT what I bargained for when I got a sweet little toy breed! He is super smart, and willing to work...I think I am just lacking the know-how to work with a dog like him. Our other 2 dogs are much slower and more methodical when training, and Finn is a whole new ballgame for me!