Training with Treats
 

Hello! Cooper has been here for over a week and my whole family is totally in love with him.

He is only 9 wks old but he is very smart. (I'm sure all mommies say that. lol) I would like to use treats to assist him in going to his crate at night. With Harley, my beagle-mix, we always give him a treat when he goes to his crate for bed or when we are leaving.

I haven't used treats yet because I am so paranoid about what he eats. Maybe I shouldn't be. He is doing well with his kibble and a little soft puppy food added once a day. He weighted 2.1 lbs when I had him at the vet a week ago.

My questions are:
Is it okay to use Cheerios for this?
Can I use Honey nut Cheerios?
What other treats would you suggest?

I have learned sooooo much from this site! Thanks to everyone!

Helloooooo out there!!! Anyone around? :questione
I know all of you wonderful mommie's can tell me something about treats. :tongue2:

Whole grain Cherrios :)

Just break each one up into a couple pieces, and watch him when he chews it, make sure he is chewing and not hoovering it. If he hoovers things, be careful about what you give him.

I would just put the treat in the crate, leave the door open and let him go to it. Then treat him for going in :)


Have you heard of clicker training? I have had the best success with this method

www.clickertraining.com

I have heard of clicker training and even bought a clicker. I have not started using it so thanks for the link.

If all I have is Honey nut Cheerios is that safe to use. I will buy whole grain cheerios next time.:p

Thank you so much for the suggestions!!

I use little pieces of AKC Chicken Training Treats. Sophie really loves them and I was able to teach her to sit & stay with only a hand command.
She's a very clever little girl ! (of course) :aimeeyork

Sophie LOVES cheerios but I also use Pet Botanics training treats that you can get at petsmart. She really likes those, too. But for a real treat I give her the Just Dogs! Gourmet training treats. They are sweet and like little cookies. I break them in 1/2 or in 1/4 to give Sophie because they are kind of bigger treats. You do have to get those from the Just Dogs! stores, though. I like them because they are all natural, and some of their treats are even safe (and tasty) for humans to eat. I had a long talk with the local store owner and she said she's even eaten one of the training treats and the shortbread cookies that they have.

I have used Honey Nut Cheerios to train all of mine. They love them and since you are not making a MEAL out of them and using for training there should not be any issues. Good luck :)

I was wondering about Honey Nut Cheerios too. Rily loves them.

Thanks for the info!!! I will try them out tomorrow. I got home late tonight and Cooper is a bit tired and just wants to snuggle with me right now. I missed him sooooo much today. At least my DH was home with him.

My brother's dog is really sensitve to food...He gives her frozen peas..I know not all dogs like them..peanut wont touch them lol but its worth a try.

There are tons of healthy treats out there..What food is he on?

The rule that I have always used with trick training is you need to use something that is out of this world good~so they will look forward to earning their treat ;) I have used a lot of different things to catch their attention (works great for pictures too) tiny pieces of cheese, honey nut cheerios, frozen veggies, tiny pieces of turkey lunch meat. When I had the personal trainer coming to the house when Pebbles was very small she always wanted a little chicken but that was the only time I ever used chicken to train but it worked very well~of course ;) When they are very small you should only work on training for a few minutes at a time so none of these treat will be a meal anyway. When they start to loose attention, get tired, or don't want to full cooperate you should stop. You will see how well he will pay attention when they know this is the only time they will get the wonderful treat. I would also suggest that you start to train to sit before you let him out the door for potty. My 3 will sit and stay when I open the door to go out and I taught this with a treat as well. The idea is that eventually you will no longer need to give a treat for every trick and then they will just do the trick on command. I know this is way more information that you originally asked for but I have to say that I have seen excellent result by using these ideas and thought I would just pass it along to whom might listen to me babble :p Doodlebug had so many trick down when he was a very small puppy, people would just crack up to see him "perform". He was probably 14 weeks and he knew sit, down, roll over, give paw all on hand commands. Pebbles who just about drove me crazy saw all the great treats he was getting for his tricks that she finaly decided to cooperate too. Bogey who is from a shelter and was a little over a year learned from watching the other 2~but he's a little piggie and will do anything for food :rolleyes: He took a little longer to catch on but he was not socialized when he came to me so that came first. He is still learning now almost a year later but now even dances for a treat. :D

Yes, Honey nut cheerios are fine. I have found the best way for crate training at night/bedtime or any other time you want him to go in his crate is this:
Pick one very special treat that he only gets when he is to be crated. It can be cheerios, or anything else he finds appealing, Also pick a word or phrase to pair with the treat, "bedtime", "night night" etc. With Harley it was a milkbone but we called it a cookie and said "time for bed". Scooter was a sucker for a Ritz cracker. Rita preferred a piece of cheese, and so far I haven't found the treat that Bandit and Peanut are wild for (it's only day 2 with them). Good luck in your training!