[GSD_and_Mal]

A video on the 2-year journey with our Belgian Malinois. First year was spent mainly on socialization and letting her be a puppy. Second year we started on formal obedience.

Although I am a balanced trainer, her obedience training is very much based on "play." I used to do all foundation work with treats, but she is not that food-driven so I had to adjust my training and learn to use toy-reward from the get-go.

Once we got our "play" together (which took awhile, I had to ask breeder for help, hence the reason why we didn't start formal obedience until she was a year old ), I like the result of toy-based training a lot more than treat-based training.

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[Sugar & Latte]

What a lovely video, it looks like you have so much fun with her!

I like the result of toy-based training a lot more than treat-based training.

Once you find what motivates your dog, the excitement your dog has to train is incredible and the results are remarkable!

 

[GSD_and_Mal]

What a lovely video, it looks like you have so much fun with her!

Once you find what motivates your dog, the excitement your dog has to train is incredible and the results are remarkable!

Thank you! I always thought doing foundation work with a toy was very difficult (lack of precision), but I was wrong. Once I got the hang of it, she learned faster and was much happier during training. Now she is always eager to "work."

At the end of a day, she is the one that determines what is rewarding to her, so as a handler, I just had to comply

 

[Sugar & Latte]

Yes precision can be a challenge which is why markers are so valuable.

 

[Deacon.dog]

going to watch rn! I love these types of videos <3

 

[GSD_and_Mal]

Yes precision can be a challenge which is why markers are so valuable.

Markers are definitely important. I was so used to starting attention heel with food lure, that didn't go far with her at all. It took me a bit to figure out how to replace food luring with toy training.

 

[GSD_and_Mal]

going to watch rn! I love these types of videos <3

Thanks