Agility newbie questions

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Muddy unicorn

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I’ve just started agility classes with my three year old Toller - he seems to be a natural (me less so 😳). He’s food and toy motivated which is great but I have two questions..

1. Can you recommend treats to use for things like contact training - last night he ate virtually his body weight in treats with fairly predictable results this morning .. I’m looking for tasty treats which are gentle on the stomach

2. How do I get him to tug? I’m currently rewarding him with a fabric ball with a handle which he loves but as soon as he brings it back to me he drops it and won’t tug if I put any pressure on the handle. There are two collies in the class who are having a great time tugging at the end of runs/exercises and it would be lovely to be able to extend his reward time if that makes sense

Thanks ☺️
 
I use these treats (although get from B&M as much cheaper). They break into smaller pieces really easily so you don’t get through as much and dog thinks they are high reward!

IMG_3493.jpeg

My dog isn’t a huge tugger. The best I have found for him involves real rabbit fur 🫣
But I’m not convinced tugging is necessary- reward is individual to the dog, food/ball/toy whatever.

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Find out what your dog prefers to bite and use a tuggy from that material. Some dogs are fine with just a rope, others like soft things, hard things, fluffy things. A bungee handle will also make the dog feel more powerful. The reason most dogs won't engage is because when we touch what they have in their mouths we are either removing it completely or to throw again. They never win so they give up trying, because we never play *with* them. For a while just touch the handle briefly and then remove it. So it doesn't mean 'I must let go'. Build up the duration of touch and then start to apply light pressure before quickly letting go again. If you want it back, rather than touching it, use a verbal command to let go and once it's dropped...tell them it's ok to have it again/recommence the game.
 
You can teach engagement and better enjoyment of tugging as per CC but it doesn't have to be tugging, the dog will tell you what they find rewarding. FWIW my first three agility dogs never or rarely tugged (although the fourth made up for that 🥴) - mostly it's important that you can have some form of remote reward, whether that's a dead tug or ball, a velcro food clam thing or something like a Manners Minder treat dispenser.

For non kibbly dogs I use cocktail sausages or cheap packets of precooked chicken chopped into very small pieces.
 
I only have 1 dog who likes to tug as a reward and 1 who likes it as a game but doesnt see it as rewarding. The non tuggers still love a long handled tug with a food toy on the end though. You've just got to find what they love.

In terms of treats, I use a mix of a variety of values but things like nutrament sausages they go mad for.
 
Mine isn't a tugger, but he is a real foodie so that is what I use. As he only weighs 8.5 kg I have to be careful, he can consume a large amount in a very short time. I use kibble for contacts and something really tasty like cocktail sausage for rewarding a good run. If we have been training he only has a very small tea to make up for what he has eaten during the session.
 
My dog does have a higher food drive than toy drive but it's on my mind at the moment as allowing her to choose one over the other is causing an issue in another area of my training (which isn't relevant to agility, really).
So I am now putting a lot more work into playing with the toy.
And was told I'm a boring barsteward 😅😅😅
 
i used to be the same, dog would get through so many treats… now I buy soft ones and crumble them up, so they literally get crumbs. You could also try Primula or similar - dog licks it from the tube.

My lurcher isn’t interested in tugging but I’m going to build tug and food as regards with my new dog.
 
My trainer recommends Fridge Raiders: my dog would sell his soul for one of them.

But like OP has obviously found, too many treats (whatever the prize being offered) can have "unfortunate" results if you need to give too many.

This is why a lot of trainers will try to wean the dog away from food-related rewards; and instead reward with a ball, a tug, or other favourite toy. If you watch some of the TV programmes such as "Nothing to Declare" and others like it, where professionally trained search dogs are used, you'll see that they never use food treats to reward the dog when it's found something, it's invariably a toy or ball, or whatever.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
My trainer recommends Fridge Raiders: my dog would sell his soul for one of them.

But like OP has obviously found, too many treats (whatever the prize being offered) can have "unfortunate" results if you need to give too many.

This is why a lot of trainers will try to wean the dog away from food-related rewards; and instead reward with a ball, a tug, or other favourite toy. If you watch some of the TV programmes such as "Nothing to Declare" and others like it, where professionally trained search dogs are used, you'll see that they never use food treats to reward the dog when it's found something, it's invariably a toy or ball, or whatever.
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That's genetics though, there are some dogs that will come out of the womb like that and work all day for a tennis ball, that drive is not trained, it's just manipulated.

Very high food drive in service dogs is not desirable, or else they'd be sticking their head in bins and nappies and old bags of chips discarded on the street rather than what they should be looking for. A police dog trainer wouldn't dream of using food rewards for tracking or searching, in sports dogs it's not such a big deal. Like I say my own dog works for her normal kibble.
It's fairly normal in my sport to use food to build behaviours/position/muscle memory in a low drive and then use a ball or toy when you need to up the drive. If you just started waving a ball about from the get go with some dogs, they'd just lose their minds and not learn anything.
 
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